Not to mention how PC we have become. Let me take this opportunity to qish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

" most Americans seem to be watching sports, American Idol, Entertainment Tonight or worrying about who Paris Hilton is doing this week. OK, that's my rant for the day. Thanks for listening."

Perhaps because most Americans do not feel that doom and gloom is the answer to the problems. Perhaps most Americans understand that change comes in small doses. Be thankful that the ( Birthers, Deathers, Tea Baggers, and right wing nuts ) aren't in power.

Happy Thanksgiving.~Smile~

There has been a large scale redistribution of the wealth of this nation -- done in swift, large scale moves the past two years. The lion's share of our wealth has been placed in the hands of two large industries -- finance (banks/Wall Street) and insurance (AIG) by virtue of TARP funds and guarantees to the tune of over $4.3 trillion and the middle men, non producing banks now hold 44% of the nation's wealth in their vaults -- refusing to loan any out, which is their function. They didn't lose a dime in this 'recession' they caused because of gov't guarantees, engineered by their man in the White House, Paulson. Meanwhile, each of us is saddled with $30,000 in debt for this bailout, while over 7 million of us have been thrown out of our jobs. And the banks without justification raised interest rates to as high as 30% to suck up as much of our remaiing money as they can. Deregulation by Reagan we can thank for this.

Gloom and doom? No reality check . One industry, single handed, has thrown this nation into a recession and cost the homes, jobs and family resources of millions -- dropping millions from middle class to poverty. They are breaking the middle class, on a wholesale scale.

The function of banks is to loan money out to keep the economy going. With their coffers overflowing with money they borrowed from us, for that's what the government funds are, OUR money, a debt we all owe, the trillion plus the Treasury printed out for them, they used a good portion to buy up smaller banks and are sitting on it -- refusing to lend out to small businesses, the backbone of our economy. Small business employs 80% of the people in this country. So starving off small businesses so they cannot make loans for inventory we can see this Christmas for when many make 75% of their annual revenue, they could not get loans and their shelves are bare. Those that used their credit cards to stay in business are now paying 30% -- enough to break them. The banks are penurious making mortgage loans, too, to credit worthy people, stalling the real estate market that could rebound.

No 'small steps' are going to reverse this scale that has tipped our economy to the banks and insurance giants. Regulation is needed, as was done in the thirties. That is how the playing field was leveled and we were able to build back a thriving economy. Mortgage foreclosure laws were enacted, restraining mustache-twirling bankers from taking people's property without due process and some constraints. Judicial foreclosure laws were enacted so one had a day in court and the ability to redeem their property, even after foreclosure, if they could come up with the funds to buy the sheriff's deed back in a year. Usury laws were enacted, placing a limit on how much a creditor could charge for consumer goods. 12% was the limit in many states. Mortgage interest rates had a limit, too.

We need regulation back to put a halt to the rampant greed of the banking and insurance industries. Yes, the insurance industry needs regulation, especially is all will be compelled to buy from the and place our very lives in their hands. We need the same measures that Franklin Roosevelt took to balance the scales, protect the public from the overweening power of the banks. That is no small step but a huge one, especially when those who sit in the halls of congress are bought and paid for by these same industries.

And we need a man in the White House with enough courage to start the ball rolling and twist whatever arms he has to to get the job done.

Gloom and Doom? Yeah, I kinda think so, because how many different ways does this issue have to be raked over the coals. None of this is news. As for the white-house, I agree that some butt kicking and arm twisting is in order. Hopefully this administration is learning a lesson or two in it's first year. However I'm on the side of " Ideas? ". I would prefer a grassroots town hall type solution solving meeting, as opposed to an anti-government shouting match about who did what, and when. Even Franklin D did not solve the economic issue in one year, and he had the added distraction of a World War to contend with as well.

I understand the frustration. These are hard times. But what is needed more than a review of the discontent, is ideas floated to congressmen on how to fix the problems. We need to learn from the mistakes and move forward.

I was not trying to project a message of gloom and doom, Charles, I am sorry if that is the way you interpreted my post. I was trying to project a message of hope for my children and grandchildren and your children and grandchildren. I have been studying American history lately and one thing seems to stand out. Several times in our history, the nation has been brought to the brink of destruction by unimpeded capitalism and social Darwinism. We keep doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. This is the definition of insanity according to Einstein. I just wish our leaders would study history so we could stop repeating the same mistakes over and over again. We keep getting bogged down in wars that we can't win. Didn't we learn anything from Vietnam? Don't we know that Afganistan is where empires go to die? Don't we get tired of the rich and priviledged sending the sons and daughters of the working class off to die in the wars they started in order to make themselves richer? Don't we remember the J.P.Morgans and the Carnegies of the past? The names of our age are Gates, Trump and Buffet They make fantastic fortunes off of the toil of millions. I am hopeful that we will grow up and make the necessary changes so that my children and grandchildren won't have to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of the few and the elite. Thanks, GG, for expanding on my thoughts. And thanks, Cod. I often disagree with you but your willingness to persevere in the face of unrelenting criticism has earned my respect. For the rest of you, I reccomend that you read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and then The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. You will then see that there is no certain answer to any of our problems. Neither the left nor the right has all the answers. That's why I am an independendent and a populist.

An extremely interesting contribution mojo, thank you for it.

I do not think there is a need for any more regulation. What seems to fail is enforcement of th regs. something to consider th past decade has had some pretty low mortgage rates. There has been recently for a large number of people a big jump in credit card rates.
Is that the year the populist party suppoorted William Jenning Bryan to run for president on his cross of gold speech? by 1896 the Populist Party pretty much was gone short lived much potential but can you name two things the populist party accomplished?

yichel, you need to read Bloomberg and a bit of history. Then you would understand how the interest rates didn't 'just happen', how the foreclosures didn't 'just happen' that the banks, without any fundamental reason raised to double the ARM mortgages and caused the recession -- calculatingly.

They can make money on a 1 12% spread between the fed rate they pay for their $$ and what they charge. The fed rate has remained near "0%" yet they raised the rates from 4.5% neighborhood to 8.13% and even more on the ARM's.

Ditto for credit card rates. There is no reason other than rampant greed when the banks are paying 0.25% for their money to charge 30%. I think you are missing the big picture -- understanding how money circulates and is priced in this country.

I stick wih m belief Ron paul presented the idea of bu yearly audits of th FED. again a waste so the Audit and do nothing
every person who can red saw the housing bubble no one actedd what regs would have changed that?
since 2001 from greenspan to bernake the ey decided to keep onterest rates low hoping that wal street would self regulate rather then go to town the purpose of wall street is to make money thats it. Once again the low rates kept inflatioon down to some degree but as you said offered wall stret cheap moneu how could additional regulation have changed that?

I don't understand a word of your posting yichel.

Can you correct your appalling spelling and re-post please.