Difference between revisions of "Why do you rob the middle class? It is where the money is."
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
(Created page with "{{Under Construction}} Willie Sutton, a famous bank robber, was supposedly asked "Why do you rob banks?" His answer: "because that's where the money is." And that's precisel...") |
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The largest, most successful theft in the history of the world was by the 1% through the housing bubble that burst in 2007/8. The brunt of the losses was largely borne by the middle class, while the banking and stock industries skimmed off vast amounts of money from the selling and reselling of homes and mortgages, primarily to the middle class. Another layer of profit-taking was bundling of mortgages into vastly overpriced and risky financial instruments which burned the investment portfolios of the middle class. The banks were rescued by government, but not the middle class. Nobody has gone to jail over this enormous ripoff, though innumerable families lost their investments in their houses. Housing policy in the US was designed to enable the middle class to build assets over long periods (the 30 year mortgage, for example.) Through "financial innovation", it was turned into a huge scam. | The largest, most successful theft in the history of the world was by the 1% through the housing bubble that burst in 2007/8. The brunt of the losses was largely borne by the middle class, while the banking and stock industries skimmed off vast amounts of money from the selling and reselling of homes and mortgages, primarily to the middle class. Another layer of profit-taking was bundling of mortgages into vastly overpriced and risky financial instruments which burned the investment portfolios of the middle class. The banks were rescued by government, but not the middle class. Nobody has gone to jail over this enormous ripoff, though innumerable families lost their investments in their houses. Housing policy in the US was designed to enable the middle class to build assets over long periods (the 30 year mortgage, for example.) Through "financial innovation", it was turned into a huge scam. | ||
| − | Middle class income, because of the large numbers, represents a major portion of national income. Another opportunity for the rich to transfer to themselves! | + | Middle class income, because of the large numbers, represents a major portion of national income. Another opportunity for the rich to transfer to themselves! As [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/02/opinion/paul-krugman-twin-peaks-planet.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fpaul-krugman Paul Krugman says]: " More important, soaring incomes at the top were achieved, in large part, by squeezing those below: by cutting wages, slashing benefits, crushing unions, and diverting a rising share of national resources to financial wheeling and dealing." |
