We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, October 20, 2014

Fed Stops Stock Slide with Talk of QE Extension

Click here to access article by Mike Whitney from CounterPunch.
On Wednesday, stocks were hammered after economic data showed that the US and global economies were headed for a major slowdown. By mid-day, the Dow was down 460 points before clawing its way back to minus 173 points. It looked like the market was set for another triple-digit flogging on Thursday when the Fed stepped in and started talking-up an extension to QE3. That’s all it took to ease investors jitters, stop the meltdown and send equities rocketing back into space.
Whitney provides solid evidence and arguments to prove that the recent turn-about in Wall Street stocks was engineered by the Fed to keep Wall Street afloat for the benefit of the ruling capitalist class. 

The Fed, of course, is owned literally by banks which, in turn, are owned by the capitalist class. By creating money, known by their quaint jargon as quantitative easing (QE), the Fed artificially props up Wall Street which benefits only the big-time investors who borrow this cheap money to play the market. 

Meanwhile, money that is created in a stagnant economy causes inflation which, in turn, depreciates the value of money earned by workers. Also, remember that money created by the Fed is debt money, or money that is owed to the Fed by the entire nation. It is our sovereign debt (now nearly 18 trillion dollars) which is paid back by taxes levied disproportionately on working people. Can it be any clearer that this 1913 institution was a marvelous stroke of genius of, by, and for the ruling capitalist class?