Tuesday, September 23, 2008

MAXED OUT

Anyone interested in a relatively straightforward account of how we got into the mess of our current financial crisis may consider taking a look at James Scurlock's documentary, Maxed Out. Indeed, since the film was released in 2006, it makes for an interested bell-wether in its capacity for recognizing how (and why) things would get worse. The film has one fundamental take-away message:

If an ordinary American citizen accumulates an unmanageable debt (which is a lot easier than one might think), that citizen is likely to spend the rest of his/her life paying for it.

However, there is a message that parallels this one that brings us closer to the present:

If the United States government accumulates an unmanageable debt, its ordinary citizens are likely to spend the rest of their lives paying for it.

We can now home in on the message for our current situation:

If a major American financial institution accumulates an unmanageable debt, the United States government will absorb that debt into its own unmanageable debt; and the result is (guess what?) that ordinary citizens are likely to spend the rest of their lives paying for it.

Basically, the whole activity bears a shocking resemblance to any gaming table in Las Vegas, which is intentionally designed to keep the house rich at the expense of its customers. Is it any wonder that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is speaking out so strongly about keeping her country away from such a table?

2 comments:

Mimi said...

What else will the criminals in Washington do to us? Not only do they splash blood on our hands with an immoral and illegal war, now they're trying to enslave our grandchildren before they're even born. Will look for the film.

Stephen Smoliar said...

By George, you've got it, mimi! There are any number of events that may be interpreted in terms of a scenario that will culminate in the creation of
a new class of slaves
. We have progressed (sic) from 1984 to Huxley's Brave New World!