ECONOGOVERNMENTAL GESTALT

Just happened to read these two items one after the other and felt a sharp pang of sympathy for the little guy, being squeezed from every economic direction, to the point where he's even thinking of melting pennies...

"Such collusive practices between government and private industry are precisely where the Mussolini Fascist Business Model profits for the connected insiders, apart from any public participation. Expect more compromises which sell out the USEconomy, the US workers, and future financial health of our nation, so that Wall Street can continue to earn billion$ which ordinary people cannot earn. And Paulson is revered as a genius. He is one bright successful man, whose 2005 income at Goldman Sachs was a hefty $38.8 million... Paulson leads the pack in top income for 2005. The current CEO Lloyd Blankfein ranked #4 in the wage & bonus earnings parade at $30.8 million. The bank royalty has profited well during the rampant inflationary period, when the USEconomy has faltered, when the trade gap has magnified, when US workers have lost jobs in droves, when US companies have been squeezed to the point of establishing operations in China & India. Merrill Lynch earned $5 billion in 2005 profit. In all, 50 GoldSax executives earned $25 million yearend bonuses, while 12 Morgan Stanley executives did, and 12 Merrill Lynch executives did. It was a good year for Wall Street, and a miserable year for Main Street. Personally, no objections to success for individuals, but here one can find much to object to on the methods and cut deals. A cool $4.1 trillion has found its way in capital inflows to the US financial markets since March 2003. Wall Street firms have been first in line to grab their fair share, and most of your share."

Jim Willie

Then I read this:

"U.S. Mint officials said Wednesday they were putting into place rules prohibiting the melting down of 1-cent and 5-cent coins. The rules also limit the number of coins that can be shipped out of the country.

'We are taking this action because the nation needs its coinage for commerce. We don't want to see our pennies and nickels melted down so a few individuals can take advantage of the American taxpayer,' Mint Director Edmund Moy said in a statement.

Officials said they had received a number of inquiries from the public in recent months concerning the value of the metal in the coins and whether it was legal to melt them.

The new regulations prohibit the melting of 1-cent and 5-cent coins, with a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 for people convicted of violating the rule."

U.S. Mint bans melting pennies, nickels

[What about the dollar (and personal savings) being inflated (i.e., devalued) by Fed overprinting to pay soaring governmental bills with nothing but paper? Isn't THAT taking advantage pf the American taxpayer? What hypocrisy!]

And

(The true US Federal deficit for 2005 isn't the 'official' 318.5 billion,
but $3.5 TRILLION...)
.....
"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
-Henry Ford