Monday, March 17, 2008

The biggest financial double standard of them all

When poor people go broke, the laws are changed to make it harder for them to declare bankruptcy. They are told "it's your fault for being greedy", while banks give them loans that the banks know they can't pay. Minimum wage is far below interest rates, and it's nearly impossible to live on. No health care for you unless you can pay for it - that's "socialized medicine" and doesn't work (except for every country that implements it outside the US).

But when the financial markets go bad, the banking industry calls out "save us, save us!". The banks are "too big to be allowed to fail", so other financial institutions get to have $30 billion in US banked loans so JP Morgan Chase can buy failing Bear Stearns for 2% of its value - if it doesn't work, then the US taxpayers get to pay for JP Morgan's loan. If it does, then JP Morgan gets an incredible amount of wealth.

Oh, and what gave Bear Stearns all of that debt? Buying up tons of bad house loans.

Sorry - this time, let them fail. Let the assets be sold off for pennies on the dollar, let new businesses rise up who can prove they can handle it better. Yes, there will be pain while this process occurs - but to allow people who have made billions in profit now fleece the taxpayers for their mistakes is certainly not "free market", or good for anyone save those who are in power.

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