Tag Archives: financial sector

“The Stealth Coup D’Etat”

30 Saturday Oct 2010

Posted by in Democrats, economy, Republicans, special interests, too big to fail, Wall Street

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“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws.”—Mayer Amschel Rothschild.

From Tyler Durden’s, The Stealth Coup D’Etat:

“…for the past 25 years or so, finance has boomed, becoming ever more powerful. The boom began with the Reagan years, and it only gained strength with the deregulatory policies of the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations.

…From 1973 to 1985, the financial sector never earned more than 16 percent of domestic corporate profits. In 1986, that figure reached 19 percent. In the 1990s, it oscillated between 21 percent and 30 percent, higher than it had ever been in the postwar period. This decade, it reached 41 percent…The great wealth that the financial sector created and concentrated gave bankers enormous political weight—a weight not seen in the U.S. since the era of J.P. Morgan (the man).”

…Once you have control of the financial powers of the U.S. via the tiny Elites of the Congress, the Executive Branch, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury, then the rest of the government will follow.

This is how the Stealth Coup D’Etat works: the machinery of governance grinds through a simulacrum [ a slight, unreal, or vague semblance] of democracy, but it’s all for show; the theoretical structures are now completely different from the political realities…The Power Elites and their Stealth Coup are apolitical. They don’t care about the color of your uniform; whether you wear a blue shirt or a red shirt is inconsequential.”

Or as Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker put it, “You’re just voting for which of the two bank robbers you like being assaulted by more – the guy with the red ski mask or the one with the blue one.”

Going back to where we began, Durden concludes:

“The Stealth Coup can be traced by a simple dictum: follow the money. Once you control the money–the money supply, the manipulation of yields and bond sales, the budgeting and borrowing–then you control everything.

This is how a small Financial Power Elite dominates the vast, sprawling American Empire.”

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The Growing Financial Sector and the Shrinking Middle-Class

28 Wednesday Apr 2010

Posted by in economy, Politics, Wall Street

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Arianna Huffington wrote an article at Huffington Post yesterday about the loss of our manufacturing base, the coinciding shrinking of the middle-class, and how the financial sector has become an increasingly disproportionate part of our economy. In her words, “the share of our economy devoted to making things of value is shrinking, while the share devoted to valuing made up things (credit swap derivatives, anyone?) is expanding.”

A few points from the article to consider:

“Since the recession began in late 2007, we’ve lost 8.4 million jobs. Over 2 million of those were manufacturing jobs, the kind of jobs that have traditionally delivered American families into the middle class — and kept them there. We lost 1.2 million manufacturing jobs in 2009 alone.

…In 1950, manufacturing accounted for more than 30 percent of non-farm employment. As of last year, it’s down to 10 percent. Indeed, one-third of all our manufacturing jobs have disappeared since 2000.

…between 1973 and 1985, the financial industry’s share of domestic corporate profits topped out at 16 percent. In the 1990s it spanned between 21 percent and 30 percent. Just before the financial crisis hit, it stood at 41 percent.

…One out of every six blue-collar workers has lost his or her job in the latest recession — a number commensurate to what happened during the Great Depression.

…it’s not just manufacturing and lower skilled service jobs that are disappearing. According to the Hackett Group, companies with revenues of $5 billion and over are expected to take an estimated 350,000 jobs offshore in the next two years alone — nearly half in IT, and the rest in finance, procurement and human resources.

…Accenture now employs more people in India than in America. And IBM is headed in the same direction.

And the horizon looks even darker. A Harvard Business School study found that up to 42 percent of U.S. jobs — more than 50 million of them — are vulnerable to being sent offshore.”

The conclusion is this:

“It’s not too late to change course. The financialization of our economy didn’t just happen. Decisions were made that made it possible — and decisions can be unmade. But first we need to decide, as a country, what kind of economy we want to have: one that’s good for middle class families or one that’s built to enrich Wall Street.

It’s time to start separating the real economy from the casino economy.”

Financial Reform? Don’t Count On It

12 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, economy, Financial Crisis, lobbyists, Politics, Republicans, special interests, Wall Street

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While watching the Senate Banking Committee Kabuki theater on reforming and regulating the financial industry, keep in mind the findings of this study from Consumer Watchdog:

* The financial sector is the largest source of campaign contributions to federal candidates and parties. Members of the Senate Banking committee aretop recipients of that largesse. Senate Banking committee members have received $41.9 million in campaign contributions from PACs and individuals in the financial sector since 2005.

* 24 former Senate Banking committee members or committee staff currently lobby on behalf of the financial sector. The total includes 4 former Senators and 7 former committee staff directors.

* Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) raised $9 million from the financial sector, 51% of his fundraising over the five year period. Ranking member Richard Shelby (R-AL) raised $2.5 million, 28% of his total money raised, from the financial sector.

* Last November, Chairman Dodd tasked himself and seven other Banking committee members with re-drafting the major sections of financial reform legislation. These eight senators – Dodd, Shelby, Corker, Crapo, Gregg, Reed, Schumer, and Warner – have received the lion’s share of financial sector contributions to the committee: a total of $26.1 million.

* The financial sector and its lobbyists hosted at least 43 fundraisers for 11 members of the Senate Banking committee in 2009.

But on the bright side, jobs are being created:

* The financial sector hired 2567 lobbyists in 2009 and, in the first three quarters of the year, spent over $336 million lobbying Congress.