Obama needs to tell it like it really is. Nov. 26th, 2008

For the last few months now we have seen the unfolding of the inevitable result of monetary deregulation, unbridled and insane speculation, cover ups by the mainstream Media and lastly, the specter of hope and change as embodied in the new President Elect, Barack Obama. Does the latter have the ability to turn around decades of carpetbagger capitalism and bring the power back to the people ?

Not in the sense that has been alluded to in the vacuous electioneering slogans or the tear jerker acceptance speeches. An Economic recovery means that the economy works, not just that the Financial sector is back on track to wreak even more havoc and continue to reap their rewards off of the backs of working people. The electorate is expecting things to go back to the way it was. Big houses, Big cars, Big wages to pay for all the Big and expensive luxuries that are an integral part of the "American Dream". Wasn't it Donald Rumsfeld who said "The American way of life is not up for negotiation!" Such Hubris is the fatal ingredient in the expectations that have been loaded on to Obama's back. Things can never be the same until the way wealth is earned has been changed from the ground up. Gone are the days of borrowing your way to wealth. This was always an unsustainable system.

There is no getting away from the basic fundamentals of a system which marries work, production, saving and growth. Period. Borrowing trillions of dollars from other countries to "jump start" the economy by injecting "liquidity" and "credit" in to it's heart is no cure for the inability of people to borrow even more money. Banks lend money. Banks are the problem. Banks need to be let go in to chapter 11 to detox and then recreated in to something resembling a rational business venture under public scrutiny.People have to earn the money in a functioning economy, pure and simple. Because of the propogation of a credit based economic model, people who actually still have jobs are working, many with 2 or even 3 jobs, for seven days a week in an effort to pay off a mortgage of say, $100,000 while living in a house worth say, $40,000. Is this productive work ? Is this how an economy grows in to a healthy, self sustaing organism ? Obviously not.

If we take it back to the 1950's , after the second World War, we see an entirely different model of consumption and production. People were inclined to save, to put money by for the things that they aspired to. There was a culture of prudence that has dissappeared in modern times. The expectations back then were based on the principle that, if you wanted something, you had to work for it. The idea of going in to debt and paying 20% interest would have seemed insane. The economy could grow under this rational influence. It flourished like a rice paddy after the rain. It fed on the fruits of financial wisdom and a steadier hand on the economic tiller. It was a system where goods were manufactured and surpluses were exported. If there was a need for something, it got "Made in the U.S.A.".

These were more balanced times and market corrections could be made while preserving the integrity of the system because the fundamentals were still extant. What we have now is a system that was deliberately spun out of control for the benefit of the few who controlled the money supply and the means of production. We saw the acceleration headlong in to the miasma of derivatives, credit default swaps, mortgage backed securities and all the rest of the lethal arsenal of the Financial Profiteers. Along with this departure from real money came the search for bigger profits at any cost. Why employ an American worker when you can get 20 exploited foreigners for the same price ? Looks good on a balance sheet and a P/E ratio. But, who makes their money in the stock market ? Not Mabel Jones in Boise, Idaho who's raising 6 children alone after her husband died of work related asbestos poisoning and all the family savings went on medical bills or Joe Kubek in Greensburg, Kansas, whose small farm could not compete with the Agribusiness giants or John Mulzer in Silicon Valley, California, who lost his high paying job in software development and got thrown out of his house with little or no chance of finding another job to get back on his feet. These are the people who need the help, the bailouts, the largesse and the support of their elected officials. If these are not the people who are the absolute number one on the list of priorities right now, then all the flags, the parades and the speeches have been for nothing.

Aided by the occupants of public office who came through the revolving door on Wall St., this rush to riches was instigated with ever increasing ferocity. Paul Volcker and Lawrence Summers both hail from the banking cartel of the Federal Reserve and the World bank. Summers , while working for the World Bank, quite liked the economic savings to be made by exporting toxic waste to third world countries because the population didn't live that long anyway. Volcker was instrumental in deregulating the markets and unleashing the curse of derivatives. Come to think of it, the latter was under the auspices of a Democratic president. Oh yes, these are exactly the guys that are needed to bring sanity back in the front door and kick out Mr Bad from the arena. Barack Obama is telling the American people that it is possible, with some monopoly money, to bring back the good times of credit laden consumption. One, he cannot possibly be serious and two, how long does he think he can continue to take money from other countries without having the means to ever pay it back. By surrounding himself with the omnipresent clique of liars and crooks he has singularly distinguished himself by reneging on his election promises before he's even sworn in. He knows perfectly well what would be required to reconstruct, (not "jump start") the U.S. economy, and Hell will freeze over long before he would ever say it.

It's been way too long since the U.S. brought forth a leader that actually talked sense to the electorate. It is way past time for the U.S to bring forth a leader who will be honest with the electorate; the truth needs to be spoken here. It's way past time for vacuous editorialising, empty promises, cronyism, kleptocracy, apathy, death by television, SUV's, mindless faith in Capitalism, the Free Market and the sincerity of politicians. Something has got to give and Barack Obama needs to level with his fellow citizens and guide them through the bleak future that awaits to collect it's dues.