Skeeter, I'll tell you a story, but you have to pay attention because it's a long one.
In the 1970s people dressed up to go on an airplane. It was a luxury to fly and somewhat of a social affair. The only reason I flew was because I was in the military and was being transferred here and there.
In 1995 I went to Las Vegas for a high school reunion and getting on the plane was like getting on a Greyhound bus. People were in shorts, sweatpants, and reeked of alcohol. It was my first indication that something was different in the world.
As 2000 approached, I found many, many new cars driving down the freeway. I remembered when buying a new car would bring everyone in the neighborhood over to your house for a look-see. By 2000, buying a new car was a yawner.
By 2001, new houses were everywhere, springing up like corn in a cornfield. In 2001 I visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a place I used to go as a kid and lo' and behold, thousands upon thousands of beach front homes were being built. Many of them palatial in size.
I remember talking to my wife about this new world order and we both wondered how in these people could afford these new homes and cars and airplane trips. We certainly couldn't. So, I did some reading.
I learned that the average fifty year old in 1995 had only $5,000 in savings. I learned that consumer and individual housing debt was skyrocketing. I concluded (by myself, using my own intellect) that the average American was going deeply in debt to buy all this stuff I was seeing.
Now, you and Rogue and your group are convinced that ridiculous situation was all orchestrated by the bankers and their friends at the fed to enslave the American public. That somehow all these bankers convened in a back room and planned this explosion of lending and borrowing knowing that it would enrich them and destroy Middle America. (I can't help but get this mental picture of an old James Bond movie with Goldfinger presiding over a room full of international criminals). This is so stupid that I can't even summon the words to describe it. Anybody that has ever spent a second in a government or in a corporate environment knows it is stupid. Mish has been trying to tell you this but talking to you people is like talking to the Flat Earthers.
What we have been watching for the past twenty years is the result of a bunch of dopey people in the corporate and government world that may get 1599 on their SATs but can’t find their ass with both hands. The New Yorker has a great article entitled Rational Irrationality that explains all of this quite succinctly.
Many people in the banking community made extravagant amounts of money during the boom(s). And so did computer guys. And so did real estate developers. If only you could have seen the look of joy on the farmers who were selling their land, the expression of giddiness on real estate developers, the satisfying glow of all the new home buyers, the cries of happiness from the plumbers, framers and electricians, not to mention the realtors, mortgage brokers and title companies, you would know that it was no conspiracy. It was good old populism that brought on the boom and sustained it. It was you and me and our neighbors. People could care less that the corporate head of Leman Bros. made $20 million dollars. Times were good, and people thought hell…the way things were going, maybe their $20 million year was right around the corner. Had the Fed had even hinted at taking away the punch bowl, they would have all been replaced quicker than you can say three-car garage.
So, around 2003, I concluded that the country was in debt. Really in debt. And I decided that my wife and I wouldn't do that. We paid off our house, kept our old cars, and made our lunches. We took all of our money out of the stock market and waited for the bottom to fall out (and the conspiracy theorists to emerge, blaming everyone but those most responsible for this mess).
Yes, the fed should be abolished. Yes, gold is probably a good investment. Yes, the dollar is in lots of trouble. Yes, the fed bailed out the banking industry and many bankers are extremely rich. And yes, some bankers should go to jail. Yes, people who have saved are being punished to prop up the system (but not really). Yet to ignore the root of the problem (which is plain ol’ American stupidity) is to make a serious mistake.
I worry about the young people you may be influencing with your conspiracy theories. Always ‘the man’ and never the face in the mirror with you guys. |
