Should The USA Bail Out Bush's Bankers?

Mike Whitney doesn't think so:

The same banking giants who cooked up the subprime scam have just presented the Bush administration with a $739 billion bailout package they plan to unload on the American taxpayer..

The Bush administration is not just philosophically opposed to oversight; they've handed over the entire financial system to a cabal of banking scalawags who've turned it into their personal fiefdom. This same cast of fraudsters engineered the subprime swindle and ripped off trillions of dollars from investors around the world. And, don't kid yourself; Bush is proud of the damage he's done...

The cult of free market orthodoxy and Reagan-era flim-flam has put us on track for another stock market crash ala 1929. That's why Bank of America and their buddies in the industry have turned to the administration for a way out. Their flagging balance sheets can't take another year of rising foreclosures and dwindling assets. They need Big Brother to cover their debts and rebuild their capital-base. Otherwise its curtains...

Let the banks go under. They created this mess. Besides, all we're doing is rewarding the people who deliberately destroyed the system. They can fend for themselves. The first order of business should be to restore public confidence; not bail out crooks. “Credibility” matters in a market-based system; especially one that relies so heavily on the hocus-pocus of fractional banking. When trust is lost; the system crashes. End of story...

Second, people in positions of authority have to be held accountable for their crimes. Millions of investors have lost their life savings or retirement in the subprime/securitzation debacle. Someone's got to go to jail. Apologies just don't cut it. So far, not one CEO has been led off to the Paddy-wagon in handcuffs. It has all been swept under the rug by an administration that has filled every regulatory position in Washington with industry lobbyists, business-friendly tycoons and corporate “yes-men”. The results are just what any sane person would expect; disaster.

But if you are serious about not bailing out the banks, then you have to look at what would happen next. It seems to me that Joe Public will get royally screwed either way.

Imagine major banks across the USA closing their doors. You would have ordinary folks banging at the gate to get their cash savings out. It would be chaos. I've seen it happen in Argentina.

Then what? If the big banks fold and walk away - even if the CEO's go to jail - you still need some kind of system in place.

So who's got the cash to set up a bank? The same rich bastards who set up this whole sorry debacle - the Cheneys and Rockefellers and Bushes and all their friends in the Carlyle Group and beyond!

What's the alternative? You let the Chinese government move in and set up banks across the USA, given that they are the only ones with assets and proven financial management skills! Like that's gonna happen, right? And lest we forget, the Chinese bankers are just another brand of corrupt autocrats who will happily screw everyone in sight if and when they get the chance.

So what to do? Hide your cash under the bed and hope it doesn't devalue due to hyperinflation before you can spend it? Put your savings into tangible assets like gold nuggets? Or just take a deep breath, look out the window, and notice that the sun is still shining, the moon is still glowing, the rain is still falling, the grass is still growing, children are still playing...

The best things in life are free. In all the excitement, it's important to remember that. In fact, it's more important than ever to remember that.

THEN go hold these bastards accountable!