I am giving up, and I predict...

People in the U.S. just don't seem to be getting angry enough to come together in order to demand the changes necessary in the financial industries in order to make sure this sort of thing does not happen again.

Right now I am seeing two classes of people: Those that know and understand what is going on are hoping to again make lots of money as long as there aren't any new regulations to stop them from ripping us all off. The other class of people are just too stupid, disinterested and complacent that they would never get their collective behinds off the couch to do much of anything or take the time to learn how money works or prevent the rich from continually ripping them off. Sorry if it offends, but what the hell are you doing about this mess? Complaining to me about this post? That's not getting anything done.

This country, I fear, is going to continue the way it has, with the rich getting richer on the backs of those below them. The poor will become a class of slaves. Maybe, if this country is lucky, it will see a civil war resulting in a revised constitution providing rights to all the people who have not had many rights before ending in a new style of government, with less division this one currently has.

I don't make myself out to be a prognosticator, but I did tell people about the collapse of banks and the economy. It happened, although a little sooner than I thought. I now make another prediction, we have not seen the end of this financial disaster. We are in the eye of the storm and next year will see things at least twice as bad as they are now. This country, if it does nothing to prepare itself, will fail and will no longer exist after 2012, at least not as it does now. The dust bowl Depression Era was only a preparation to what is coming. People forgot to listen or take the lessons to heart.

What to do?

Yesterday I was mad, mad at the rich looking out only for themselves when more than half of all people in the U.S. slave for a wage that doesn't afford them even the basics in health care, even a single vacation in their lifetime or much of anything for that matter.

I still say, we need a revolution in this country, a revolution that turns everything upside down, bringing more balance to a system filled with greed, special interests of the rich, corporate welfare and a tax system that unfairly taxes people. This country needs a serious overhaul, from our government, banking system, lending and corporate governance.

We need a private, people run, non-profit oriented spy system that spies on the spies and reveals the dirt on all that goes on. Everything that influences us as ordinary people, the marketing techniques, rules that keep the rich, well, rich, fraud, Madoff-Ponsi schemes, all the way to what are our leaders are doing behind our backs and all those back room deals. A group of people who work together to expose corruption and more to then take action, legally and sometimes if the law protects these scoundrels, illegally. A group of people who, if any one is questioned, can't reveal anything because they are only one in a much larger network, an underground. This network should be made up of hackers, software people, secretaries, barbers, anyone really, people that can listen at the boardroom keyhole and share what is going on. Ordinary people spying on decision makers making sure they always have the peoples best interest at heart and not their own. A group of hero's made up of ordinary people.

Scams, ripsoffs, being held at gun point

The AIG news is some of the worst greed I've heard recently. They just can't stop ripping off the tax payer any worse. The greed of the rich is so bad I am ready to jump on the bandwagon of 'Kill The Rich.' I do make comments like, beat that sucker or they deserve a good lashing, but I have never gone so far as to advocate the extermination of anyone. But the rich have gone too far.

Millions of people are out of work and these people demand a bailout to make sure they stay rich, not to make sure their company stays in business or employees keep their jobs. Even thought they have contracts they should have done the right thing, give up their bonuses until the company is out of hawk and making money again. Contract or no contract - do the right thing people!

For the last two and half decades executives have laid people off to increase profits, ensure bonuses and benefit packages so big more than 90% of us will never see, seeming to only exist in fantasy. During that same period of time the middle class and poor have seen a reduction in vacation time, sick days, personal days - if they still exist at all, reduction or elimination or health benefits and the same for pension funds.

All of this is not because companies don't have money, it has just shifted upwards to fewer and fewer people. That's right, the rich have made themselves richer not by hard work but by ripping us all off, running the biggest scam in the world, they deserve it. Well I for one am tired and I'm making the call to arms.

There must be a list of executives somewhere and they should be posted just like the most wanted criminals, which they are. These people deserve to have bricks thrown through their windows, tires slashed, spat upon in copious amounts, heckled, booed, pee thrown on their expensive cloths, poop too, also rotten tomatoes, tripped so they fall into the gutter, tossed down a man hole into the sewers, and chased by mobs of people out of the country, preferably make them swim to some other place than this country. If they drown, all the better.

I for one can not stand the greed of the rich any longer. Let us dust off the guillotines and start taking heads, just like the French. See how they turned out, they're doing better we are. They are more productive than us and after the French did away with their rich nobility they prospered, people have more rights, make more money than we do, everyone has health coverage, month or more vacation time and full retirement benefits and more. So I am calling for an old fashioned uprising and while we're at killing the rich, lets do away with the IRS too. It's only a private corporation that has no place in our system any longer.

Who is repsonsible?

There are so many things going on in the financial world that it can seem overwhelming. So who's is responsible to make sure it all works the way it should?

That really depends on who you ask. You might be told its the regulators. Congress. The industry itself is suppose to behave responsibly. But ultimately, it is your responsibility. That is right, you are the one who needs to take full responsibility for what happens. But, but.... But you don't know enough. But you are no one and no one cares what you have to say. That's your fault too.

By not knowing how things work, how do you know they are working in your best interest? You don't!

By handing off responsibility to someone else you are literally opening yourself up to fraud, theft and being taken advantage of. When you are not informed and make sure who you hand your money to is being accountable for it, then you are at fault for its loss and this current financial mess.

You may not enjoy hearing this, but it is absolutely, 100% true. So, you just going to continue ignoring your responsibility or are you finally going to wake up and take responsibility?

The news about the state of the economy

People need to stop listening to the news, or at least realize, its all hype. Most of what I hear on the news anymore is pure garbage:
--we're going to come out of this within 6 to 12 months - yeah, right, let try years from now
--things are still not as bad as during the Great Depression - sure, then why keep comparing things to it - right now there are just as many people unemployed as during the Great Depression (don't look at percentages, look at real numbers)
--just keep shopping, things will get better - they just want your money and could care less if you are poor, broke or a debt slave

Grow up people! Here is what I think:
--the news should be forced to either say, 'we don't know' or tell the truth, whichever the case may be
--people that run banks should all be flogged and then slapped with harsher rules and regulations, after all, they've committed fraud for far too long
--people like Madoff and his wife should be treated like the scum they are, everything they own should be taken from them and they should be forced into harsh labor to pay everyone back
--whoever creates bad loans should be forced to hang onto them and not through lies pretend they are good investments and sell them off (in part that's what caused this economic mess and had a rippling effect all over the world)
--all top executives in every corporation should take a deep pay cut, either pay into universal health care to cover their employees, give them more time off and pay bonuses based on how well the company does, after all they created the profit, not the executives

I could rant on, but what use is it, no one cares. That's the real problem isn't it. No one cares. No one does anything about anything. People just sit at home and complain to the TV rather than get off their back-sides and do something. Make sure banks and corporations no longer rip us off. No, they would rather believe in the fantasy that someone else will fix things. They don't have to do anything. They're powerless after all, why try.

This Economy is Effecting More Than The Pocket Book

This economy has got everyone in a slump. There are people in denial who continue living their lives as if nothing is wrong. Then there are people who act as if we are seeing the end of the world. That's not happening yet.

Everyday in the news the stock market continues to go down. Why? For far too many years credit has been too available without regard to whether anyone could afford it. Also, companies have cooked the books, falsifying their bottom line, which helped fuel a buy, buy, buy in stocks. Remember Enron? They cooked the books! Madoff got away with it for decades. And there are certainly more out there. Where there is one rat, there are more. It happened because no one was paying attention or willing do anything about it because they too made a lot of money, lots of it, and as long as they made money, they didn't care too much.

Now people are seeing huge losses and its effecting them in more ways than just in their pocket books, bank account or investments. There is a serious increase in depression, an emotional slump. People are down right depressed. The fortune they were counting on in their retirement is now gone. Some of it is because they got greedy, like in the cartoons, they only saw dollar signs. Instead of being diversified with their money spread around, they were looking at more than doubling their money in fewer investments.

The depression that people are feeling due to their losses in their investment is real, but few are doing much about it. People are resorting to gambling in hopes of making up what they lost, only to lose even more. While others are drinking more, maybe even straight from the bottle as their escape. What people could do instead is, get involved to change policy to stop this sort of investment fraud from happening in the future. It would be proactive, positive and depression relieving. But far too many people would rather drown their sorrows than do anything. It would mean they would have to accept some responsibility.

It is truly a sad state of affairs and it looks like no one is going to do much about it.

In my recently published book, Recession Survival Guide, I give people not only some background into what help bring us to this point but also what anyone can do to help themselves. It sells for $19.95 and can be downloaded immediately. Along with the book I am giving away the following: 3 files demonstrating the power of compound interest, budget workbook, The Money Changers which explains banking industry, and a recipe booklet.