In his latest interview, William K. Black discuss the state of our nation as far as the current financial disaster we have found ourselves in (and not, I might add of our own making, as some have repeatedly tried to re-write history about). The 'captured Regulators,' those who were charged with the public trust and financial integrity of our nation were bribed and bought. It really is that simple.
Mr. Black has had his finger on the pulse of our key financial markets for the past 30 years, and as one of the most effect Regulators during the Savings and Loan Scandal in the 1980's, he was able to literally throw some 1,200 Bankers asses into jail right where they belonged for 'FRAUD.'
To fully understand the 'scale' of what we as a nation now face, as compared to the Savings and Loan Scandal of the 1980's you simply must watch this video below.
I am not now, nor have I ever been a fan of Max Keiser and I was surprised to see that he entered a diary this morning here on DailyKos. I read the diary, and found it highly offensive, however, I do have a great deal of respect for Mr. Black. When commenting on Mr. Black's statements, I would appreciate it if 'we' could form the debate directly on Mr. Black, and not on Max Keiser. This diary is not about Max Keiser. It is about a great truth teller in our nation, Professor William K. Black. Got that? Thanks.
I am sorry, I do not have a transcript for this video, although I did try to search the web for one.
What Mr. Black points out over and over again is how deeply systemic this national 'cover up' really is, and continues to be 'hidden' from the American taxpayers at all costs. That is because if Americans fully understood exactly how many of our institutions, regulators, rating agencies, and other (formerly) highly respected financial 'masters of the Universe' were deeply entrenched in this malfeasance and fraud, all hell would literally break lose.
One of the points Mr. Black makes is that because so much 'money' has been hidden off of the books, there is yet to come the 'true' loss figure (he estimates, just as many have, somewhere between 6 trillion, 10 trillion, 15 trillion, or more, but that regardless, because the the taxpayers are (on purpose) not privy to these actual figures, that are still being hidden off the books by the Banks, and are still being hidden by our own Federal Reserve and Treasury, this is one of the PRIMARY reasons our nation is unable to move forward towards recovery.
Mr. Black talks about Gresham's Dynamic, or Gresham's Law which is thus:
Gresh·am's law
The theory holding that if two kinds of money in circulation have the same denominational value but different intrinsic values, the money with higher intrinsic value will be hoarded and eventually driven out of circulation by the money with lesser intrinsic value.
(Economics) the economic hypothesis that bad money drives good money out of circulation; the superior currency will tend to be hoarded and the inferior will thus dominate the circulation.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/...
When the 'powers that be' decided to go with the 'cover up' story, then that decision (probably made during a time of utter panic) had severe consequences and repercussions for our entire nation.
Rather than 'coming clean' and admitting the 'toxic losses' (in the trillions of dollars) what is going on now is that the Banks are indeed, 'hoarding' the good money, which has left our nation on the brink of madness.
First, 'we' paid to bail out Wall Street and the Banks. As you will recall, under Hank Paulson and that fucking idiot George W. Bush, the TARP FUNDS were supposed to go to help the home owners, but instead ended up in the hands of the Banks and the Investment Houses. Freddie and Fannie Mac have a ATM card directly into the 'veins' of taxpayers with a blank check, that is literally turned into one continual 'bail out' month after month, in an endless 'pissing into the ocean' scenario.
Second, 'we' paid with our jobs, our retirement funds/savings, and of course millions have and will continue to lose their homes in foreclosures, because 'they' are still losing their jobs. Millions of Americans are running out of unemployment and having their 'food stamps' cut off as a result of this 'economic disaster.'
Third, because the 'toxic debt' is still being hidden and the 'cover up' continued, those Banks that are sitting on top of $26 trillion dollars and hoarding this money, our entire nation is in deep, deep gridlock. As I have stated in other diaries, the single reason that original Stimulus Package was so pitifully underfunded, goes back directly to the fact that 'Wall Street/the Banks' were the ones that 'were paid off' and there simply wasn't enough money to inject back into the citizens of our country.
Forth, nearly 25 percent of all homeowners in our nation, are currently 'underwater'...
A whopping 11.2 million mortgage loans, or 24 percent of the country’s total, were underwater as of March 31, according to real estate research firm CoreLogic. And that’s not underwater as in flooded basements, that’s underwater in terms of the mortgage value exceeding the home’s value.
When you add the 2.3 million homeowners on the brink of falling underwater, those with equity of less than 5 percent, the total rises to 13.5 million, or 28 percent of mortgages, AOL Finance reports.
An eye popping 4.1 million homeowners have negative equity of greater than 50 percent.
So again, this is exactly what the 'cost of allowing corruption' to continue in our nation has cost the citizens by the 'great cover up.' More and more Americans are simply walking away from their homes, rather than being held hostage by the Banks, many are doing so, because they must move to another state, simply to survive if they are lucky enough to find gainful employment, which is disappearing quickly throughout our nation.
To date, not one single Senator or Congressman has stood up and demanded that the Corporations who are 'outsourcing our jobs' be heavily taxed until this practice stops. Yes, there are all kinds of 'pretty speeches going on in order to placate the Unions, but as the saying goes, 'faith without deeds is dead.'
Instead, our nation is bankrupt, both financially and morally. When the most 'basic' ethics are removed and ignored in our political body, then that way leads to madness. A nation without a moral compass is a nation adrift in chaos.
We have been 'nation building' everywhere (except in our own country) for the past 10 years or more, with our troops in more than 130 countries throughout the world and today we set staring at the new Vietnam war, right in the face:
Tucked into this massive Army report on suicide is an interesting fact: Since 2004, the number of soldiers going AWOL, deserting, and "missing movement" -- that is failing to deploy when they're supposed to -- has gone up a shocking 234 percent.
The Army includes this fact on page 92 of the 350 page document, in a section on misdemeanor crimes -- alongside motor vehicle violations, substance abuse, and other crimes -- which collectively have been rising at the rate of more than 5,000 a year for the last five years. "Good order and discipline are on the decline," the report says.
Alternatively, one could say that after seven years of war in Iraq and nearly a decade in Afghanistan, American soldiers are increasingly unwilling to risk their lives for unpopular wars with an unclear path to victory.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I am not surprised in the least to find out that nearly 60 percent of the people in our nation feel that 'we are on the wrong tract, going in the wrong direction.'
"When the economy's bad almost no other issue matters and it just hasn't turned around. And until it turns around whoever is in power is going to take heat for it and right now it's the democrats," said Fairman.
That means the democrats are getting the blame for the direction the country is going, and right now 58 percent of people think the country is headed the wrong way.
"There's a lot of poll numbers I'd be worried about if I were the democrats, that's the one I'd be most worried about. that's not a good number," said Fairman. And until the economy improves, chances are approval ratings won't either.
http://www.wwlp.com/...
But, as Mr. Black points out, again and again and again. Putting our heads in the sand, and 'pretending' that the landscape of our crumbling nation 'just happened by accident,' will continue to keep the money flowing towards the 'top one percent' of those in our nation who now own 90 percent of our nation's wealth, and that, my friends is NO ACCIDENT.
The American people are 'just beginning' to pay. We thought that the original $ 700 billion dollars in TARP funds was the big payoff, but what really ensued after this was allowed to pay off the same corrupt and fraudulent players, was just the beginning of a 'domino effect' that keeps falling into place, day and day after day in our nation.
Our jobs, our homes, our life savings, the Cat Food Commission, coming after the final safety net. When you allow 'them' to take, and take and take, believe me they will never stop until we stand up and demand that our nation once again becomes a nation of laws, not of men.
Neither party has developed a 'job program' of any meaningful substance, because, once again, the 'toxic debt' is still floating out in the 'make believe world' of the 'cover up' that apparently our government, actually believes we, the people are too stupid to understand. If you are wondering why there are no 'job programs' or why our nation is standing still, then I guess the easy way out is to blame the Republicans or Democrats, but in fact, both parties were entirely complicit in the mess we find ourselves in, and both parties are more than aware that the 'big cover up' is why we are still not, and will not be moving forward for the next two decades.
As Mr. Black states, this is the Japanese ten to twenty year 'cover up' that we are now experiencing, this is the cost of 'corruption.'
Mr. Black states that when he was the top Regulator/Prosecutor during the Savings and Loan scandal, he had a staff of 50 attorneys working under him. He also states that currently the FBI has 1/5th of the same amount of staff currently working on the Fraud that has taken place in our nation, and the fact that the money involved 'this time around' is 40 times greater than what it was during Mr. Black tenure during the Savings and Loan debacle.
Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? Why would such a pitiful amount of attorneys and staff in the FBI be in charge right now during such a huge and horrifying catastrophe, when so much is at stake for the citizens of our country.
There is only one answer, and that is because the FBI and our government is not the least bit interested in 'uncovering' the corruption that has taken place. As Mr. Black states, recently the 'top Regulators' in our nation were asked 'How many criminal investigations against the Banks, the Sub-prime lenders, or the Investment houses have been brought against these crooks, liars and thieves in the past decade? The answer:
NONE. That should tell you all you need to know.
"No government can continue good but under the control of the people; and . . . . their minds are to be informed by education what is right and what wrong; to be encouraged in habits of virtue and to be deterred from those of vice . . . . These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure and order of government."
Thomas Jefferson
William K. Black understands the difference between right and wrong, as do most of the American people, who played by the rules, for small piece of the American dream.
It is our 'leaders' who forgot the difference, or worse yet, do not care any longer about the difference between right and wrong, and still except us as a people to have faith in our government. As I mentioned earlier, 'Faith without deeds is dead,' and our government has lost the public trust, because of the continued 'national cover up' of corruption that lead us to the place we find ourselves today. Every single American who has been touched by this 'economic catastrophe' regardless of whether it is a job loss, a home lost, a family lost, savings lost, whatever that cost, then you need not look any further as to why our nation is not moving towards 'financial recovery.'
Mr. Black has painted the picture clearly for all of us to see. Hiding the toxic debt, and pretending that the Banks are not 'hoarding' the money, while America is sinking into the 'quick sand' of oblivion is the price, we are all paying and will continue to pay for decades to come, and that is why we are not moving forward in our nation. That is why there are no jobs, that is why there is no 'recovery' on the horizon, and as long as we do not face up to the 'truth' of what really happened to our country, it is the citizens, the little people, who will continue to pay, again and again and again.
That is the price of corruption.
Thanks as always.