Griftopia....America For Sale

[modernaire]

This book was just released by Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, that talks about the 'grifter class' you won't hear about on Faux News OR MSNBC, and how these people are transferring wealth upward through 'complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers'. My best friend told me about this book and I've been reading excerpts online while I wait for my copy to arrive in the mail and quite frankly.....it's scary how diabolical these people have been and continue to be. The decline of America is very real and it's amazing to me how both sides are blind to the actual facts. But then again, not so much because the financial environment is very complex. So much so that the average person can't fathom the implications of what these people are doing behind closed doors. It's all very, very sad.


In a review on Amazon.com:

The most devastating passage for me is the one where he explains what this country could have done with $13 trillion spent on bailouts: pay every mortgage in existence, and build house for every American who doesn't have one. He writes: "But we didn't do that, and we didn't spend money on anything else useful, either. Why? For a very good reason. Because we are no good anymore at building bridges and highways or coming up with brilliant innovations in energy or medicine... What are we good at? Robbing what's left."


http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/222206?RS_show_page=0

 

[Ninja108]

Our country is becoming a plutocracy...dependent on the spending habits of less than 2% of the population.
A nation run like that won't survive.

 

[modernaire]

It already is.

 

[jft245]

Is there any mention of what we could have done with the trillions of dollars spent on fighting a needless and useless war in Iraq?

 

[NineOfClubs]

I've always said that all the cash spent on bailouts and stimulus, if given straight out to the public, would have bailed out every individual and all the banks too, as the money would have saved them also.

 

[JB3]

This book was just released by Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi, that talks about the 'grifter class' you won't hear about on Faux News OR MSNBC, and how these people are transferring wealth upward through 'complex financial mechanisms and political maneuvers'. My best friend told me about this book and I've been reading excerpts online while I wait for my copy to arrive in the mail and quite frankly.....it's scary how diabolical these people have been and continue to be. The decline of America is very real and it's amazing to me how both sides are blind to the actual facts. But then again, not so much because the financial environment is very complex. So much so that the average person can't fathom the implications of what these people are doing behind closed doors. It's all very, very sad.


In a review on Amazon.com:

The most devastating passage for me is the one where he explains what this country could have done with $13 trillion spent on bailouts: pay every mortgage in existence, and build house for every American who doesn't have one. He writes: "But we didn't do that, and we didn't spend money on anything else useful, either. Why? For a very good reason. Because we are no good anymore at building bridges and highways or coming up with brilliant innovations in energy or medicine... What are we good at? Robbing what's left."


http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/222206?RS_show_page=0

What good are bridges and homes if the economy has collapsed? Taibbi is naive at best and completely ignorantly misguided at worst.

 

[Ninja108]

I've always said that all the cash spent on bailouts and stimulus, if given straight out to the public, would have bailed out every individual and all the banks too, as the money would have saved them also.

But it wouldn't have put money in the pockets of the $$$. All they want is more and more. The middle class will soon cease to exist.

 

[JayHawk]

So roughly 43k to every citizen would have 'bailed' out every one?

I understand the citizen to bank concept and believe most would use the money wisely if it had happened.

You have homes that are upside down by hundreds of thousands. That would not change, only possibly be delayed by giving the money to John Q Public.

Do I think it could be better employed in the infrastructure and that letting failed concepts fail was a good idea.... yes. However juicy it may sound the splitting it up among the people idea would never have worked and whats more all those G20 countries that are handing Obama his ass this week? They wouldnt have even invited the US to the table.

 

[Kulindahr]

What good are bridges and homes if the economy has collapsed? Taibbi is naive at best and completely ignorantly misguided at worst.

If the government had taken that money and paid every mortgage in the country, how would the economy have collapsed? Banks would have gotten all that money, and thus had plenty to lend. People with mortgages --something like fifty million of them -- would have had the amount of their monthly payments freed up, to spend.

That rescue would have soaked up around nine trillion. If the thirteen trillion in the book is correct, that would have left four trillion for infrastructure and incentives for new manufacturing .

Seems to me the man is spot-on.

 

[modernaire]

What good are bridges and homes if the economy has collapsed? Taibbi is naive at best and completely ignorantly misguided at worst.

re-read this, think about what you wrote and if you don't see the irony in what you said well....good day,sir

 

[JayHawk]

The money doesnt add up...... so bullshit...sorry. It wouldnt have paid off shit.