America’s Second Great Depression



Pat, who refused to give her last name, waits in line outside of St. Francis Center for the opening of the soup kitchen on September 13, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.

Mon Jul 23, 2012 10:28AM GMT

By Mike Stathis

America’s democratic process has been sabotaged on all fronts. This transformation has been ongoing for decades, but the pace has accelerated over the past several years. Large corporations exert complete control over US economic and trade policy through billions of dollars in lobbyist donations and by utilizing the revolving door between Washington and corporate America.

For nearly three decades, corporations, banks, and the ultra-wealthy have reaped financial rewards from America’s bubble economy at the expense of working-class Americans. During this stretch, the majority of the gains from US productivity have been disproportionately distributed to the top income earners. Over the years, these inequities have accumulated into an ever-increasing wealth and income disparity.

Although, this trend has been apparent for many years, America’s media monopoly, establishment economists, politicians, and others, posing as advocates of Main Street, have only recently acknowledged this growing inequality as a problem. That calls into question whether or not these, “Monday Morning Quarterbacks” are truly concerned about economic inequality, and whether or not they understand and are willing to move forward with real solutions.
Now that the illusiveness of America’s bubble economy has been revealed, millions of Americans remain jobless; many without hope. The principle factor, accounting for the exportation of millions of jobs from US soil, has been due to America’s unfair trade policy, which despite common misperception, continues to be crafted by corporate giants.


Even those who have escaped the effects of America’s disastrous trade policy have seen their wealth evaporate due to criminal mischief from Wall Street. Millions of elderly Americans are in a much more vulnerable financial position.

Today, four years after the financial crisis, not one single Wall Street executive, government official, or Federal Reserve banker has been indicted for their role in destroying the global economy; not Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan, Lloyd Blankfein, Maurice Greenberg, Dick Fuld, Angelo Mozilo, Jamie Dimon, or Franklin Raines. I could go on all day, listing thousands of criminals who should be behind bars.

Even the possibility of compensation claw-backs from Wall Street has not been considered. It’s business as usual on Wall Street. Insider trading, totaling hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars, continues to escape detection by industry regulators. The problem is that the same crooks that are engaging in massive securities fraud belong to the same club as the regulators. It’s business as usual in the United States.

Perhaps the most blatant episode of securities fraud, perpetrated by a single individual during the pre-crisis period, was carried out by John Paulson, who, at the time, managed a relatively small, unknown hedge fund that had only performed modestly.

But Paulson’s luck changed after utilizing his Jewish networks. This enabled him to pitch a deal to Goldman Sachs that promised to land the bank a huge killing. The scheme was simple. Paulson would select toxic subprime mortgage securities for Goldman to structure into an investment vehicle, which would be sold to investors. After these worthless securities were bought, both Paulson and Goldman would bet against these same securities. Once the real estate bubble popped, they pocketed billions of dollars.

Even though his actions represented front-running at best, Paulson was not even fined by the Jewish-run Securities and Exchange Commission. Instead, he was praised by America’s Jewish-run media as a “great investor.” But the facts paint a much different picture. After having run out of scams, Paulson’s hedge fund continues to implode.

Goldman Sachs got away with a slap on the wrist; a small fine relative to the amount of money it made from the heist. But Goldman was only fined in order to deflect valid criticisms that Obama’s presidency was bought and paid for by Wall Street since Goldman ponied up the most (private-sector) money for his presidential campaign, with several other banks not far behind.

Goldman Sachs got away with blatant securities fraud to the tune of billions of dollars, not counting the USD 20 billion or so it received indirectly from taxpayers via the USD 180 billion bailout of the AIG. The bailout enabled the AIG pay Goldman in full, what it was owed in derivatives obligations. Thus, without the bailout of the AIG, Goldman stood to lose an enormous amount of money.

After the bailout, bonuses for Goldman employees soared to record levels, compliments of American taxpayers. Clearly, hundreds of Goldman employees should be serving life sentences along with Paulson. And the bank itself should have been shut down completely.


Instead of demanding accountability and justice, Americans have permitted the money changers to extort their tax dollars, after having scavenged their retirement savings. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes and any hope they had for their future at the hands of the Banking Cartel. Yet, they have done nothing about it. It’s business as usual in the United States.

Recall that a similar scam, unfolded less than ten years ago when the dotcom bubble burst. Shareholders lost USD 7 trillion when the Nasdaq collapsed as the result of hundreds of cases of accounting fraud, insider trading, and securities pumping from analysts. Yet, no one went to jail. Today, Wall Street continues to laugh all the way to the bank, while Washington and the media provide them with cover. It’s business as usual in the United States.

The victims of this historic fraud have been told they will be responsible for cleaning up the mess created by the bankers. Pensions have been slashed, taxes have been raised, jobs have been cut, while Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are on the chopping block.

Meanwhile, Washington continues to add trillions of dollars to the national debt due to wasteful spending from the Department of Homeland Security and the unnecessary wars. And still, not one single member of the Jewish Banking Cartel has been investigated. The American people have accepted this lack of justice and accountability, while crying about income inequality. Go figure.

But now the party is over for Main Street. America’s long period of declining living standards can no longer be masked by the inexpensive labor of illegal aliens, two-income households, and record debt. As a result of the most severe epidemic of securities fraud in world history, the vast majority of Americans are now faced with permanently-reduced living standards. Much of the advanced world faces a similar, if not a worse, predicament. Meanwhile, Wall Street parties on. It’s business as usual in the United States.

Despite what Americans have been told by the media, Washington, and Wall Street, the United States remains in the grasp of the most severe economic meltdown since the Great Depression. In fact, it is in the early stages of its second great depression. Even prior to America’s financial apocalypse, the nation’s gradual economic decline has emanated from its so-called free-market system. In short, the economic foundation, responsible for America’s previous “greatness,” has been gradually transformed over decades into a system of exploitation, fraud, and industry collusion, facilitated (intentionally) by inadequate and ineffective regulatory oversight. The dire consequences of America’s derailed free-market system are evident in many industries, most notably finance, energy, and healthcare.

Combined with unfair trade policies, soaring healthcare costs have encouraged exportation of millions of jobs and entire industries to Asia and Latin America, while millions of Americans have no means to earn an income or contribute their skills to society.

And, because losing one’s job in America also means losing access to affordable medical insurance, millions of Americans have suffered from unnecessary illness and death. This is just one of the ugly sides of globalization, you never hear mention of.

In addition to its economic decline, America’s democratic process has been sabotaged on all fronts. This transformation has been ongoing for decades, but the pace has accelerated over the past several years. Large corporations exert complete control over US economic and trade policy through billions of dollars in lobbyist donations and by utilizing the revolving door between Washington and corporate America.

But the most powerful lobby in Washington represents a foreign nation. The Israeli lobby maintains absolute control of Washington’s political agenda, foreign policy, and much of its domestic policy.


As a result of several years of treasonous actions by Washington, many of America’s most highly-valued freedoms and liberties, guaranteed by the US Constitution, have been tossed into the trash bin, with much more to come.

Ever since the collapse of the global economy, Wall Street analysts, establishment economists, and government officials have insisted that America averted another “Great Depression” due to the bailout of the financial system and the printing press of the Federal Reserve. Mind you, these are the same “brilliant and trustworthy” experts, who denied the existence of the recession for more than a year after it had begun. Thus, they have a history of denial, if not incompetence.

Among the most common arguments in support of the claim that the US sidestepped another Great Depression, America’s establishment economists have insisted the following...

“The US will not enter a depression because we learned from the Great Depression of the 1930s, and have since enacted numerous policy actions and formed several institutions serving as economic and financial buffers to prevent such a catastrophic event.”

What they fail to mention is that many of these institutions have failed during the current depression. Even the FDIC has relied on funds from the US Treasury Department in order to prevent insolvency.

According to the establishment, the lack of monetary expansion by the Federal Reserve served as the primary factor responsible for America’s first Great Depression.

In support of this view, former economic adviser to President Obama Christine Romer wrote a paper in the Journal of Economic History in 1992, entitled, “What Ended the Great Depression?” In this paper, Romer stated that expansionary monetary policy resulted in a partial recovery from the depression.

Romer’s paper by no means offered a novel idea. Rather, it served as a means, by which to demonstrate her acceptance of the establishment’s rule of law; complete control of the financial system, and economy by the principle arm of the Jewish Mafia, otherwise known as the Federal Reserve. Thus, her only goal in writing this paper was to convince the Banking Cartel that she was “part of the team.” This enabled her to rise from the ranks of America’s fascist establishment.

During the financial crisis of 2008, the Federal Reserve turned the currency printing presses on overdrive. And they have not turned them off since. After all, this was the only way to avoid a depression, according to the establishment.

Anyone who would expect the Federal Reserve to put out the fire they created is likely to allow a fox to guard a hen house. Printing money to address the fundamental flaws in the economy would be similar to a person, who decided to burn a huge pile of money during subzero weather conditions in order to keep warm for a few days. After the money had burned up, the individual would be back where he started; hopeless and near death.


In response to the economic collapse, the Federal Reserve’s monetary response has been unprecedented. Despite the largest monetary expansion in US history, the economy remains fragile. This outcome is in opposition to that predicted by the establishment.

Could the failures of the Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus explain why Romer quietly resigned from the Obama administration more than two years ago?

During the earliest stage of America’s second great depression, the US unemployment rate (adjusted for age) reached a post-war high. Despite all of the stimulus packages from Washington, there has been no meaningful job growth. At the current pace of job creation, it would take close to 10 years to restore the pre-collapse employment level.

The abysmal unemployment picture has also been further scarred by an unprecedented period for those out of work. Nearly 50 percent of unemployed workers, some 25 million, according to Washington (my estimates point to 32 million), have been out of work for six months or longer.

For most Americans, who have managed to keep their jobs, the situation has not been anything to cheer about. Since the financial crisis, US workers have seen the smallest wage increases since 1965. After adjusting for inflation, there have been no increases in median wages since 1999.

Despite claims, made by left-wing “think tanks” and other liberal economists, massive expenditures have been allocated towards economic policies which have offered only temporary (emergency) assistance to consumers. The real benefits have gone to corporate America and the banking system.

These stimulus funds have done nothing to address the fundamental problems in the US economy. This is precisely why the employment picture remains dismal.

Now that the economic stimulus package has been depleted, we are beginning to see the real face of the economy.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of jobs that have been lost since 2007 will never return. The majority of new jobs, that will be created over the next decade, will comprise two segments; jobs that undermine and undervalue the qualifications and training of the applicants, and jobs that no one wants.


Washington’s attempts to resurrect the real-estate market have also been a huge waste of taxpayer funds. In fact, each and every one of the programs, created to stimulate the housing market, has been an embarrassment to the Obama administration.

And the Federal Reserve’s massive asset swap with Fannie Mae and Wall Street banks have kept interests so low that it’s causing pension plans to become dangerously underfunded. What that means is that the banks are getting bailed out again at the expense of Main Street. And no one in the US media, including their hand-selected (Jewish) experts (charlatans), is talking about it.

With no surprise, the only beneficiaries of this financial trickery have been Obama’s largest private campaign contributors; Wall Street banks. Needless to say, it will most likely take the housing market another 10 years to fully recover.

In contrast, housing subsidies and other government interventions during the Great Depression of the 1930s helped the housing recovery. Even Fannie Mae’s former chief credit officer during the 1980s, Edward Pinto has determined that Fannie Mae’s Depression-era efforts to modify ailing mortgages were more successful than those being used in the current housing crisis.

Establishment economists also point out that there are no breadlines, such as those seen during the Great Depression. However, 50 million Americans are enrolled in the nation’s food stamp program. But there are also hundreds of privately-funded soup kitchens across the US, which aren’t added to the government data.

Moreover, millions of Americans, receiving food subsidies have full-time jobs. The problem is that America’s largest employer Wal-Mart doesn’t pay living wages, nor does McDonald’s, Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and so forth. Perhaps this might be one factor accounting for record profits generated by these firms during a time when so many consumers are struggling just to get by. After all, the largest expense for corporations comes from the labor force. For US-based corporations, this expense keeps shrinking due to layoffs, benefit cuts, and outsourcing.

America’s wealth and income disparity has also been augmented by a prolonged period of minimum-wage suppression. Washington has battled to keep adequate cost-of-living increases out of the federal minimum wage for decades in order to boost corporate profits, thereby rewarding wealthy shareholders.

America’s elected officials don’t care that this has turned millions of American workers into slaves. The only thing they care about is following the orders of their puppet masters. The only response from Americans has been to keep heading to voting booths, convinced that their vote matters.

America’s “most-respected and accomplished” economic “experts” point out that there are no tent camps, such as those seen during the Great Depression, but again they are wrong. There are hundreds of tent camps, scattered throughout the US. In fact, several tent camps sprouted after the dotcom collapse in 2001 and have continued to grow since then.

America’s “best and brightest” also point to the absolute impoverishment of millions during the Great Depression. These government shills claim that we do not see anywhere near this level of poverty during the current period. You decide. Today, nearly 50 million Americans live below the poverty line, according to the US government. As high as this number is, I have estimated the real number at 70 to 80 million or as high as 24 percent of the US population.

Perhaps the biggest blunder, made by economists and other members of the establishment, has been to compare the financial status of Americans during the Great Depression to the so-called “Great Recession” and “recovery” period without adjusting for the gradual improvement in living standards that has come over time. For instance, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and pension plans did not exist during the 1930s. Moreover, housing subsidies and a national minimum wage were not introduced until the Great Depression. I guess they don’t teach common sense in business school.


The only way to make valid comparisons between these two periods is to approximate the change in living standards from each period. First, one must examine the pre-depression living standards (during the 1920s) and measure the decrease, seen during the Great Depression (the 1930s). This differential would be compared to the decline in living standards, observed between the pre-depression period (from the 1990s) and the current period. Once the differentials from each period are compared, it is clear that the current financial position and morale of Americans mirror those seen during the Great Depression.

Unlike Romer, who served merely as a cheerleader for Obama’s bloated and largely-misappropriated spending spree, other members of the Jewish Mafia (Larry Summers, Rahm Emmanuel, and Peter Orszag) have served as its key architects. But they too have since departed from the White House.

It looks like these scoundrels don’t want to be around when the economy collapses. Orszag, who served as Director of the Office of Budget and Management, has already utilized Washington’s revolving door to land a seven-figure base salary as the Vice Chairman of Global Banking at Citigroup; a position, for which he is clearly not qualified.

Even US Secretary Treasury head Tim Geithner has hinted that he will be leaving. Most likely he won’t leave before the election because this would deliver another huge blow to the Obama campaign. But if Obama wins his second term, I can almost guarantee you Geithner will be gone.

It will be interesting to see where Geithner ends up because he has been a failure throughout his career. Regardless, I’m willing to bet he will be raking in eight-figures running a major bank within the next five years. In fact, there is a good chance he will take Dimon’s place at JP Morgan after he steps down so as to keep control of the bank in the hands of Federal Reserve officials.

If, in fact, Obama wins the election and Geithner leaves, you can bet he will be replaced with another Jew with ties to Wall Street and the Federal Reserve. It’s business as usual in the United States.

I think it’s time for some real change, don’t you?


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