A Short History of US Government Handouts

[Joanne98]

A Short History of US Government Handouts - by Stephen Lendman

Global economies are withering while Washington conceives "Financial Recovery Plan(s) from Hell," according to economist Michael Hudson in his latest February 11 article. Bankers demand more trillions, "or (they'll) plunge the economy into financial crisis." What they want they'll get, and here's where things now stand.

On February 10, Bloomberg.com reported that Treasury Secretary Geithner "pledged government financing for as much as $2 trillion....to spur new lending and address banks' toxic assets, seeking to end the credit crunch hobbling the economy." Hudson calls it "Stage One of a two-stage plan," so far unannounced, to transfer trillions more to corrupt bankers who caused the problem in the first place, yet taxpayers will get little more back than the bill.

On February 11, The New York Times reported that "House and Senate leaders....struck a deal on a $789 billion economic stimulus bill after little more than 24 hours of rapid-fire negotiations....clearing the way for final Congressional action later this week (so) Obama (can) sign the bill on" February 16 in a prime time TV spectacular.

In America today, they're called bailouts, but throughout history they were handouts. Some quite generous (though nothing like today's) and always for the privileged. Never for the public interest or greater good.

Last October, Howard Zinn wrote about them in his Nation magazine article titled "Bailout - A Great Opportunity:"

"Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a 'free market,' we have always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. These titans of wealth hypocritically warned against 'big government' but only when (it) threatened to regulate their activities, or when it contemplated passing some of the nation's wealth on to the neediest people."

http://www.opednews.com/articles/A-Short-History-of-US-Gove-by-Stephen-Lendman-090213-519.html

[Wapsie B]

1. Part of me would love to give the free market nuts a truly free market.

Then see how long they last.