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| Greed caused the collapse |
greed
n. An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than
what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to
material wealth: "Many...attach to competition the
stigma of selfish greed" (Henry Fawcett).
The American Heritage®
Dictionary
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. |
|
Greed is the self-serving desire for the pursuit of
money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this
denies the same goods to others.
Greed versus happiness
Buddhists believe greed is based on incorrectly connecting material
wealth with happiness ...a view that exaggerates the positive aspects of
an object - acquiring material objects has less impact than we imagine
on our feelings of happiness. This has been corroborated by studies
which confirm that beyond a basic level of material comfort, more wealth
does not increase happiness.
Greed and idolatry
Greed is a form of idolatry, according to the Bible ....that the greedy
person values money or possessions more than God. ...making him the
center of his efforts, the one he aims to please, converting him into
his own god, and creating pride with great concentration on the ego.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed] |
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A formula for the demise of humankind
It is comprised of factors multiplied by
advertising. The product, GREED, feeds back to stimulate the elements which
cause over population, contribute to under education, increased
commercialization of technology while amplifying the negative
aspects of religion. |
Duh, uh, it
was greed. We
couldn't stop...
From
the CNBC
channel
- those
media
folks at
the
center
of
"Casino
Wall
Street"
-
profiting
from the
financial
services
profession.
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CNBC correspondent David Faber
investigates the origins of the global economic crisis,
with first person accounts from home buyers, mortgage
brokers, investment bankers and investors –
most of whom
let greed blind them, leading to the greatest financial
collapse since the Great Depression. |
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[overpopulation + under education +
commercialized technology + religion] x advertising = GREED
GREED => feeds back to amplify advertising, encourage over
consumption, etc., etc. |
Definitions:
Overpopulation - excessive breeding overproduces humans leading to exploitation
Under education - a technologically
dependent civilization requires highly educated members
Commercialized technology - science uncovers basic
knowledge that is morally neutral until a human profits from it
Religion - the teachings of Christ are like diamonds
hidden in the mud of the Old Testament, revelations, etc.
Advertising - humans are easily manipulated to do things
that are not in their own long term interest
GREED - the human survival instinct as
indistinguishable from "dog eat dog" mentality |
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Run away greed from baby boomers racing toward
retirement generated a culture of cheating to "get ahead at any
cost." Then they simply went too far as advertising used
pervasive media such as the Internet and Television to direct consumers
towards an unrealistic, unsustainable lifestyle that strip-mines natural resources,
destroys the natural environment, while creating millions of financially
indebted working slaves.
Our nation sank to the lowest level of
awareness while glued to idiotic television shows produced primarily as
vehicles to showcase endless advertising.
Children line up to grab the latest video games while the Internet
degenerates into SPAM, pornography and idiotic "viral videos." Americans
are fueled by beer, wine, bourbon, vodka, amphetamines, steroids,
Viagra, and the most potent marijuana in history. We needed a highly
educated, environmentally sensitive, ethical majority to care for the
greater good. Instead we slid downhill into an "anything goes" behavior
that has bankrupted us both individually and as a nation. The national debt
may now ruin an entire generation.
 |
America lost the drug war. Marijuana has an annual
market value of $35.8 billion; ahead of corn and wheat crops
combined. Alcohol is increasingly pervasive through gourmet wine
and micro-breweries. Speed, crack, steroids, and "high test"
caffeine are ubiquitous. Drugs lead to
a million
Americans being jailed each year. |
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Cheating is a widespread social disease that has
corrupted
business, education, medicine, law, sports, politics, etc. |
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Deliberate "predatory lending" has virtually
enslaved lower
class working Americans into minimum payments for the rest of
their lives. |
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Religions divide communities, exclude the "sick & poor" that
Christ ministered to, exclude women from the ministry, etc.
Christianity in many churches is
antithetical to the teachings
of Jesus |
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Video games, pornography,
from a vast entertainment industry
results in a population unprepared to deal with guiding our
increasingly complicated society into the technological future. |
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Greed uses technology as its amplifier;
the Internet and TV
could have been miraculous educational & communications tools.
Instead they serve commercial exploitation, pornography, SPAM,
computer viruses, and target the most base interests. |
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Who warned us the
financial
collapse was
coming?
Nouriel Roubini |
"...as
early as
2005,
Nouriel Roubini
wrote,
"home
prices
were
riding a
speculative
wave
that
would
soon
sink the
economy"
In
September,
2006, he
announced
...that
an
economic
crisis
was
brewing—
"In the
coming
months
and
years,"
he
warned,
"the
United
States
was
likely
to face
a
once-in-a-lifetime
housing
bust, an
oil
shock,
sharply
declining
consumer
confidence
and,
ultimately,
a deep
recession."
"...homeowners
defaulting
on
mortgages,
trillions
of
dollars
of
mortgage-backed
securities
unraveling
worldwide
and the
global
financial
system
shuddering
to a
halt..."
[
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouriel_Roubini ]
[
http://online.wsj.com/article/roubini ] |
| The NY Times labeled him "Dr. Doom." His descriptions of the current economic crisis have proven to be so accurate, he is today a major figure in the U.S. and internationally." |
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Greed +
technology =
insanity
Human society is
not a mature,
stable entity.
It is in
constant flux
with a
unsettling past
pointing towards
a dangerous
future.
• Human history
is the history
of war,
struggles for
power &
domination. From
slave revolts in
ancient Rome to
world wars, to
current day
terrorism; there
has never been a
stable, peaceful
world.
• Humans have
desires that are
insatiable; they
want more of
everything.
Computers,
homes, cars all
have to be
bigger, better,
more expensive
each year.
• Technology is
put to use for
commercial
purposes as
rapidly as
scientists
develop it.
Instead of
making things
better, cheaper,
longer lasting
corporations
want ever
increasing
profits from
sales.
The greed for
making money was
driven by the
tens of millions
of
baby boomers
trying to make
money out of
thin air to
assure a
comfortable
retirement. They
wanted stock
brokers to give
them huge gains
in the stock
market, expected
the value of
their home to go
up and up.
"...
effects
of the
Baby
Boom
generation
... the
past 25
years,
we have
seen the
strongest
economic
growth
in
modern
history,
...may
not
always
be as
positive,
and some
predictions
of
future
economic
and
investment
scenarios
are
downright
scary.
One
such
scenario
was
promoted
by Harry
Dent
in his
1998
book,
The
Roaring
2000s,
in which
he
predicted
the
stock
market
would
boom
until
around
2010,
and then
a severe
depression
and bear
market
would
set in
as
Boomers
cash out
investments
and
reign in
spending...Dent
...predicts
that a
12 to 14
year
bear
market
and
depression
(that’s
right,
depression,
with a
D) will
ensue.
Ouch! In
my
opinion,
this
puts him
among
the
biggest
gloom-and-doomers
of all
time." |
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Uncontrolled
greed by the
"boomers" was
spotted by
several smart
individuals who
recorded their
warnings in books.
Did that stop
anyone? NO!
Whether it
was Dent,
Roubini or other
sharp minds—no
one making all
that money want
to hear about
the future.
Wall street
firms were
making too much
money from all
the activity
trading stocks,
selling IPOs
(remember the
"Dot Com
bubble?"), and
from "mortgage
backed
securities."
Everyone was
playing a
dangerous game
of greed until
there wasn't
enough credit to
finance the
endless upward
spiral. Once
housing prices
fell people who
had borrowed
money based on
those inflated
home price were
bankrupt.
You can't
sell your house
at a profit
when prices are
falling, or when
too many people
try to sell at
once. So the
price declining spiral downward
accelerated.
Housing was, in
the past, a
place to raise a
family. It was
shelter from the
elements. The
baby boom
generation began
speculating in
housing as if it
were the stock
market.
Housing became
similar to a
pyramid scheme.
I knew that
years ago, but
no one who owned
real estate
wanted to hear
what I had to
say. They all
had this crazed
look in their
eyes about all
the money they
thought they had
from the endless
increase in
property values.
It was a pyramid
scam because
housing prices
can't rise
forever. There
weren't enough
people to make
those high
monthly mortgage
payments. The
market was kept
artificially
alive for a few
years longer by
strange new
financing such
as the
Negative
Amortization
Mortgage.
It was
all greed.
Too many baby
boomers trying
make themselves
wealthy off each
other. There are
not enough
people to keep
that game going.
It is like the
problem with
Social Security
where current
workers pay the
benefits
received by
retired ones.
But in the
future there
will be too many
people getting
benefits with
too few paying
into the system.
Well, that is
like what
happened with
credit, stocks,
and housing. Now
the cost is a
world wide
depression that
will last for
years to come.
 |
2006
documentary knew what was coming
Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of
Predatory Lenders
An independent feature-length
documentary film that chronicles abusive practices in
the credit card industry. Interviews with
creditors, debtors, academics, and others illustrate
its story.
The purpose for the film was to raise awareness
of how credit and lending issues are affecting society;
banks deliberately market to
people who are likely to have problems paying. Creditors benefit from connections to government, the
debt collection industry, and lawmaker apathy. |
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| What is
Keynesian economics?
Will it work? |
First—realize how
very serious this is
Many people think that
things will "go back to
the way they were." They
want the stock market to
go back "up." They want
housing prices to
"recover."
Stock market people
can't capitulate, can't
admit that things are
not going to bounce back
up but instead appear to
be spiraling downward.
This is all unchartered
economic territory; a
collapse of the entire
world financial
system—not just a
recession in the USA.
Housing greed, stock
market greed...
Those who sold
houses expected more and
more buyers to pay more
and more money for their
real estate. That is
known as a "pyramid
scheme" yet few
understood why that
should have been
obvious.
The vast "Las Vegas" like
stock market has
hundreds of millions of
people trying to make
money out of thin air so
they can have a wealthy
retirement lifestyle.
Investors buy and sell
stocks, bonds, gold,
food commodities,
futures contracts,
derivatives, all in a
dizzying game of money
making off each other.
The profits they took
depended upon consumers
buying more and more
stuff using only
credit—with the promise
to pay it back "some
day." Some day finally
arrived with too many
creditors unable to pay
up.
Untested economic
theories
The so called "financial experts"
trust in an economics
theories from the Great
Depression. [see side
info on Keynes]
Yet 70 years ago was
a vastly different world
without computers,
credit cards, or an
investment world run
like a planetary casino.
In short, they think
this is just a problem
that can be fixed. They
say that the Great
Depression of the 1930s
can't happen again
because we are all so
smart now and have all
sorts of measures to
prevent that.
Other people are warning
that this is not a
simple problem. The "Keynesian
economics" theory can't
really be tested;
economics is not like
physical science where
you can do a controlled
experiment |
"In economics
Keynesianism is based on
the ideas of
twentieth-century
British economist
John Maynard Keynes."
[Wikipedia]
Keynes didn't like
Americans....He
found Americans,
largely, stupid and
incapable of using their
vast wealth to run the
world. He came to the US
as rarely as possible.
•
Keynes didn't like the
working class....like
many Brits of his
day--believed that the
purpose of civilization
is to create
opportunities to
experience great art and
great thoughts. He was
dismissive of the masses
who are incapable of
experiencing true
beauty. He didn't
believe the goal of an
economy is to get the
highest number of people
to have decent material
conditions. He believed
the goal is to have a
small elite enjoy art
and culture.
•
Keynes was so
narrow-minded. He had
this tiny little world:
Cambridge artists and
intellectuals. He didn't
like people who went to
Oxford and wouldn't even
bother to think about
anyone who went
somewhere else. While he
traveled the world and
met countless world
leaders, he doesn't seem
particularly worldly.
Everywhere he went, he
was thinking about a
handful of elite snobs
in London and Oxford.
That was his
perspective.
• Keynes, hero
to so many union members
and working class folks
around the world, was an
elitist, socially
conservative snob who
wouldn't find it
pleasant to spend even a
moment with the people
who support his ideas
the most.
[Adam Davidson] |
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