Posted on 02/12/2009 5:01:24 AM PST by kellynla
Most historians agree that earthquakes, droughts or barbarians did not unravel classical Athens or imperial Rome.
More likely the social contract between the elite and the more ordinary citizens finally began breaking apart -- and with it the trust necessary for a society's collective investment and the payment of taxes. Then civilization itself begins to unwind.
Something like that has been occurring lately because of the actions on Wall Street and in Washington, D.C. The former "masters of the universe" who ran Wall Street took enormous risks to get multimillion-dollar bonuses, even as they piled up billions in debt for their soon-to-be-bankrupt companies.
Financial wizards like Robert Rubin at Citicorp, Richard Fuld at Lehman Brothers and Franklin Raines at Fannie Mae -- all of whom made millions as they left behind imploding corporations -- had degrees from America's top universities. They had sophisticated understanding of hedge funds, derivatives and sub-prime mortgages -- everything, it seems, but moral responsibility for the investments of millions of their ordinary clients.
The result of such speculation by thousands of Wall Street gamblers was that millions of Americans who played by the rules, and put money each month away in their 401(k) plans and elsewhere, lost much of their retirement savings. Many likely will have to keep working well into their 60s or 70s, and delay passing on their jobs to a new generation awaiting employment.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
One thing VDH left unsaid is that some of us who lost money in our 401(K)’s will be just that more willing to see that funding go to the government for a “guaranteed” percentage gain every year. That is a huge chunk of change that the Dems in Congress would just love to redistribute. BOHICA.
Good point. It isn’t the “privilege” of paying taxes that motivates people to be good citizens. But still, there is a fine balancing act in a nation such as ours between expecting some sacrifice of everyone and asking for too much sacrifice. When taxes are kept at a reasonable level, most people won’t balk at paying them, especially if they see the benefits coming back to them in terms of national defense, interstate highways, and such. The problem is, the balance right now is way out of kilter. As you noted, too many are not paying anything (and still getting “tax credits” or “rebates”), added to the others who are wealthy and not paying or paying only when they get caught. We have always had those wealthy enough to shelter their income but it has been less common or at least open that they are also dictating tax policies for the country Now we have Kennedys, Buffet, Soros, Gates, Geitner, etc making laws to force us to pay more while they exempt themselves.
One thing I fear is a time when the underlying anger of the populace—at a lot of issues like taxes, corruption, immigration, crime—suddenly boils over. An old saying is “Beware the anger of a patient man”. Everytime we see someone get away with cheating at taxes, someone exempt themselves from rules for others, someone walk free because of a legal technicality, someone illegally here demand we support them, the anger grows. Unless it is released from time to time by seeing justice apply, it just builds up steam until it blows even a metal pressure cooker. At this point, I don’t think it would take much to blow out, and the more pressure put on the middle class, the sooner it will blow. (I’m not saying there’s going to be bloody revolution or anything like that, but I think you will see people just dropping out of the civic contract, refusing or failing to pay taxes, refusing to pay fees, opening more underground markets, a whole host of efforts to stop feeling like a slave to the government.)
There it is, the game plan.
Not that there's anything wrong with it !
Rhetorically speaking of course :)
Even the illusion of value was there only as a result of the bubble. Yet every article I've seen implies that the high values really existed and deflated only because of the actions of these designated villains.
Good for pointing this out!
And yet, one of the popular Conservative Radio talkshow hosts has had a mortgage broker as his main sponser, who has been adament, even through the fall, about pulling out one's equity! As if it was real value.
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