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  • Charles VanBuskirk

    VanBuskirk

March 9, 2010

My View: Go after the moneyed elite

By Charles VanBuskirk

NORTH MANKATO — Professor Ron Yezzi’s letter to the editor, published Feb. 25, was a powerful reminder that the progressive Democrats we elected in 2008 have been unable to change a government that is controlled by the wealthy elite.

Rep. Darrell Issa, of the House Committee on Government Reform, has recently dug up documents that reveal Goldman Sachs had insured roughly $20 billion worth of subprime collateralized debt obligations with AIG default swaps. But the New York Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs never revealed this critical fact: Goldman didn’t merely buy insurance on a bunch of random subprime CDOs.

They were actually special CDOs it had put together and sold to its own clients including AIG. Goldman bought insurance because it knew they’d collapse, thus sealing the doom of AIG, which they also knew did not have the collateral to back it up.

Although these transactions violated the fair trading securities laws, the U.S. Treasury, loaded with wealthy bankers and professional investors who promulgated the myth that crooked big banks are too big to fail, bailed out AIG who then paid off Goldman, thus successfully “laundering” the toxic CDOs.

Repeated bailouts gave the signal that the government was willing to become a money machine. For a convincing revelation of the con games that our financier geniuses use to steal our money see Matt Taibbi’s article posted Feb. 17 in Rolling Stone (www.rollingstone.com). Yet not one of the financiers who the FBI has the evidence to prove fraudulently solicited sub-prime loans, or bundled them into extremely risky derivative CDOs, or created default swaps against inevitable failure has been indicted for these crimes.

As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, President Obama has the power of the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security plus state and local police. Of course, exposing the frauds will cause most guilty firms and banks to fail, but depositors are protected by the FDIC.

We have learned that the Treasury can print money at will; so now, instead of using it to buy off the thieves, they can use it to shore up the economy — pay back depositors and continue unemployment benefits, while reducing them by creating millions of jobs with loans for energy industries, making education available to all, etc. when the thousands who colluded in the widespread frauds are convicted, trillions of dollars will be recouped in restitution and fines. Then a reasonable plan can be made for paying off the national debt.

By taking on these well-heeled criminals, the Democrats will show their commitment to the public good, and the lobbyists and their employers will be laughed out of town.



Charles VanBuskirk is a licensed psychologist. He lives in North Mankato.

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