I haven't been able to follow everything you guys have been saying, but Ondelette seems to have nailed the problem of capitalism accurately. The system is designed for winners and losers. We can't all buy low and sell high. Someones' gain is always someone else's loss. The system has recently reached the breaking point because the losers have nothing left to take(too much debt), so the biggest winners are now devouring the smaller winners. The end result will be when one guy has all the cash, and everyone else is out of the game. Just like the WSOP. All the tweaking that is going on now is just a big masquerade to see if the system can be coddled along for a little bit longer, and any more cash can be bled up from the bottom to the top. When it finally collapses for good, the only thing that will be useful will be food and water. You can't eat money. Hey, now there's an idea....

I stand by my statement. In a rising market both people in a transaction may appear to have a gain. In reality one will take a relative loss, and the other will have a relative gain.

The whole issue is profit. This topic is poorly addressed in standard economic texts. In reality, it comes from labour, and the difference in what a person is paid for the work they do, and the value of the labour put in. The worker is paid less than the value of the work, and that is profit. The system produces more goods than can be purchased by the people who consume them, as profit is generally invested, and not used for consumption. Profit is withdrawn from the money cycle, and there is a relative lack of power to consume. There is an inevitible excess of goods, and a lack of spending power to consume them. This cycle will repeat itself ad infinitum under the capitalist model, as sure as night follows day. That the 'experts' should be surprised by this, is itself, surprising. These downturns are built into the system. Nothing but a change in the system will correct the problem.

Bailing out the banks when no one wants to borrow, as they are already swimming in debt, is asinine. It would have been better to wipe the slate clean for every taxppayer, and then tell them to go to town and start borrowing and spending again, after they repaid their loans and filled the banks coffers. The solution that we have now is to give all the taxpayers money away to the banks, have them hoard it, and jack up interest rates on borrowers who still have no way to repay the money they owe.

Talk about a bunch of morons...

We live in a sick world. That much is obvious. Just how sick it is may become more clear as time goes on. How many of your readers have read Naomi Klein's, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism? Here is a quick link for those with an interest. The author discusses the widening gap between rich and poor, the inevitable social unrest that is bound to occur, and the plans that the elite have to eliminate the problem. A few bonuses may be the least of our problems. We are likely to live in even more interesting times. Great writing as usual.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12793

It is lucky for us that there are career officials in the judicial system who still believe in the rule of law.

The intent of those in power, in suppressing various pieces of information, is not always evident. In general, it seems as though it is to advance certain agendas, those being keeping the rich, rich , and the poor, poor. To that end, ensuring that people remain uneducated is key. You are well read. No doubt you have seen Day Of Deceit, by Stinnett. He documents clearly that the attacks at Pearl Harbor were expected, and the loss of life was felt to be acceptable. Loss of lives of poor people without power does not appear to concern those in control. The truth can not be told, or the power to control would be lost. The events of 911 were similar. If the truth is eventually revealed, the power to control the masses will be gone.

Is it any wonder that those in power are desperately trying to suppress eveidence of torture and other crimes? If the people really knew what was going on, the jig would be up. Keep up the good writing. Enjoy your column as always.