We are now witnessing in the United States the public demonstration of a long-standing (but hidden) truth... our supposedly "free" markets are in fact centrally-controlled, regulated and thoroughly manipulated by a cabal of private banking interests.
The proposed rescue of Bear Stearns is a tangible analogy for the new operating procedures now governing US financial markets and the entire US economy. The consequences of incompetence and failure (losses) will be socialized - passed on to US taxpayers - while successful risk management and investment (profit) will be increasingly concentrated among a shrinking number of private interests. Also consider that public/regulatory scrutiny is being applied after-the-fact. Although one could argue that centralized/private control of the US economy and US markets has been in place for decades - if not centuries - it's public exposure is a new phenomenon caused by the inherently false/vaporous assumptions and mechanics of supply-side AND Keynesian economic models. The longer these models and their obsolete underlying assumptions are allowed to prevail, the more centralized private interests will be compelled to intervene publicly in markets and re-inflate their value-less "assets" at our expense (I say 'our' expense because exposure to the $US dollar - worthless paper - is global and all encompassing).
The US Federal Reserve is a private institution, accountable to no one, not even the US Congress, the President, or the American people. If the Fed is private, then who owns it? A good question... the answer to which has been illegally withheld from the US Congress and the public despite numerous direct requests uder the Freedom Of Information Act. The US dollar is a pure fiat currency, now experiencing a rate of monetary inflation of 17% annually (and increasing). The US government (i.e. US taxpayer) does not issue it's currency... we lease the currency from the private Federal Reserve. Yes, we pay the Fed a substantial fee for the privilege of using their notes.
The US economy has generated more debt than value in every year since 1982, and the ratio of debt/value has only worsened. The amount of debt currently being rejected (a literal value of $0) by global credit markets was worth more than $2 trillion only 10 months ago. The inevitable losses, which will be fully realized only AFTER all risk is transferred to the public sector, will be in the tens of trillions.
So how does one digest equity market rallies like those we have seen in the past two weeks? Has perception buried reality, once-and-for-all? Is perception now a temporary state made permanent, requiring massive conspiracy on the one hand and unprecedented apathy on the other? Why do I feel like Keanu Reeves, clean-shaven in a womb-like pod, being fed a manufactured reality through tubes and wires? Why do we "free" and rational individuals accept anything short of full transparency and accountability with regard to our public policy institutions?
-- MP
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