Posted on 03/06/2021 6:25:10 AM PST by Kaslin
Though the populist tide seems to have ebbed, it will rise again, and soon. The problem that ignited populist sentiment in the first place, whether on the left or the right, remains: the country’s economic and financial system has failed much of the population and is rigged to the benefit of a government-business elite. Resistance to this inequity elevated Trump and pulled the Democratic Party to the left and will continue to roil American politics until things change.
The economy’s “rigging” has developed gradually over time and often from the best of intentions. When politicians, corporate executives, pundits, journalists, academics and activists alike propose ways to make society more just or efficient or globally competitive, they invariably call for some kind of government-corporate cooperation. Such calls always seem to offer an answer for the public good, but in practice these arrangements inevitably drift into a self-serving collusion among those charged to cooperate.
Economic and financial history over the past few decades offers ample evidence of this building trend. An especially stark illustration emerged during the 2008-09 financial crisis. Prior to that trouble, Washington had enlisted the cooperation of most major financial institutions in broadening home ownership among less affluent Americans. Desirable as such a goal is, it required the risky practice of lending mortgage money to people with a questionable ability to repay it. To help cooperating institutions, regulators allowed banks to shed that risk through questionable financial devices, such as credit default swaps and the securitization of bundles of these risky loans. In 2007, when these sub-prime borrowers began to fail on their mortgage obligations and this house of cards began to collapse, Washington sprang into action, to save, it claimed, the financial system, but as it turned out, also to protect its corporate partners.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The Fed rigs the economy in a macro sense, but the stock market is rigged at the micro level.
>>the country’s economic and financial system has failed much of the population and is rigged to the benefit of a government-business elite.
I’ve been summarizing this as our problem is the Washington DC - Wall Street Axis works against the interests of Main Street.
And maybe it’s the DC - Wall Street - SF Tech Giant Axis. But you get the point.
So is American Elections.
A fiat, printed currency, issued by politicians, will always and everywhere be rigged.
And it will always benefit those closest to the source.
this has been known for thousands of years.
If you can “rig” gravity, then you can “rig” the economy. What a stupid idea. For a short time gravity and economics can be manipulated, but soon those manipulations come crashing down. Politicians’ myopia seeing only the next election at the expense of the next generation.
Like the laws of gravity, the laws of economics cannot be broken without disastrous consequences. You can’t “rig” the economy, but you can sure fool a lot of people many of whom, especially these days, seem unable to grasp the value of the market free from government interference - the Free Market Economy - and the disaster of socialist governmental interference in the marketplace.
The Fed was created to keep a relatively stable money supply vis-a-vis the GDP. That’s like asking politicians to be honest. Rots a Ruck.
Rigging = government meddling with free market capitalism.
Stop doing that and most problems will go away.
They also rig the indexes. Interesting now that energy stocks make up about 2.5% of the SandP 500. Think of it, energy like the force that makes it all happen is reduced to less than 3% of the top 500 firms in the index. Why would that be...simple...the technology stocks have reined supreme since around 2000 and this is the ride that is pushing the indexes to all time ever highs on the backs of companies that are selling at earnings ratios over 50.
The rig is being shown for what it is over the past few weeks as there has been a stamped out of the techs into guess what, energy stocks. Note the dichodomy between the DJI and the Nasdaq of late, it is not an accident. It is the result of the imbalance between those that actually return dividends to their holders verses those that do not, relying upon the increase in stock prices hyped by indexs rather than simple returns of dividends. A recent example is Exxon. Anyone note that it has gone from about 34, where it was paying almost a 10% dividend, to about 60 yesterday, almost a 90% rise over six months, and STILL paying 6%.
It is all a house of cards fueled by the massive deficit spending by the government. No where to go, the certificates of tech stocks are the same as federal notes in everyone’s wallets, backed by nothing but hot air.
Yes, they swap out companies expected to under perform for those expected to over perform. For example, swap out Honeywell for Raytheon, dump Exxon for Salesforce after 90 years; Walgreens replaced GE as an industrial giant on the Dow (what is Walgreens assembling in their factories?). What would the DJIA be now if Bethlehem Steel hadn't been dumped for J&J?
And don't forget the 'weighting' used on the index funds.
I responded above, but for ease of formatting, I’ve made this second post listing the original components as of now, as best I can sort them out.
An unchanged Dow would be made up of
Unilever
Domino Foods
Reynolds American Inc.
Vector Group (Liggett & Myers)
Integrys Energy (defunct)
LyondellBasell
General Electric
Spire, Inc
NL Industries
US Steel
United States Leather (dissolved)
North American Company was split up into a number of utilities, best known being PG&E, CEI (Cleveland Electric Illuminating), and Detroit Edison. Or just go with its ultimate replacement, Johns Manville (bankrupt).
Michelin and Raytheon have the split up former United States Rubber
Rigged Economy = Lobbyists
The U.S. Economy Is Rigged
as in rigged to blow?
With dems in charge?, maybe
Princess Gray beaver Lizzie Warren spouts this same bs all the time.
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