the reality of a burgeoning crisis

Hey friends, so like, what the muck is goin’ on with this whole housing thing an all the foreclosures, bailouts, fed rate cuts and this whole entire economic mess going down now…
Oh man, you know…it’s like, a complicated thing…but really, some of it’s pretty simple.
Yeah, tell me some more…explain it in real terms that I can understand…
Alright, well…

Hey here’s a good idea…let’s offer a bunch of protections and bailouts for the large banks and lenders (wholesale financial institutions) and really stick it to the self-employed worker in the meantime.
Hey, but, wait…wouldn’t that kinda undermine the economy, I mean, hasn’t it become a tenant of domestic business that we encourage entrepreneurial endeavors…and aren’t those run by the self-employed, for the most part?

So, I mean, if we bailout the big wholesale financial institutions and encourage, even dare I say, reward, shoddy executive control over the larger wholesale financial institutions, without passing that support and protection on to the self-employed, along with the rest of the general population, isn’t that going to compound the economic problems we already have?
Whose bright idea is this again? What…Senators? Really…hmmm…oh, The House, too? Even the Federal Reserve? Don’t worry, I’m going to get to who is at fault, it will become apparent, as well as to indicate a method for correction. But let me first wipe out party politics. The majority of this mess stems from legislation signed by President Clinton, and the pure ignorance and inability to manage this country from the Bush administration…but even those facts do not tell who is at fault.

Anyway…what should we be doing about it, especially if we are self-employed, or work as contractors, or work in businesses that rely on contractors and the self-employed?

Ok. I’ll blog it…Ok, I’ll include links to contact legislators.

https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Form
http://banking.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Information.Subcommittees
mailto:info@small-bus.senate.gov
file a report at the federal reserve portal


So what you’re sayin’ is that we (the people) have a right and responsibility to make Washington aware of the fact that we see what’s going down, and that due to this public awareness, we insist on holding them accountable to their constituencies (the people). So in other words, we (the people) can actually make government work by being involved and demanding transparency and equitable action from our elected officials?

So…really, though, I mean…domestic business isn’t really all that tied to self-employment and sub contracting is it? Oh really…wow…I guess I wasn’t watching while most of the manufacturing and low-wage jobs (hourly jobs) were being outsourced and shipped overseas…hmmm! So yeah, basically, right…I guess, really, in order to keep our economy from collapse, since we ARE so reliant on high-tech businesses in the US, which includes a large number of self-employed and sub contractors, we really do need to watch this issue…amazing!
Thanks for the input…

I, as an entrepreneur and self-employed person, was getting a little worried about the fact that I seem to be being bankrupted by my lenders (two of the biggest wholesale financial institutions) as they constrict my working capital to a point where my business cannot sustain itself (and yet they still expect me to cover their interest rates at what, like…nearly ten times prime, aka “onerously high rates”) while they are being bailed out and handed big government concessions to protect their business interests, which are primarily in peril due to their own mismanagement anyway (giving even the best benefit of the doubt, many would argue it’s completely intentional wrangling of the system, but conspiracy isn’t necessarily the real issue even if it is occurring).
I mean, I was beginning to be like…what’s going on around here? Ok ok…in some cases it wasn’t mismanagement, you’re right, it does seem to be due to just plain old unethical business practices…lying, cheating, “predatory lending,” as they call it in banking…wow. But it’s not just banking and homeowners who are at risk here, folks…the entire economy is in danger of collapse if things are let go…

I’m not trying to scare you or go all doomsday on ya here but listen…this is for real. Realize what I’m talking about here…BANKING=MONEY.

C’mon people…if you don’t think that a full scale 1930’s styled depression is an issue you don’t want to have to deal with, that’s great, that means you are so well off and protected that economic collapse can’t affect you. I’m wonderfully happy for you that you are isolated…but for the most of us, for the general public (and that’s most of us) with car payments and house payments and tuition and medical expenses and insurance and rent to pay and kids to feed, and all of that…economic collapse, another great depression, or anything close to it is NOT gonna be ok. It’s not even close to being ok with me.

Oh, the basis for my viewpoint? Well…it’s just me…yeah…well, you see, I’m right in the middle of it…and I’ve been watching it develop and unfold as we go along here…I am a developer and business owner who uses my capital and credit wisely but that has not insulated me from this crisis. Trust me here, I know what I’m talking about. I have regular talks with Bank of America executives and with the office of the chief officer of (formerly) Household Finance (now one of the HSBC silos).

You see, from time to time, information gets leaked by individuals who don’t want to lose their jobs, but can’t just sit back and watch this all go down (mostly moral reasons for leaks)…and I take that information and bring it to you…that way, nobody loses their job…yet you, as a reader, get to be informed…

There have been a few interesting stories, haven’t there…here are some links…
Oregonian releases JPM/Chase memo
Clinton promotes plan to freeze foreclosures
NYT reports cuts in December '07 (4.25%)
Forbes reports March ’08 rates at 2.25%
NYT: fed acts to rescue financial markets
NYT reports affluent ensnared in current housing crisis
The big-ass bailout...
housing...banking...big mess
Senate says Closed White House Meeting on Small Business Economy: Too Little, Too Late
Senate Statement: Federal Reserve Bank/SBA data shows home mortgage crisis spreading
A little cartoon for a humorous explanation in non-BS language


Fed Trims Rates Sharply, Sending the Markets Up
Bernanke unleashes…“a blizzard of emergency loan programs for cash-short banks and investment firms.” – NYT


Here’s the deal…
If you take an agreement (to repay a loan at a certain interest rate) that held up in a bubble market, and refuse to restructure that agreement in a recessed market, as a large wholesale financial institution (keep in mind corporation’s deals are being restructured, in essence, by the federal reserve), what you are doing is cutting off your nose to spite your face.

How can I easily relate this…
Big fish can’t eat ALL the little fish up at once, or big fish will not be able to eat. Get it? It’s like, rotting from the head down…it’s all too true, and when it happens, guess what…it’s a lose lose situation.

So for yourself, should you care, really? Well, ask yourself…do I want to see millions of Americans resorting to collecting garbage in order to eat and survive like I see in the news from countries in the “third world?” Am I really insulated enough to sit by and watch economic collapse and financial ruin (on a national scale), or would that probably be likely to affect me as well?

Here are some problems…
Kneejerk reactions…compounding already difficult issues.
Corporate responsibility deficient because shareholders are not holding executives accountable.
Governmental mismanagement due to government being too strongly tied to corporate and religious interests.
Government oversight malignant because constituency is not holding Government accountable.
WHY?
Simple.
Propaganda.

We’ve been conditioned in a mass effort by an elite group to think, feel and act as though holding Government and industry accountable is somehow stigmatized in a negative way, so that action is somehow viewed as a negative form of involvement, when, in reality, it is not only not negative, but essential for Government to function properly.

It’s a case of years of the same old thing…it’s build up…let’s look at an example. For instance, if you never once do the dishes in your home, what happens? Things get messy, right? Sure, and, also, it’s a lot harder to clean up than if you do those dishes on a regular basis. The same principles, on a much larger, and therefore more intricate and harder to remedy scale, apply to mismanagement. When we let things go, things get out of control. When things get out of control, we feel incapable of turning things around. Not true! We must simply work a bit harder, a bit longer, and be a bit more diligent. Nonetheless, we must turn things around.

Government has, I believe inadvertently, but nonetheless effectively, cut off its nose to spite its face.

What can solve this problem (the problem(s) that could lead to total collapse of our way of life, I might add) is that Government can admit that it has, inadvertently, caused the will of the people, which would naturally tend to adjust to suit the people in the most beneficial manner (we are built to survive, people…it’s not that we won’t survive, but only how well we’ll do it), to become secondary to the interests of industry and religion, which, in turn, has eliminated the necessary involvement of the people.

I hate hate hate to say this, because it will alienate some of you, but, we must remove corporate and religious control from Government.

NO, of course we don’t want to see religion (considering religion as a metaphor for the principles of ethics and morality) abandoned. Of course not. But yes, allowing special interests to run rampant in conjunction with mediocre and lackadaisical public involvement may very well cause Government to fail to operate to such a degree that we could see, worldwide, hugely negative impact. Even worse, it could be right in the backyard you used to have before the bank foreclosed on you.

Can you imagine the new, “honey, I’m off to the landfill to get dinner” weight control diet?
Do you want to?
Yeah, it’s like that…I didn’t think so…and you know what? Neither do I.
But listen, it’s not ok to allow the large lenders to be bailed out unless they are going to follow through and restructure loans (even to the self-employed!) to the consumers. If government is not functioning correctly, the people are to blame. We must ensure Government functions effectively in protecting the people from the inherent risks of capitalism. There must be effective oversight of Government by the people.

Further, I would like to point out that in past times of crisis the CRA’s have come under scrutiny for the role they play in brokering the worth of individuals. Demand, using the links above, that your representatives are sure to investigate the role of the CRA’s as we attempt to negotiate the treacherous financial waters of global economy, starting right here, domestically, right now.
It could be that a third party may have to be installed to manage corporate responsibility directly until the crisis is over. It could require legislation, mandate or referendum in order to execute a remedy for this crisis. While freezing all foreclosures seems like it would compound the problem by derailing an already fragile system (even a barely working system is still working and any transitions from barely working systems must be made even more cautiously than from healthy systems!), and I do not agree with that particular approach, but any mandate that is good for business should be acceptable by business, because, well…duh, because it’s good for business, by definition.

From New York Times writers, we see that while government has provided bailouts and protections to wholesale lending institutions, those institutions, especially in my particular case, have not passed “incentives to refinance mortgages carrying onerously high interest rates” on to the consumer.

As it effects our entire economy and therefore our nation as a whole, we the people must react in unified fashion to insist that our legislators and policy makers provide adequate oversight and protection for our way of life.

honestly truthful epiphany demonstrates factual reality #sixwords
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