Sunday, December 8, 2013

Thom Hartmann — The Bankruptcy and Privatization of Detroit Is a Terrifying Preview of What Republicans Want to Do to the Rest of the Country


The Bain Capitalization of Detroit, perfected by Michigan "favorite son" Mitt Romney — load it up with debt, extract cash, and then sell it off piece by piece — just as the core is doing with the periphery in the EZ. Hey, "that's just capitalism" (read neoliberalism).

AlterNet
The Bankruptcy and Privatization of Detroit Is a Terrifying Preview of What Republicans Want to Do to the Rest of the Country
Thom Hartmann

12 comments:

Unknown said...

The ability to borrow vast amounts of new purchasing power into existence via the government-backed credit cartel must greatly increase the ability of people to do hostile takeovers.

But, as I keep saying, the likely ability to return stolen purchasing power plus interest to the original thieves, the banking cartel, is morally irrelevant. There is no such thing as creditworthy when it comes to stolen goods.

paul meli said...

Capitalism like this should carry the death penalty…or at least life in prison.

Sociopaths can no more be "rehabilitated" than pedophiles.

googleheim said...


Hi Tom

You forgot to mention 1990's Argentina :

Menem and his economic minister from the east coast neoliberal school ...

Privatize the airlines, water, electricity, toll roads, etc ...

and sell to the French, Spanish, Italians etc

They extracted all the good planes out of Aerolineas Argentinas airlines as well as the positive cash flow. Then sold it with the debt structure.

And you wonder why they blew up in 2001 and why the populists came back to defend the nation from that happening again.

YP Repsol was original Argentine and it is an exception of how they got it back.

googleheim said...

Liberalism did not bring about derivative credit default swaps in which the banks pay if the interest rates rise or the credit unions or municipalities like Detroit pay if the interest rates fall. Who brought these to the table ? The banks.



Who were the only ones who had control of the libor rates ? The banks.

Who rigged the libor rates to fall ? The banks.

Who fudged the margin components of business line of credits so that when the interest rates fell the banks would also win in their other products ? the banks.



This ain't no liberal thing. Besides by Tea party definition, the liberals are not powerful or smart enough to do these proven actions. The banks.

The Rombach Report said...

This may only get a collective groan, but I am just wondering if anyone happened to tune in to the recent speech Rand Paul gave at the Detroit Economic Club. Paul will introduce legislation this week calling for an updated and turbo charged version of Jack Kemp's economic enterprise zones, or what Paul calls Freedom Zones.

In a nutshell he is calling for cutting the personal & corporate income tax rates to 5%.

Cutting the social security payroll tax to 2% paid by employee and 2% paid by employer.

Suspend capital gains tax in the freedom zones.

Reduce regulatory red tape

Small businesses would be able to deduct most of what they invest in the first year.

$5K family tax credit for education.

The plan would leave $1.5 billion in Detroit rather than sending it to Washington D.C.

Here's the speech....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hZqoxmyow8&feature=youtu.be

Unknown said...

googleheim: "the banks ... the banks... the banks"

"The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." Lord Acton

"There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men." Lord Acton

So MMT crowd, when are you going to turn your efforts of enabling and perpetuating the banking cartel to euthanizing it?

And if you say, correctly, that price inflation is the only limit to fiat creation by the monetary sovereign then why, oh, why would you allow a central bank to also create fiat? And why subsidize a banking cartel so that it may blow exploding bubbles in our economy with fiat-denominated credit?

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Matthew 16:25-27 (NASB)

Unknown said...

The Rombach Report,

So Rand wants to basically end government in Detroit EXCEPT for its subsidies to business such as it's backing for the banking cartel? So those who benefit from the government-backed credit cartel should not have to pay for it in taxes?

Liberty? Or only liberty for the rich and other so-called creditworthy?

There's a guy named Hugh who calls the US a kleptocracy. He's not far wrong in that regard.

The Rombach Report said...

"Liberty? Or only liberty for the rich and other so-called creditworthy?"

I think it would be a pretty liberating experience for me to only have to pay a 5% income tax rate and 2% for social security payroll tax, and I am by no means rich. In fact just the contrary.

Unknown said...

In fact just the contrary. The RR

I'm not for high taxes myself since it's better to not subsidize theft than fine it after the fact, especially if the fines are merely a cost of doing business.

Just like most of the US, the citizens of Detroit have been victims of subtle theft via the government-backed credit cartel. So where is Rand Paul's call for restitution? Or is he more a follower of Mises, an agnostic at best, than of Moses?

David said...

This may only get a collective groan, but I am just wondering if anyone happened to tune in to the recent speech Rand Paul gave at the Detroit Economic Club.

Some of that stuff might not be bad, but when you're talking municipalities, you're talking real estate. All gains in aggregate value "accrue to rent." That is the land-owners clean up and everyone else feels like they're climbing an ever steepening slope. The remedy is the site value tax. Tax is assessed for location. Buildings and improvements are exempted. Detroit had such a system in its "golden age." It could be done again:

David said...

Trying the link again. Er, anyway here's the URL if you're interested.
http://masongaffney.org/essays/Whats_the_Matter_with_Michigan.pdf

The Rombach Report said...

"So where is Rand Paul's call for restitution? Or is he more a follower of Mises, an agnostic at best, than of Moses?"

Beard - Not sure what restitution would look like nor how to quantify it, nor what Rand Paul's take on it is. What I do know is what Rand Paul is proposing. For a 5% income tax rate, I might consider moving to Detroit. Land is very cheap and the lower tax burden may attract new employers into the region.