America Is Being Raped ... Just Like Greece and Other Countries

[girl gone mad]

America Is Being Raped ... Just Like Greece and Other Countries
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/06/america-is-being-raped-just-like-greece.html

Greece is thinking of selling some islands. Austria is thinking of selling mountains to pay off their national debt. Cities throughout the U.S. are thinking of privatizing their parking meters.

What's going on?

Well, as I predicted in December 2008, bailing out the giant, insolvent banks would cause a global debt crisis:

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is often called the "central banks' central bank", as it coordinates transactions between central banks.

BIS points out in a new report that the bank rescue packages have transferred significant risks onto government balance sheets, which is reflected in the corresponding widening of sovereign credit default swaps:

The scope and magnitude of the bank rescue packages also meant that significant risks had been transferred onto government balance sheets. This was particularly apparent in the market for CDS referencing sovereigns involved either in large individual bank rescues or in broad-based support packages for the financial sector, including the United States. While such CDS were thinly traded prior to the announced rescue packages, spreads widened suddenly on increased demand for credit protection, while corresponding financial sector spreads tightened.

In other words, by assuming huge portions of the risk from banks trading in toxic derivatives, and by spending trillions that they don't have, central banks have put their countries at risk from default.

Top independent experts say that the biggest banks are insolvent as they have been many times before.

And a study of 124 banking crises by the International Monetary Fund found that propping banks which are only pretending to be solvent hurts the economy.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/06/america-is-being-raped-just-like-greece.html">more...

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

1. Thankfully, Brazil got hold of some mace.

It came in real handy.

[ProfessorPlum]

2. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein lays out the blueprint

I read it a few years ago and was horrified. Now I see it happening here with my own eyes.

[sendero]

3. 99% of Americans..

.. have no clue what has just happened. You cannot have a functional Democracy when the populace is ignorant and incompetent.

[robcon]

4. Blaming the national debt crisis (mountains of deficit spending) on the banks is wrong.

The governments decided to spend the money. Don't blame the banks who believed they'd be repaid.