An interesting story crossed the BBC news last night that most Americans won't care much about. It seems the Muslim majority in the Egyptian government trumped opposition and ordered the slaughter of every pig in the country last May, which is now complete. The spin on the story was about the Christian garbage collectors, known quite literally as the "Zabaleen" (Garbage People), who had used the pigs for decades. The animals would eat the refuse of Egyptian society, fatten up, and then be sold for profit for the struggling garbage people.
In this country some of the great financial landfills created in the boom years were a lot like those pigs. The Garbage People on Wall Street used agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurance giant AIG, to dump billions in toxic mortgages over the years. The banks would write the loans, then have them backed up by Fannie & Freddie, and their securities insured by AIG. Over 50% of all US mortgages were backstopped by the two great landfill pigs, Fannie & Freddie. Together these three institutions have already received over a quarter of a trillion in bailout money provided by the US taxpayer. Much of this was then funneled to the banks who bought insurance all across the world, and the fat cat bond holder investor class. The wealthy don't like losing money when they make a bad bet, so you and I were tapped to pay them off.
Yesterday, shares of the insolvent, (80% government owned), AIG surged in the trading pits. There are now whispers that shares of Fannie & Freddie may be good buys as well. The rumor is that all three institutions will be shut down in the not too distant future, though analysts say it will take years to unwind the toxic waste in the guts of those two great landfill pigs. So it seems our government has quietly decided the pigs must be slaughtered over here as well--only Wall Street, as always, has found a way to profit on calamity. Look for shares of Fannie and Freddie to surge as well, even though their 2nd quarter report will likely show massive losses. Is it just me or is there something psychotically skewed in a system that sees massive fraud and financial loss as a means of short squeezing profit in the trading pits?
The Garbage People who dragged all of us into the landfill with them are at it again. Wall Street firms are already greasing their palms and getting ready to collect billions in fees for "advice" on how best to close the landfills down. As the Wicked witch once said: "Oh, what a world, what a world, what a world."
In this country some of the great financial landfills created in the boom years were a lot like those pigs. The Garbage People on Wall Street used agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and insurance giant AIG, to dump billions in toxic mortgages over the years. The banks would write the loans, then have them backed up by Fannie & Freddie, and their securities insured by AIG. Over 50% of all US mortgages were backstopped by the two great landfill pigs, Fannie & Freddie. Together these three institutions have already received over a quarter of a trillion in bailout money provided by the US taxpayer. Much of this was then funneled to the banks who bought insurance all across the world, and the fat cat bond holder investor class. The wealthy don't like losing money when they make a bad bet, so you and I were tapped to pay them off.
Yesterday, shares of the insolvent, (80% government owned), AIG surged in the trading pits. There are now whispers that shares of Fannie & Freddie may be good buys as well. The rumor is that all three institutions will be shut down in the not too distant future, though analysts say it will take years to unwind the toxic waste in the guts of those two great landfill pigs. So it seems our government has quietly decided the pigs must be slaughtered over here as well--only Wall Street, as always, has found a way to profit on calamity. Look for shares of Fannie and Freddie to surge as well, even though their 2nd quarter report will likely show massive losses. Is it just me or is there something psychotically skewed in a system that sees massive fraud and financial loss as a means of short squeezing profit in the trading pits?
The Garbage People who dragged all of us into the landfill with them are at it again. Wall Street firms are already greasing their palms and getting ready to collect billions in fees for "advice" on how best to close the landfills down. As the Wicked witch once said: "Oh, what a world, what a world, what a world."
