Alan Greenspan is a sack of crap

[Indenturedebtor]

Watched his discussion of his new book.

On wage disparity (paraphrase) - "There are some interesting studies that show that happiness has nothing to do with income. This is something that we're going to have to address. For example take the fact that per capita income has gone up drastically but people are no happier." Um yeah you grizzled turtle, cause all the money is going upwards while inflation tags along.

On globalization (paraphrase) - "We are on the cusp of something truly magnificient. The incomes of poorer countries are converging with the industrialized countries. And you can almost see the invisible hand of Adam Smith guiding it all! It's been an incredible force for good." Good for the rich to become super rich, and solidify their grip on the entire planet. How can a massive labor market be good for us? Oh that's right we have to sacrifice our futures for the rich and people in other countries... right.

On the retirement of the baby boomers (paraphrase) - "Well the politicians should tell them that they need to retire later. Or cut their benefits, or tax the young people... but what we really need to do to increase production is to better our education and to increase our import of foreign skilled and highly skilled workers from the developing world. This will dramatically suppress wages which will increase productivity, and will also make people feel better about wage disparity. You see, people care more about their social standing than their income. It's a sad fact." WTF?!?!?! Ok medicare issues i got it. But suppress wages to better the economy? Who's economy? Oh that's right, the only people that "matter": the super rich. But at least we can all poke fun at the foreigners who we let in to take our jobs.

On the coming period of massive inflation and economic downturn (paraphrase) - "Unfortunately interest rates will have to skyrocket, and I fear that the political system will freak out. What I'm most afraid of however is the populist movement gaining a greater hold in America. Thankfully it has been very low key since the 90's, but in a time of economic strife it threatens to overwhelm this great capitalist system." Yes wouldn't it be terrible if the plebes could see doctors, and have homes and stuff. That would leave far less space for golf courses and people with no soul like you would have to wait in line to have your bodies preserved.



This whole worship of completely unregulated capitalism is garbage. Markets are for unneccesary things. You think the army relied on the market during WWII? Hell no, it FORCED manufacturers to make friggin tanks, and asked housewifes to grow vegetables and knit socks. The reason that we've been the most powerful nation in the world isn't because of the ability of people to get super rich at the expense of others... it's because of their ability to force people to work themselves to death like slaves to make them richer. You know, I'll take some time with my family over working 70 hours a week any lifetime, and in belonging to a country that can kill massive amounts of people so they can take their resources and make them compete with me for a job. Oh but the rich get to work 5 hours a week and sit on TV talking about the glory of free markets.

Eat the fuckers I say. Douse them in their own Poupon and eat them! Let them fight their own wars and plunge their own toilets.

[grasswire]

1. yesterday I saw a talking head on cable...

...say that it isn't really a bad thing that the dollar has fallen to near-historic lows, because a weak dollar will help the economy of border cities such as Detroit and Vancouver, and bring a lot of tourists to the U.S.

[scarletwoman]

2. Woot! Righteous rant! "Eat The Rich!"

*sniff* Brings me back to the glorious days of my youth, when many a wall was emblazoned with that exhortation...

sw
:hippie:

[wtmusic]

3. We could give that single mother working two jobs health care

but she wouldn't be any happier, so why bother? :eyes:

[ljm2002]

4. These people do not realize...

...how they give themselves away, do they?

Greenspan says we need to "...increase our import of foreign skilled and highly skilled workers from the developing world. This will dramatically suppress wages which will increase productivity, and will also make people feel better about wage disparity." -- it's a jaw-droppingly classist and bizarre statement -- just how is importing more people to take more jobs from Americans, going to make us feel better about wage disparity? I'm having trouble grokking this...

"What I'm most afraid of however is the populist movement gaining a greater hold in America." -- now that is a true look into the soul of the modern capitalist.

[Disturbed]

5. Greenspam is a Capitalist Asshole.

I will not shed a tear when he croaks. His wife Andrea Mitchel is a Media Whore & a RWing Shill. I loath them both.

[Indenturedebtor]

6. Yes and though

That wasn't an exact quote I tried to remember it as acurately as possible. The transcript isn't up yet but I'm going to save it when it becomes available. He is their prophet, Reagen was their king, Bush is their jester, and they come to bring a message of trickle down economics: "We're pissing on you"

[KT2000]

7. I'll be glad when his book tour

is over and he is off the tube.
What a sick jerk he is.
He structured a society where the rich feed off the middle income investor - over and over again.
His religion/philosophy is guilt-free greed as prescribed by Ayn Rand. She also taught that the elites really are better than the riff raff and therefore deserve more.

Then he has the audacity to say that "humans cannot improve themselves."

Can't believe such an insane person ran the fed for so long - but the proof is all around us.