A few years back the big banks went before the government to request to be "bailed out". Basically, they were insolvent and wanted the government to lend them lots of money. This was done under Bush and was called TARP. The theory seemed to be that banks that had made bad loans on mortgages should sell those loans to the government. Treasury Secretary Paulson went before congress and basically told them that the world would end if the government did not buy these loans. Currently, the government owns over 80% of all mortgages because of this program.
YouTube - Congressman Brad Sherman: Martial Law if We Voted No [1]
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I do hope you watch the whole video, it is only ten minutes. The TARP bill allowed half of our bailouts to go to foreign banks and the truth is, we do not know how much did and will be told. In fact, Federal Reserve Chairman Greenspan later told congress quite specifically that he did not have to tell them and did not. The second really interesting point was that Mr. Sherman pointed out that he was being called by people who worked on Wall Street basically begging for the bail out.
What began this market failure was the deregulation of the banking industry which was strongly supported by Greenspan. Mr. Greenspan did not believe in any financial regulation and was a follower of Ayn Rand. We therefore have two things going on that are fascinating and are largely responsible for our current financial problems. One was the belief that regulating business is wrong and that is why none of these bankers responsible will ever go to jail for the horrible things that they allowed and promoted. If you are a supporter of this "libertarian" perspective (it is not libertarian, it is objectivist and practically a religion) then why regulate begging?
In the past few years cities have put restriction on begging in public. There is one city that is even attempting to outlaw feeding the homeless in City parks or property. The bias seems to be when the poor ask for a handout but not when wealthy supporters ask for one. Think about it this way, millions are losing their homes; but, the people that lent the money after having asked for deregulation were bailed out and put the cost on you and I.
The problem seems to be that there is no justice. Justice is when we are all treated the same regardless of wealth, color, religion or sex. Nope, Mr. Trump summed it up best. He said if you owe someone a thousand dollars, you have a problem; but, if you owe them a Billion dollars, they have a problem. We call this blackmail.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Nelson Mandela and Illegal Aliens in America
Nelson Mandela has passed away. Mr. Mandela led an interesting life and after taking over South Africa managed to prevent it from sliding into what could have been a horrendous civil war. Not an easy thing to do. Prior to the end of apartheid in South Africa many westerners made a lot of claims against apartheid; but, rarely was the whole story told and part of it has some relevance for the United States.
South Africa, like many other countries, allowed people from neighboring countries to come there on work visas for decades. These people were not considered citizens. One of them was a young Indian attorney named Gandhi. He later left and return to India where he was the primary force behind freeing India from English control. While in South Africa, Gandhi set out to give Indians the vote; but, they were not citizens. In fact many were indentured servants who had come there with no expectation of citizenship. Here is the hypocrisy, today many are applauding Mr. Mandela's life, as they should; but, many of these same people are outraged that the United States has illegal aliens here from Mexico.
Some may argue that these people are here illegally and they are; but, many of them have been here for decades working in the fields. How is it that we allow so many people to come here to work as undocumented workers picking our fruit and being given so few rights? You cannot have it both ways. There is a discussion going on right now about giving citizenship to "illegal aliens" in America and I think we need to see how we had called for the same in South Africa.
Part of the reason that we don't see the similarity is because many viewed the situation in South Africa as being the same as it was here; but, there were some real differences. You might be interested to know that South Africa abolished slavery before the United States did. Most people don't know that. It should also be noted that South Africa had a lot less slaves than we did.
I am not arguing for open borders, I am questioning our claim on moral superiority over what went on in South Africa. We have whole families that were born here to parents who came here illegally. If caught, the parents can be sent back to Mexico and the families ripped apart as their children have no right to Mexican citizenship. Over the next few days we are going to hear a lot about how great Mr. Mandela was for ending apartheid, my question is, how much sympathy and compassion can we find for people who come here without permission that work the most menial jobs in our country?
South Africa, like many other countries, allowed people from neighboring countries to come there on work visas for decades. These people were not considered citizens. One of them was a young Indian attorney named Gandhi. He later left and return to India where he was the primary force behind freeing India from English control. While in South Africa, Gandhi set out to give Indians the vote; but, they were not citizens. In fact many were indentured servants who had come there with no expectation of citizenship. Here is the hypocrisy, today many are applauding Mr. Mandela's life, as they should; but, many of these same people are outraged that the United States has illegal aliens here from Mexico.
Some may argue that these people are here illegally and they are; but, many of them have been here for decades working in the fields. How is it that we allow so many people to come here to work as undocumented workers picking our fruit and being given so few rights? You cannot have it both ways. There is a discussion going on right now about giving citizenship to "illegal aliens" in America and I think we need to see how we had called for the same in South Africa.
Part of the reason that we don't see the similarity is because many viewed the situation in South Africa as being the same as it was here; but, there were some real differences. You might be interested to know that South Africa abolished slavery before the United States did. Most people don't know that. It should also be noted that South Africa had a lot less slaves than we did.
I am not arguing for open borders, I am questioning our claim on moral superiority over what went on in South Africa. We have whole families that were born here to parents who came here illegally. If caught, the parents can be sent back to Mexico and the families ripped apart as their children have no right to Mexican citizenship. Over the next few days we are going to hear a lot about how great Mr. Mandela was for ending apartheid, my question is, how much sympathy and compassion can we find for people who come here without permission that work the most menial jobs in our country?
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