@ztisdale The persistent struggle throughout history has been between whether an oligarchy controls resources or governments ostensibly representing all the citizenry. The problem is not size of government, it's influence of the wealthy on government.
Banks don't ever have to be at risk. Money is created out of thin air by typing numbers into a computer system. At any point, it can be created by the central bank to recapitalize any commercial bank in need of liquidity, and this is exactly what happened in 2008. Many people have been lulled into the mistaken belief that the mortgage bubble is a consumer issue, or a demand side problem, and that something is wrong with people. In engineering problem solving, you keep asking "why" until the question cannot be answered any longer, and then you've arrived at the root cause. Why do investors buy property to rent out, inflating asset prices? Because the credit is readily available for them to do so, and banks are happy to lend to credit-worthy debtors. This is a credit supply issue (supply side problem). Suggestions like "we need to change our culture" won't do anything. Policies that limit the amount of debt available for investors and speculators will. I could write 5,000 words about why interest rates are a distraction for the public because they don't understand the mechanics of inter-bank cash flow, but in short: they rise and fall to offset the cost of short term (overnight) loans that banks sometimes have to take to ameliorate the liquidity issues they create for themselves by issuing such egregious volumes of debt in the first place. But what if a bank is conservative and never has to take a short term loan? Their interest rates could be completely decoupled from the central bank's prime rate. The proof of this is in the fact that during a high interest rate period, commercial banks have many mortgages on which they are still be charging lower rates. When a couple is looking to buy a house and start a family, what do you mean that they should "wane themselves off debt". How is that couple supposed to accrue $600,000 to buy a house? The banks need to stop creating credit for the speculators and investors, it's not the speculators' or investors' fault for trying to increase their wealth legally.
@SebS343@JustinTrudeau@POTUS If my house was annexed by someone, I wouldn't ask anyone to die to try and reclaim it for me, I would seek resolution through the court system, especially if the rest of the community supported my claim on my own house.
A productive economy is all that matters, numbers in computer systems (debt) mean nothing. RFK's basic point is to increase equity in the poor so they can be more productive (by using their equity as collateral for loans). This strategy is responsible for the accelerated development of humanity over the past three of four hundred years.
@AmazingZoltan Yeah....unfortunate for Ukrainians dying on the battlefield because their country is being financed to continue war by Canada and other Western countries
@jacksonhinkle@LWCmugclub The concept of individual liberty was borne out of Judeo-Christian philosophy...all early prophets sought to free people from debts and from bondage (external control). Communism is antithetically opposed to Christianity.
@jacksonhinkle@philthatremains The US used to have the greatest economy that has ever existed. Just because Western political and economic systems have been corrupted, it doesn't mean they can't return to their original form. China industrialized with help from Japan, the US, and other Western nations.
People should be allowed to live how they want, it's not the government's job to tell people how to live. I drive not only to and from work but to explore the beauty and natural wilderness of our country...why am I being punished for this?
"It's time to look around at options" is the kind of apathetic and uninclusive thinking that is poisoning our society. "It's you were after"...you're after me? Please stay away from me and don't interfere with my life.