Does our Federal Government really have the consent of the governed? Are the American people well represented? Over 80% of the citizens of this Country were opposed to the bail-out of Wall Street and the Large Banks, and yet we bailed them out anyway. In fact, we now learn that the $700 Billion TARP program which was jammed through Congress, in spite of overwhelming voter opposition, was just a drop in the bucket compared to the Trillions that the Federal Reserve Bank, without oversight, doled out to the large banks and financial concerns. Senator Sanders found $15 Trillion in a limited audit of the FED, and Bloomberg’s FOIA request found $7 Trillion of almost zero interest loans. PEOPLE: WAKE UP! If you or I could borrow trillions for free, and use it to speculate in the market (with a government backstop), or invest in government bonds, we would be rich too. This is the largest fraud/wealth transfer in the history of democracy, and yet very few people are connecting the dots and realizing that these bail-outs are the reason why the prices of food and gasoline have gone up relentlessly. We should be marching in the streets, but, alas, most people are too busy trying to earn a living.
Charles Hugh Smith has it exactly right. The bail-outs, and their claimed "necessity", are the BIG LIE method of propaganda. Letting over leveraged institutions fail, and letting the system cleanse itself, would have been painful but we would be in recovery by now (see: Iceland). The bail-outs did not benefit the American people, the bail-outs benefited the banking interests and their employees, the Washington, DC politicians. We were threatened that there would be martial law if TARP was not approved. The Government story is that we would have had a second great depression without the bailouts. I say – NONSENSE. Nothing in this world is too big to fail (think Soviet Union) and the cost of not letting things fail is exactly what we are currently burdened with. THE BAIL-OUTS CREATE INFLATION. The banks make lending mistakes, we pay in the form of higher inflation because the FED prints money to cover those mistakes.
A working list of examples of the government ignoring "the will of the people":
Most Americans are Anti-War and yet we have multiple undeclared wars in progress.
President Obama won because he spoke Anti-War themes, yet he has not delivered.
Also, the wars are enormously expensive and are a large part of the budget problems we are having.
The finances of the Federal Government are completely out of control and the deficit and debts are at historic levels which can only lead to economic chaos and massive inflation.
Most Americans are opposed to Torture, Rendition, Extra-Judicial Killings and Guantanamo, yet they continue.
Most Americans think we should mind our own business and not be an Empire, yet we continue to behave like an Empire. Furthermore, we cannot afford to be an Empire.
Most Americans believe we should take care of our own first, and yet foreign aid and the cost of foreign entanglements are a huge budget item.
Most Americans believe the Federal Government employees should live by the same rules that they do, yet Congress and the Senate are exempt from insider trading laws.
Most Americans oppose special treatment for the banks and the "too big to fail" doctrine and yet it is still in place.
Most Americans believe in the right of habeus corpus and trial by jury, yet the government has taken and is taking actions to eliminate these rights in order to keep us "secure".
Most Americans believe that in fighting evil, it is important not to become evil.
That is, principles trump methods. The beauty of the American ideal is that it is based upon principles and fairness. When we compromise on these principles we harm ourselves.
