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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 06:49 AM Apr 2014

The Real Money-Making Methods of the Super-Rich Are Far From Praiseworthy

http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-money-making-methods-super-rich-are-far-praiseworthy



1. Betting on Food Prices to Rise

Chris Hedges noted that Goldman Sachs’ commodities index "is the most heavily traded in the world. The company hoards rice, wheat, corn, sugar and livestock and jacks up commodity prices around the globe so that poor families can no longer afford basic staples and literally starve." Numerous sources agree that speculation drives up commodity prices. Wheat, for example, rose in price from $105 to $481 in just eight years.

2. Betting on Mortgages to Fail

In 2007 hedge fund manager John Paulson conspired with Goldman Sachs to create packages of risky subprime mortgages, so that in anticipation of a housing crash he could use other people's money to bet against his personally designed sure-to-fail financial instruments. His successful bet against American households paid him $3.7 billion.

***SNIP

3. Renting Houses Back to People Who Lost Them

Private equity firms like Blackstone are buying up foreclosures and renting them back at higher rates while waiting for home prices to rise. As absentee landlords they have little interest in long-term community issues.

***SNIP

4. Being a Banker

Almost all of the big names have participated. HSBC Bank laundered money for Mexican drug cartels. Countrywide and Wells Fargo targeted Blacks and Hispanics for unaffordable subprime loans. GE Capital skimmed billions of dollars from its customers. Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase hid billions of dollars of bonuses and losses and loans from investors. Banks fixed interest rates in the LIBOR scandal, and illegally foreclosed on millions of homeowners in the robo-signing scandal.
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The Real Money-Making Methods of the Super-Rich Are Far From Praiseworthy (Original Post) xchrom Apr 2014 OP
Yet, none of these criminals chervilant Apr 2014 #1
and all money is their money. nt xchrom Apr 2014 #2
Yeppers. chervilant Apr 2014 #3
Precisely Sherman A1 Apr 2014 #5
God is waiting to ask these greed TRoN33 Apr 2014 #4
The "Money Changers" safeinOhio Apr 2014 #6
They all think of themselves as "good men of business." tclambert Apr 2014 #14
They are such job creators. Give them more tax cuts and bailouts. nt IronLionZion Apr 2014 #15
If they weren't bankers, it would be called theft, extortion, usury Demeter Apr 2014 #7
How the rich get richer siligut Apr 2014 #8
+1 xchrom Apr 2014 #9
Fawn ... GeorgeGist Apr 2014 #10
Great article! JEFF9K Apr 2014 #11
Our government subsidizes/underwrites/bails out all 4 of those. nt Romulox Apr 2014 #12
Most of the rich are fatal parasites to the 99% body of this country. L0oniX Apr 2014 #13
I'm glad someone is talking about these issues IronLionZion Apr 2014 #16
"We create nothing. We own." DirkGently Apr 2014 #17
Parasites in danger of killing the whole beast. JEB Apr 2014 #18
Too bad the US doesn't have a functioning immune system! FiveGoodMen Apr 2014 #19

chervilant

(8,267 posts)
1. Yet, none of these criminals
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 07:08 AM
Apr 2014

will spend time in jail.

Not one.

(Have I mentioned lately that banks always, always, always, always -- always times infinity -- always get their money?!?)

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
5. Precisely
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 07:19 AM
Apr 2014

The 1% is simply gracious enough to allow those of us who are not among their elite group to on occasion use some of that money in order to make more of it for them.

 

TRoN33

(769 posts)
4. God is waiting to ask these greed
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 07:19 AM
Apr 2014

people the hardest of the hard questions before God allow them to walk through the Gate of Saint Peter. I'm not religious person and I believe in afterlife strongly, oh I can imagine bankers' nervousness on their own deathbed.

tclambert

(11,087 posts)
14. They all think of themselves as "good men of business."
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 09:30 AM
Apr 2014

Like Scrooge said to Marley's ghost. And Marley shook his chains and shouted back at Scrooge: "Business! Mankind was my business! The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

Our business people seem to have never learned that lesson. We need a Charles Dickens for this age to remind us of the evils of greed, of horrible working conditions, of starvation wages, of child labor, of slavery to debt, of indifference and cruelty toward the less fortunate.
Our wealthy elites act as if they really believe of the poor "if they are like to die, perhaps they should do so, and decrease the surplus population."

 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
7. If they weren't bankers, it would be called theft, extortion, usury
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 08:06 AM
Apr 2014

but since they ARE bankers, it's still called theft, extortion, usury, but it's not prosecuted.

siligut

(12,272 posts)
8. How the rich get richer
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 08:36 AM
Apr 2014
" Much of the individual wealth in our country was taken by individuals who had the right connections. The CEOs of Silicon Valley, the alleged mecca of self-made tech visionaries, are no different. A Reuters analysis concluded that a prestigious degree and personal connections to power-brokers are "at least as important as a great idea" for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-money-making-methods-super-rich-are-far-praiseworthy


And according to the Snowden revelations, the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group is there to thwart any competition from non-approved entities.


https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/



GeorgeGist

(25,321 posts)
10. Fawn ...
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 08:39 AM
Apr 2014

Ian Simmons and Liesel Pritzker Simmons, at left, supporters of impact investing, at the next-generation conference at the White House last month.

JEFF9K

(1,935 posts)
11. Great article!
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 09:09 AM
Apr 2014

Tells it like it really is, not as Republicans want you to believe. They seem to be under the impression that 99% of rich people get their money through honest, hard work and 1% through inheritance.

 

L0oniX

(31,493 posts)
13. Most of the rich are fatal parasites to the 99% body of this country.
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 09:26 AM
Apr 2014

I only hope people wake up and take up some understanding about what we are undergoing. What really gets me is that they are doing this right in front of everyone with no shame at all. I mean ...for one...our government bailed out these parasitic sociopaths ...and for two ...our economy is now dependent on war.

IronLionZion

(45,462 posts)
16. I'm glad someone is talking about these issues
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 10:03 AM
Apr 2014

The food prices issue bothers me a lot. People need to eat. They're taking advantage.

These assholes are not building anything. They're not providing any service. They are not creating jobs. They are not making any sort of contribution to benefit society in any way. They are not "investors". They are speculators.

DirkGently

(12,151 posts)
17. "We create nothing. We own."
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 10:15 AM
Apr 2014

- paraphrased from Oliver Stone's Wallstreet. He painted with some broad strokes, but he wasn't wrong.

Gordon Gekko: The richest one percent of this country owns half our country's wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It's bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I've still got a lot to teach you.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/quotes
 

JEB

(4,748 posts)
18. Parasites in danger of killing the whole beast.
Mon Apr 21, 2014, 10:40 AM
Apr 2014

The rich are so blinded by their own greed, they cannot see the suffering of other human beings nor the hollowed out sickly society from which they are trying to suck the last few drops of blood. They can not see their own fate approaching them.

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