10 Things You Can Do to Starve the Wall St. Beast and Grab Yourself a Piece of the Pie

[Octafish]

Something to be thankful for, in a Dickensian kind of way:

10 Things You Can Do to Starve the Wall St. Beast and Grab Yourself a Piece of the Pie
We must put the wealth back into the hands from which it was taken in a rigged wealth transfer scheme.

Pam Martens
November 25, 2010

Dialogue on the economic crisis has focused on symptoms: bailouts, corruption on Wall Street, collapse in housing prices, intractable unemployment, Federal Reserve monetary policy. Most people have been socialized to silence on the topic of the disease itself: debilitating wealth concentration. We hear little on the overwhelming argument that wealth concentration is the root cause of the lingering crisis because within milliseconds of the words escaping into the public arena, screams of “Socialist! Socialist!” proliferate; an army of right wing talk radio buffoons fill the airwaves with dire warnings of the growing communist threat of wealth redistribution; Rick Santelli spazzes out on CNBC; and the Tea Partiers figuratively (or literally) stomp on us.

The people who scream the loudest aren’t the super rich who control the wealth; they’re part of a labyrinthine network of hired hands who function as high pitch bodyguards for the wealth hoarders. The actual super rich are the folks who appear on the Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans; people like Charles and David Koch, each worth $21.5 billion, who create multi layers of front groups, like Americans for Prosperity, to make it not only socially acceptable to hoard wealth but social nirvana. The Kochs hold secret confabs with their wealthy friends once a year, fingering their worry beads and plotting to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest, lest they become number 6 on the Forbes list of billionaires instead of number 5. This, while 43 million of their fellow Americans live beneath the poverty level; including one in every 5 children.

David Barber, Associate Professor of American History at the University of Tennessee, is not afraid of the cacophony from the wealth hoarders’ cabal, writing bluntly about the dangers of wealth concentration. In response to an email query last week, Dr. Barber said:

American society’s fantastically skewed distribution of wealth stands as one of the main structural fault lines underpinning the Crash. America’s richest one percent of the population own over forty percent of America’s wealth — exclusive of home ownership — in this, the most opulent society history has ever known. On the other hand, the bottom sixty percent of Americans own approximately one percent of all of America’s wealth. Maintaining the Bush tax cuts for the rich only perpetuates a part of the contradiction which brought on the present phase of the world economic crisis.

Dr. Barber’s statistics come from a study conducted by Edward N. Wolff for the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College in March 2010. Other findings from that study include the following:

The richest 1 percent received over one-third of the total gain in marketable wealth over the period from 1983 to 2007. The next 4 percent also received about a third of the total gain and the next 15 percent about a fifth, so that the top quintile collectively accounted for 89 percent of the total growth in wealth, while the bottom 80 percent accounted for 11 percent.

CONTINUED...

http://www.alternet.org/economy/148970/10_things_you_can_do_to_starve_the_wall_st._beast_and_grab_yourself_a_piece_of_the_pie/

It's not "redistributing the wealth" when Wall Street does it. It's policy.

[daleanime]

1. Bookmarked....

for later.

[loudsue]

2. Great post, Octafish.

Even in the physical world, when the top is too heavy for the supports underneath, everything collapses. It's the same with the economy.

[siligut]

3. I just shortened it some. The ten points.

It is a good article, many common sense behaviors, but it is always good to be reminded. I wanted to simplify it.

(1) Shorten Your Home Mortgage.

(2) Think Local: Consider moving money as it becomes liquid out of the big Wall Street banks that have an iron grip on your Congress and moving it into FDIC insured certificates of deposit at your community bank (being careful not to exceed the insurance limits.

(3) Start a Business: Don’t worry about the possible arrival of the pink slip; be proactive.

(4)Invest Wisely: Get smart with your 401(k). Investing in the S&P 500 is simply feeding the beast.

(5) Check Out Credit Union Membership.

(6) Don’t Use Credit Cards from Corporations That Abuse You: All of the following have one thing in common: Home Depot, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Macy’s, Sears, Zales. They all extend credit to their customers on a Citigroup credit card.

(7) Brand Attacks: Chances are high that your local storeowners don’t have a PAC and lobbyists on K Street working against your interests? Reward them with your business and starve the S&P 500 firms until they get the message.

(8) Return the Courts to Workers: Many of the largest corporations force workers to sign away their rights to the Nation’s courts as a condition of employment.

(9) Complain: Don’t let shady practices go undetected.

(10) Just Say No: To frontal nudity photographs/skin radiation/genitalia groping; all just to board a plane. Don’t fly. You will be standing up for civil rights and starving Wall Street. Body scanner companies trade on Wall Street and the banksters are hoping domestic surveillance is their new cash cow.

Number 9 is actually the most important one for me. The "conservatives" are always moaning and groaning about supposed injustices and they get media attention or are the damn media like limpballs and Glenn-I'm a-crybaby-Beck.

[RKP5637]

7. Nice compacted list! Thanks!!! n/t

[Poboy]

4. Crash JPMorgan Buy Silver campaign goes global

The Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver Manifesto or: How to Get Hedge Funds To Do Your Dirty Work For You And Drive the Price of Silver to $500

Outline:

1 – JP Morgan has a huge short position in Silver – estimated to be 3.3 billion ounces – tied to an enormous, extremely precarious $65 trillion derivatives position.

2 – Various exchanges around the world have been caught manipulating the price of Silver using ‘naked’ short sales i.e., counterfeiting.

3 – Of all the actively traded commodities traded around the world, Silver is one of the least plentiful and its supply is shrinking, but its industrial uses are multiplying. The ‘networked’ age of global communications is built with Silver.

4 – Hedge funds are taking physical delivery of Silver – adding substantial demand as well as exposing these exchange’s naked short positions – who are already scrambling to deliver – jacking prices up to multi-decade highs – and inspiring these predatory funds to buy more Silver.

5 – There are billions of people around the world who are aware that banks have been committing fraud and embezzlement who are upset that their politicians seem only interested in helping the banks commit more fraud – who are looking for a cheap way to non-aggressively fight back and decapitalize these banks.

6 – Many of these people have the access and wherewithal to purchase 1 ounce of Silver – thus removing hundreds of millions of ounces of Silver from the ‘paper’ market – forcing additional scrambling by dealers to fill orders by buying back short positions – inspiring the funds to buy and take physical delivery of even more Silver – creating a colossal short squeeze – in which JP Morgan stands to be the biggest loser.

7 – Buying Silver is how the world is monetizing its anger at the banks who stole their wealth.

8 – Crash JP Morgan Buy Silver

===

http://maxkeiser.com/2010/11/18/the-crash-jp-morgan-buy-silver-manifesto-or-how-to-get-hedge-funds-to-do-your-dirty-work-for-you-beta/

[Karenina]

12. I do so hope that we serfs can find enough solidarity

to participate in this action. It's a win-win for US rather than the banks and indeed holds the potential to leave a mark.

In this holiday season, rather than buying doo-dah, INVEST in your good wishes for your loved ones FINANCIAL SURVIVAL. It can be framed as a symbolic gesture or a prelude to Econ 101, the value of saving.

[formercia]

13. Silver is a sleeper.

Solar Cells use a lot of it.

I bought what I could afford, earlier this Year when prices were in the $16 range. It's not on paper or in some unallocated fund. I have possession. I did my bit.
Diamonds are a good investment right now. Prices are depressed by about 2/3 from before the crash. You can pick up Industrial Rough for just a few dollars a carat. When the economy improves, the demand will increase, driving up prices.

[Poboy]

15. This action is not just about financial gain, but about financial gain as a consequence of

proactive, anti-financial terrorist action. It is something we all can do, and do with effectiveness.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Venezuela was just designated the MOST EQUAL COUNTRY IN LATIN AMERICA...

by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, with the Chavez government having reduced poverty by half and extreme poverty by more than 70%!

See these threads:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x44480
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x44696

This is one of the reasons that our rich elite and multinational corporate/war profiteer rulers hate Chavez and his government so much but don't tell you that who they really hate are the people who elected the Chavez government, twice, by big margins, in an election system that is far, FAR more transparent than our own. In a transparent system, the poor majority can elect leaders who represent the majority. We can no longer do this. Our system is run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY electronics with the code largely (80%) owned and controlled by ONE, private, far rightwing corporation--ES&S, which just bought out Diebold--with virtually no audit/recount controls. This is, of course, not the only thing wrong with our system but it is the final nail, hammered into place during the 2002 to 2004 period, with a $3.9 billion e-voting boondoggle from the Anthrax Congress. Real reform cannot even get off the ground until you can elect good leaders.

Drastic reduction of poverty is not the only achievement of the Chavez government that people who rely on the corpo-fascist press don't know about, but it is the one relevant to this thread. So I thought I'd mention it. It IS possible to narrow the gulf between the rich and poor--the essential condition for a decent and democratic society--but you have to be able to ELECT people to do it. It IS possible to run a transparent electronic voting system (Venezuela has one) but you have to prevent corporations from participating in it and keep it entirely--code and all--in the PUBLIC VENUE. And it IS possible to elect an FDR-type leader in the 21st Century. Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Nicaragua and others have proven it.

First step here toward "New Deal II" is getting rid of the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines!

It IS doable. There is NO federal law requiring these diabolical machines (yet). This coup was accomplished by corruption of our state/local legislators and election officials and filthy lobbying. But it will take a widespread citizen movement to undo it. Forget Congress. The movement has to concentrate on local jurisdictions where control over voting systems still resides. We need to hold a real "Boston Tea Party" all across this country to take this essential first step back toward democracy.

Just want to say one more thing about Venezuela. The people of Venezuela elected a government that serves the majority in spite of a viciously hostile corpo-fascist press in Venezuela--where corporate TV/radio moguls openly supported and helped organize the 2002 coup attempt. While the corpo-fascist press is problem no. 2, as to electing good leaders, it CAN be overcome with transparent vote counting and a lot of grass roots effort. The grass roots here has been demoralized and disempowered by repeated baffling, inexplicable election defeats. This will change once transparent vote counting is restored.

[RKP5637]

8. Yep, when hate MSM propagandizes Venezuela as evil, then in my mind it

says to me Venezuela is doing something right! We desperately need a "New Deal II." And to drive the corporate vampires and rigged elections out into the light.

[ProSense]

18. But not big

on civil rights.

The grass is always greener.

[bcool]

6. Keep your 30 year mortgage & prepay it

One quibble I have with the recommendations is the one about replacing your 30-year mortgage with a 15-year one.

I would suggest keeping the 30-year one (with its lower payments) and simply prepaying it as your income permits. That way, if you have a financial crisis it'll be easier to keep making your required house payments.

I believe if you prepay the difference between a 30-year & 15-year loan you'll end up paying it off in 15 years (or something close to that) without putting yourself at risk with the higher payment.

[RKP5637]

9. Excellent point, especially in these unstable economic times with employment

instability.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. Yep, you are right.

The key there is to make sure there is NO pre-payment penalty in the mortgage.

Pre-paying is a great idea as long your loan is written to allow it.

Bankrate.com has a feature where you can figure out different ways of paying off your mortgage to save the most in interest.

80% of interest is repaid in the first 5 years of the loan, btw...

Therefore we added the most we could afford to "extra principle" payment option each month for the past 5 years.

Looks like we will save about 45,000 in interest AND have the loan paid off in 12 more years.

Assuming of course the bankers do not figure out a way to steal the house before then.

We also bank locally and use credit cards ONLY for online purchases, pay the bill off each month.

[dkf]

10. I agree this is a better way to go instead of putting all the energy into hating corporations.

And in all my years I've never had a problem with my credit union. Keep a line of credit for overdrafts and auto pay at least a minimum balance for your credit card and you are good to go.

[Richard Steele]

14. K&R

[amborin]

16. K&R

[bobthedrummer]

17. Some of US get creative, kick. n/t

[Poboy]

19. kick

[Swamp Rat]

20. Buy stock in L-3 Communications - own a controlling share of full-body scanning tech

Most Freedumb-Fry Americans do not really care about freedom anyway.