The following anonymous work entitled "A Note Of Appreciation From The Rich" has been floating around the Internet for some time. It is a really thought-provoking piece, and if anyone knows the original author we will be glad to give them credit. We have not been able to find the original author, but since everyone else is posting it all over the place we thought that we would too. It contains some really interesting reflections on how society works. After reading it for yourself, please leave a comment with your opinion on it....
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Let's be honest: you'll never win the lottery.
On the other hand, the chances are pretty good that you'll slave away at some miserable job the rest of your life. That's because you were in all likelihood born into the wrong social class. Let's face it -- you're a member of the working caste. Sorry!
As a result, you don't have the education, upbringing, connections, manners, appearance, and good taste to ever become one of us. In fact, you'd probably need a book the size of the yellow pages to list all the unfair advantages we have over you. That's why we're so relieved to know that you still continue to believe all those silly fairy tales about "justice" and "equal opportunity" in America.
Of course, in a hierarchical social system like ours, there's never been much room at the top to begin with. Besides, it's already occupied by us -- and we like it up here so much that we intend to keep it that way. But at least there's usually someone lower in the social hierarchy you can feel superior to and kick in the teeth once in a while. Even a lowly dishwasher can easily find some poor slob further down in the pecking order to sneer and spit at. So be thankful for migrant workers, prostitutes, and homeless street people.
Always remember that if everyone like you were economically secure and socially privileged like us, there would be no one left to fill all those boring, dangerous, low-paid jobs in our economy. And no one to fight our wars for us, or blindly follow orders in our totalitarian corporate institutions. And certainly no one to meekly go to their grave without having lived a full and creative life. So please, keep up the good work!
You also probably don't have the same greedy, compulsive drive to possess wealth, power, and prestige that we have. And even though you may sincerely want to change the way you live, you're also afraid of the very change you desire, thus keeping you and others like you in a nervous state of limbo. So you go through life mechanically playing your assigned social role, terrified what others would think should you ever dare to "break out of the mold."
Naturally, we try to play you off against each other whenever it suits our purposes: high-waged workers against low-waged, unionized against non-unionized, Black against White, male against female, American workers against Japanese against Mexican against.... We continually push your wages down by invoking "foreign competition," "the law of supply and demand," "national security," or "the bloated federal deficit." We throw you on the unemployed scrap heap if you step out of line or jeopardize our profits. And to give you an occasional break from the monotony of our daily economic blackmail, we allow you to participate in our stage-managed electoral shell games, better known to you ordinary folks as "elections." Happily, you haven't a clue as to what's really happening.
We're also very pleased that many of you still embrace the "work ethic," even though most jobs in our economy degrade the environment, undermine your physical and emotional health, and basically suck your one and only life right out of you. We obviously don't know much about work, but we're sure glad you do!
Of course, life could be different. Society could be intelligently organized to meet the real needs of the general population. You and others like you could collectively fight to free yourselves from our domination. But you don't know that. In fact, you can't even imagine that another way of life is possible. And that's probably the greatest, most significant achievement of our system -- robbing you of your imagination, your creativity, your ability to think and act for yourself.
So we'd truly like to thank you from the bottom of our heartless hearts. Your loyal sacrifice makes possible our corrupt luxury; your work makes our system work. Thanks so much for "knowing your place" -- without even knowing it!
Is it not obvious at this point that the United States of America is in the early stages of a depression?
If the following video does not stun you, it should at least sadden you deeply.
Tent cities filled with the homeless and unemployed are rapidly growing in Sacramento, Seattle, Reno, Nashville and in many other cities across the United States.
Can you imagine what is going to happen if things get much worse than this?.....
Most Americans have become so incredibly spoiled that they have NO idea how to survive if they suddenly couldn't run down to Wal-Mart and fill up their shopping carts. The truth is that whether it is a complete economic collapse (which becomes more of a possibility by the day) or whether it is another natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or whether it is a bird flu emergency, we are moving into times when we are likely going to need to learn how to survive.
The following is a list of 10 key items that you will want to make sure that you and your family have in case you are faced with a survival situation.....
#1) Storable Food
Most Americans cannot conceive of a world where you can't just run out to McDonald's or to the supermarket and get all the food you want. However, when the economy collapses, you and your family are going to need food. Even if you plan to grow food you better have a substantial amount of storable food put away.
#2) Clean Water
Most people could make it for a number of weeks without food, but without water you will die in a matter of days. You and your family are going to need clean water. Is there an abundant supply of water near your home? Will you be able to boil water if you need to? Without clean water you just are not going to survive for long.
#3) Shelter
What would you do if you lost your home or you were forced from your home? You and your family will need a warm place to sleep. Make sure you aren't just relying on the power company to keep your home warm in the winter. If you need firewood, start chopping now. In addition, always make sure you have a backup plan if you have to leave where you are at. Do you have family you can move in with if necessary? Do you have a tent that you could set up in the woods?
#4) Warm Clothing
This is especially important if you live in a colder climate. You are your family need to prepare as if you would not be able to depend on the power company. Store up clothing as if you would have to make it without heat if necessary. Always make sure to have plenty of blankets as well. Already there have been recent news stories of people freezing to death inside their own homes after having their heat turned off. Don't let that be you.
#5) Communication
This is especially important if you live in an isolated area. Always have a way to communicate with the outside world. Whether it is an emergency cell phone or something else, if you are able to call an ambulance in a timely manner it might save your life. Also, you are going to want a way to be in contact with your family and close friends. It is those who are willing to work together that will have the best chance of making it.
#6) Lighters Or Matches
There may come a day when you need to start a fire in order to cook food or to boil water or to stay warm. When that day comes, do you really want to try rubbing sticks together to start a fire? Of course not. Now is the time to put away a supply of lighters or matches so that you will be prepared when you really need them.
#7) Comfortable Shoes
This is an item that not a lot of people think of when it comes to survival. But someday people either won't have cars or won't be able to depend on them. So what will you do then? When the economy collapses, a whole lot of people are going to have to do a whole lot of walking. Make certain to have some shoes on hand that will be comfortable.
#8) Flashlight And Plenty Of Extra Batteries
Just think about what happens when the power goes out now. What quickly becomes one of the most important items? A flashlight. Without a flashlight, you won't be able to do much of anything after the sun goes down. Also, make sure you have plenty of extra batteries, because in a prolonged crisis your flashlight will be of little help without batteries.
#9) A Battery-Powered Radio
In a crisis situation, you will want to know what is going on in the world around you. A battery-powered radio can be a great source of information. You can even get a wind-up radio in some stores that doesn't require batteries at all. Now, you can certainly survive without a radio, but you are your family will feel much better if you have some way of keeping track of what is going on out there.
#10) Sanitation Supplies And A First Aid Kit
What would you do without toilet paper? What if you had to go without soap or shampoo for several days? You get the idea. Things can get messy and smelly fast. Make sure that you and your family have plenty of sanitation supplies on hand. In addition, make sure that you have first aid supplies so that you can treat any injuries that occur.
Lastly, always have a backup plan for everything. When you are out there surviving on your own and things don't go according to plan, what are you going to do?
Have a plan.
The reality is that times are only going to get harder and people WILL want to start heading for the hills. Do your research and find out what you are getting yourself and your family into.
Those who are well prepared will have the best chance to make it during the times to come.
Our politicians have given a massive 700 billion gift to the major Wall Street banks.
We were told that we "had" to pass the bailout bill "or else" we would face serious consequences.
And so how is all of this money being spent?
Much of it is going to executive bonuses and "picking off" smaller banks.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the major Wall Street banks owe their executives more than $40 billion in pay and pensions that these firms fully intend to deliver to them.
Here are just a few examples of what these firms owe to their executives:
Goldman Sachs $11.8 billion
J.P. Morgan Chase $8.5 billion
Morgan Stanley approximately $10 billion to $12 billion
The American people should have stood up and DEMANDED that NO taxpayer money go to these executives. Instead, Barack Obama and John McCain pushed through a bill loaded with pork that will end up benefitting Wall Street executives more than it will benefit the average guy on main street.
“What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop.”
Did you get that?
JP Morgan is talking about using 25 billion in bailout money to acquire more banks.
It is supposed to be used to loan money to regular Americans!
“We would think that loan volume will continue to go down as we continue to tighten credit to fully reflect the high cost of pricing on the loan side.”
Do you get that?
JP Morgan has NO INTENTION of increasing loans!
Do you understand?
"Continue to tighten credit" means that they intend to loan LESS money.
So why in the world is the U.S. government giving them bailout money?
The truth of the matter is that we are not in a financial crisis.
The banking elite has turned off the flow of credit on purpose.
The reality is that we are in a manufactured financial consolidation - a high level financial war that will result in the Federal Reserve and the international bankers of the global elite having more power and more assets after this is all over.
This kind of financial consolidation has happened many times before. In 1815, Nathan Rothschild was able to learn the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo before anyone else in the entire financial community. When he started selling shares like mad, the financial community feared that Wellington had lost and they started selling too. The market went completely mad with selling. At the end of the day, Rothschild and his agents reversed course and bought up everything at dramatically reduced prices. Rothschild induced the panic so that he could buy up as much as he could and consolidate his power.
At the start of the Great Depression, the major Wall Street banks turned off the flow of credit dramatically. All of a sudden nobody in America could get loans for anything, and the great credit bubble that fueled the prosperity of the 20s totally collapsed. The stock market tanked, and the value of homes, farms and businesses went through the floor. The greedy bankers of the global elite came along and bought up whatever assets they wanted for a song.
So now the financial experts are telling us that we are facing another "credit crunch". Yeah - a manufactured one. For the past two years the Federal Reserve has been slowly constricting the money supply and banks have been beginning to reduce the flow of credit. Of course that was going to result in economic dominos starting to fall - especially in our overleveraged society.
One of the first dominos to fall was the investment bank Bear Stearns - the last somewhat "independent" investment bank. Oh, the international bankers have wanted to get their hands on Bear Stearns for a long, long time. And they did just that when JP Morgan was able to scoop up the shattered remains of Bear Stearns for pennies on the dollar.
Next there was the whole Lehman Brothers debacle.
What most people do not know is that JP Morgan has been accused by Lehman Brothers of dealing the critical blow that forced Lehman Brothers to collapse. JP Morgan is alleged to have frozen $17 billion dollars of cash and securities belonging to Lehman Brothers on the Friday night before the failure of Lehman Brothers. Lehman Brothers subsequently collapsed, and many of its assets have been sold to buyers including Barclays.
So let's review some of the consolidation activity that has been going on:
Bear Stearns - purchaed by JP Morgan Lehman Brothers - many of its assets have been sold to buyers including Barclays Merrill Lynch - purchaed by Bank of America Washington Mutual - purchaed by JP Morgan Wachovia - Wells Fargo and Citigroup are currently fighting over it
As if it wasn't enough that the international bankers crashed our financial system so that they could consolidate their power - then we were being told that we had to give them 100s of billions of dollars or else we were going to have another Great Depression.
Most Americans think that the "bailout" is only going to cost taxpayers 700 billion dollars. Most Americans would be wrong about that. Let us take a look at what all of these bailouts are really going to cost the taxpayers of America:
Pelosi’s latest economic-stimulus package: $300 billion Paulson’s Bank Nationalization package: $250billion Bailout to the American car companies: $25 billion Nancy Pelosi’s bailout of the state and local governments: $150 billion Financial “bailout” bill: $700 billion+ Bear Stearns financing: $29 billion Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac nationalization: $200 billion AIG loan and nationalization: $85 billion (+ extra request of $35 billion) Federal Housing Administration housing rescue bill: $300 billion Mortgage community grants: $4 billion JPMorgan Chase repayments: $87 billion Loans to banks via Fed’s Term Auction Facility: $200 billion+ Loans from Depression-era Exchange Stabilization Fund: $50 billion Purchases of mortgage securities by Fannie/Freddie: $144 billion
POSSIBLE TOTAL: $2.56 trillion+ POSSIBLE COST PER U.S. HOUSEHOLD: $24,269
The look on the face of an American taxpayer when they realize their children have been sold into economic slavery to pay for a big 2.56 trillion dollar gift to rich bankers: PRICELESS
So where in the world is all of this money going to come from that the American government is promising to the Wall Street bankers? The United States government is already completely drowning in debt. Just check out this chart:
But the chart above is already out of date.
Add a couple more trillion in debt to the chart above and you will have a picture of where we are at now. Is a nation with so much debt in a strong position?
Absolutely not.
The truth is that we have sold our children into an economic future of misery, where the best case scenario is that they work night and day for the rest of their lives to pay interest on that miserable debt.
So who is getting the benefit out of all this?
The international bankers who own the private Federal Reserve who make money whenever the U.S. government borrows money.
If you do not know that "The Federal Reserve" is a private bank owned by international bankers, then you should watch the video posted below:
We are not in a financial crisis. We are in a financial consolidation - a high level financial war that will result in the Federal Reserve and the international bankers of the global elite having more power and more assets after it is all over.
This kind of consolidation has happened before. In 1815, Nathan Rothschild was able to learn the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo before anyone else in the financial communtiy. When he started selling like mad, the financial community feared that Wellington had lost and they started selling too. The market completely went mad with selling. At the end of the day, Rothschild and his agents reversed course and bought up everything at dramatically reduced prices. Rothschild induced the panic so that he could buy up as much as he could and consolidate his power.
At the start of the Great Depression, the major banks turned off the flow of credit. All of a sudden nobody could get loans for anything, and the great credit bubble that fueled the prosperity of the 20s collapsed. The market tanked, and the value of homes, farms and businesses went through the floor. The bankers came along and bought up whatever they wanted for a song.
So now they tell us we are facing another "credit crunch" - yeah a manufactured one. For the past two years the Federal Reserve has been starting to constrict the money supply and banks have been beginning to reduce the flow of credit. Of course that was going to result in dominos starting to fall - especially in our overleveraged society.
One of the first dominos to fall was Bear Stearns - the last somewhat "independent" investment bank. Oh, the international bankers have wanted to get their hands on Bear Stearns for a long time. And they did just that when JP Morgan was able to scoop up the shattered remains of Bear Stearns for pennies on the dollar.
Next there was the whole Lehman Brothers debacle.
JP Morgan has been accused by Lehman Brothers of dealing the critical blow that forced Lehman Brothers to collapse. JP Morgan is alleged to have frozen $17 billion dollars of cash and securities belonging to Lehman Brothers on the Friday night before its failure. Lehman Brothers subsequently collapsed, and many of its assets have been sold to buyers including Barclays.
So let's review some of the consolidation that has been going on:
Bear Stearns - purchaed by JP Morgan Lehman Brothers - many of its assets have been sold to buyers including Barclays Merrill Lynch - purchaed by Bank of America Washington Mutual - purchaed by JP Morgan Wachovia - Wells Fargo and Citigroup are currently fighting over it
As if it wasn't enough that the international bankers crashed our financial system so that they could consolidate their power - now we are being told that we have to give them 100s of billions of dollars or else we'll have another Great Depression.
Most Americans think that this "bailout" is only going to cost taxpayers 700 billion dollars. They would be wrong. Let's take a look at what all of these bailouts are really going to cost the taxpayers of America:
Pelosi’s latest economic-stimulus package: $300 billion Paulson’s Bank Nationalization package: $250billion Bailout to the American car companies: $25 billion Nancy Pelosi’s bailout of the state and local governments: $150 billion Financial “bailout” bill: $700 billion+ Bear Stearns financing: $29 billion Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac nationalization: $200 billion AIG loan and nationalization: $85 billion (+ extra request of $35 billion) Federal Housing Administration housing rescue bill: $300 billion Mortgage community grants: $4 billion JPMorgan Chase repayments: $87 billion Loans to banks via Fed’s Term Auction Facility: $200 billion+ Loans from Depression-era Exchange Stabilization Fund: $50 billion Purchases of mortgage securities by Fannie/Freddie: $144 billion
POSSIBLE TOTAL: $2.56 trillion+ POSSIBLE COST PER U.S. HOUSEHOLD: $24,269
The look on the face of an American taxpayer when they realize their children have been sold into economic slavery to pay for a big 2.56 trillion dollar gift to rich bankers: PRICELESS
So where in the world is all of this money going to come from that the American government is promising? America is already drowning in debt. Just check out this chart:
Now add a couple more trillion on to the chart above. Is a nation with so much debt in a strong position?
No.
We have sold our children into an economic future of misery, where the best case scenario is that they work night and day for the rest of their lives to pay interest on that miserable debt.
And who is getting the benefit out of all this?
The international bankers who own the private Federal Reserve who make money whenever the U.S. government borrows money.
If you do not know that "The Federal Reserve" is a private bank owned by international bankers, then you need to watch this video:
The mainstream media has given us countless hours of coverage over the weekend about how important this Wall Street bailout bill is. President Bush and the Democratic congressional leadership are in favor of it. When both sides agree on a bill, you know that something must be fishy.
Do any of you know where this 700 billion dollar figure for the bailout came from?
“I have been thrown out of more meetings in this capital in the last 24 hours than I ever thought possible, as a duly elected representative of 825,000 citizens of north Texas” said Congressman Burgess.
Mr. Burgess also added this chilling statement: “Mr. Speaker I understand we are under Martial Law as declared by the speaker last night.”
So what do Barack Obama and John McCain think about all of this? Of course they both support it.
"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.
"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.
"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.
"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions."
Meanwhile, one journalist who has followed the financial system for over 30 years says: "Now I'm truly scared."
Imagine that a line of trucks was coming to your house to dump a 700 billion pound pile of manure on your lawn. Would you be upset? Of course! You would be hopping mad!
So why aren't the American people upset about this bailout? Our Congress is committing us and our children and our grandchildren to a 700 billion dollar bill for this Wall Street bailout.
Apparently we must like being slaves and paying off the bad debts of others.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting that the FDIC may need a $150 Billion bailout as local bank failures are escalating.
That doesn't sound good.
The four charts below will tell you everything you need to know about why the good life in America has gone "bye bye" and will not be coming back.
The American Dream has become an American Nightmare.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of the 12 trillion dollar mortgage market in the United States.
They were collectively been responsible for more than 80% of new mortgages being issued in 2008.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two of the largest corporations in existence, and if they were countries, their GDP would be bigger than most of the nations in the world.
And now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have FAILED and the federal government had to take them over.
Posted below is a chart of Fannie Mae's stock price.
Do you happen to notice a trend?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the absolute heart of the mortgage industry in the U.S. If they have failed, do you think that is a good sign for the U.S. economy?
The next chart shows the reserves of the banks in the United States. Do you see what has happened? The reserves of our banks are completely gone!:
The next chart shows the insane amount of money that our banks have had to borrow from the Federal Reserve just to stay afloat. Even with all of this borrowing, 12 banking chains have failed already this year:
This fourth chart shows the growth of our national debt over the years. Imagine if your own personal borrowing looked like this.....
Very shortly, the federal government of the United States will be over 10 TRILLION dollars in debt.
10,000,000,000,000 dollars in debt!
Will the current generation of Americans repay that debt?
No, the current generation of Americans seems determined to go even deeper in debt.
So, that means that Americans are dumping this debt on to their children and their grandchildren and to generations beyond that.
That is inexcusable!
Essentially, America has sold their children and grandchildren into economic slavery forever.
How would you feel if you were a little child and you discovered that your parents had run up over a million dollars on a credit card in your name, and now you had to make interest payments on that credit card for the rest of your life?
America's children and grandchildren will be working for the rest of their lives to pay interest on this ridiculous debt. Their labor will go into serving the owners of this debt, and there is no escape.
America has had the greatest party in the history of the world and it has fueled this party on massive amounts of debt, but now there is really bad news.....
The party is over.
The reserves of America's local banks are completely gone. The financial institutions of America have borrowed an insane amount of money from the Federal Reserve this year just to stay afloat. America's financial system has never experienced a crisis of this magnitude.
The biggest debt bubble in the history of the world is beginning to burst.
For decades Americans have lived like kings and queens.....enjoying the biggest party the world has ever seen.....but financed with ever increasing amounts of debt.
Once upon a time, the United States was the biggest creditor in the world. But those days are long gone. Now America is the biggest debtor nation to ever exist on the earth.
America was the wealthiest nation in the world, but that was never enough. Americans always had to have a bigger car, a bigger house and an endless supply of "stuff". So the American government piled up debt, American companies gorged on debt, and Americans made using credit cards into a national pastime.
And if you include the future liabilities that America's government has committed to such as future Social Security and Medicare payments, then the total debt of the federal government is over 59 TRILLION dollars.
59 TRILLION dollars!
Now that many of America's jobs have gone overseas, the price of gasoline is shooting through the roof, and tons of people are losing their homes, do we find that Americans are learning their lesson?
Not at all.
Instead Americans are squeezing everything they possibly can out of their credit cards. Total credit card debt in America is now over 790 billion dollars, and it is increasing at a rate which is four times faster than earlier this decade.
Instead of showing restraint, Americans have jammed the accelerator to the floor.
Prices are increasing dramatically while wages are not. Jobs are being outsourced and factories are being closed. America's largest banks and financial institutions are teetering on the brink of failure. Homes are being foreclosed at record rates. Personal bankruptcies recently hit an all time high. And what is the answer that the corrupt politicians give to America?
Spending even more money and getting us into even more debt.
It is time for America to face the truth.
The American Dream has gone "bye bye" and it isn't coming back.
Apparently the Democrats want something in return for going along with the plan. What they seem to want is for a housing component to be added to the bailout bill and they want assurances that President George W. Bush will not veto a second economic stimulus bill.
Many analysts are saying that the moves taken by the Fed last week enabled the U.S. to avoid a "financial Armageddon".....at least for now.
We love this political cartoon. It puts things in perspective so well.
Why are McCain and Obama constantly playing "he said/she said" and talking about meaningless issues when the entire American economic system is rapidly collapsing around all of us?
Why are people not talking about the trillions upon trillions of dollars of debt that we are in?
-The financial crisis entered a potentially dangerous new phase on Wednesday when many credit markets stopped working normally as investors around the world frantically tried to move their money into the safest investments.
