Richard Escow: The 147 People Destroying the World

Can 147 people perpetuate economic injustice, and make it even worse? Can they subvert the workings of democracy, both abroad and here in the United States? Can 147 people hijack the global economy, plunder the environment, build a world for themselves,, that serves the few, and deprives the many? There must be some explanation for last week's economic madness. Take a look: Cyprus: The European Union acted destructively, and self destructively, when it tried to seize a portion of the insured savings accounts of the citizens of Cyprus. They were telling anyone with a savings account, in the financially troubled nations of Euro-zone: Forget your guaranteed deposits. If we need your money, in order to bail out the big banks, banks which have already gambled recklessly with it, we'll take it. That didn't just create a political firestorm in Cyprus. It threatened the European Union's banking system, and perhaps the Union itself. The fact that the taxon deposits has been partially retracted, doesn't change the basic question: What were they thinking? The Grand Bargain: The President and Congressional Republicans, reportedly moved closer to a deal, that would cut Social Security and Medicare, while raising taxes, mostly on the middle class, without doning more to create jobs. A Grand Bargain like that, would run counter to both public opinion. and informed economic judgement. Who would impose more economy killing austerity, when there's so much evidence of the harm it does? Why would the White House want to become the face of a deal to cut Social Security, killing its own party's political prospects for a generation? There's more: Him again: Washington reporters one again sought the opinion of Ex Wyoming senator Alan Simpson, a vitriolic blowhard, with no discernible knowledge of either economics or social insurance, and then wrote up his opinions on those topics in flattering pieces like this one. Derivatives, the Sequel: Four short years, after too big to fail banks nearly destroyed the world economy, as the nation continues to suffer the after effects of the crisis they created, a Congressional committee, moved to undo the already insufficient safeguards in the Dodd Frank law. Within days of a Senate Report, which outlined the mendacity, extreme risk, and potentiality criminality surrounding JP Morgan Chase's London Whale fiasco, the House Agricultural Committee approved new bills, that would legalize trades like the London Whale. Above the Law: The Attorney General of the United States remained silent over his recent admission , that banks like Dimon's were too big to face prosecution.