The 2008 Economic Meltdown

The Legacy of the Bush Administration

It all boils down to the conscious effort by business to repeal the legislative protections originally put in place during the Roosevelt (Teddy) administration and soon after the great depression designed to protect the American economy and prevent aganst just such a meltdown as we find ourselves faced with today. However, you need to go back in time a little further to capture the full story and fully appreciate why history was allowed to reapeat itself.

While Glass-Stegall, and the like, followed the great-depression. The real story started approximately 120 years ago with the corruption and consolidation of monopoly power and wealth in the banks, railroads and insurance and holding companies of the late 1800's. (The original Robber-Barrons) The problem was then, as it is again today, corporate influence over Washington that allowed corporate abuses to remain unchecked over a decade plus period of time while the robber-barrons plundered and the public was luted at will. A mirror-image of where we find ourself today -- almost. The

You can't understand how completely senseless the Bush meltdown was without a review of the situation Teddy Roosevelt found himself faced with and the historic decisions and legislation enabled then to insure corporate greed was kept in check and the public interest protected. The extent of corporate malfeasence facing Obama today is so similar to that faced by Roosevelt 100 years ago to be chilling. By far, the synopsis that best captures that time in history is Roosevelt's December 3, 1907 State of the Union address.

Under Construction -- The premise is set, but a bit more research is needed to fill in the gray areas...

   http://www.infoplease.com/t/hist/state-of-the-union/119.html

      Then look at Taft-Hartley

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft-Hartley_Act

      and the Sherman Antitrust Act.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act

With that as a backdrop, then go through the depression, Glass-Stegall, and the like, and then up through the Phil Graham embarrassments. When you do, you can then gain a full understanding of:

(1) the sheer number and amount of protections that would have prevented the current meltdown if left in place and enforced; and

(2) the overwhelming amount of conscious effort and money the Phil Graham's of the world contributed to removing consumer protections until they achieved there final goal: the ability to fleece the American public -- at will. And now, to the point where we are gifting our National Treasure to the wrongdoers.

Roosevelt got it, and got it right. There is nothing sacred about a corporation; and when a corporation violates the public trust by its action, it violates that grant of authority bestowed upon it allowing it to exist as a fictitious person in our society and that grant of authority and the protections of limited liability and immunity afforded the corporation should cease to exist as of the time, the moment, the public trust was first violated.

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