“No person, ever saw a herd of buffalo,
of which a few were fat and clean,
and the great majority were lean.
No person ever saw a flock of birds,
of which two or three were flying high and alone,
and the others all skin and bone.”
–Henry George

American political economist (1839-1897)

Capitalism does not work for society. Capitalism leads to periodic famine.

"Corporate Raiders are not Job Creators."

And the USSR showed that communism lead to pretty much perpetual famine. However, Denmark seems to be showing that mixed socialist economies lead to a well nourished and happy population.

Communism co-opted socialism arguments to set up a dictatorship claiming it was a higher form of Socialism. Communism took from and abused the poor in a similar way that Capitalism has abused our economic system.

Capitalism in the USA has created repeated large and small depressions punishing the middle-class and the poor. The USA needs a combination of the private good and social good that doesn't give workers a cold every time Capital/Userers sneezes.

offers the most equitable solution to the economic problem of distribution.

If there was a fantastically obese buffalo 1%, THEY would get eaten by the wolves and coyotes.

They are the biggest, meanest, strongest bulls on the prairie. If they want a particular patch of grass, they take it. They get more fuckin too. Canines know better than to mess with them.

But they also are resposible for keeping the herd outa trouble, and defend their own territory. They don't send the young bulls out to do their fightin. But if they step into a hole and pop a leg, there ain't no bailouts. Once the herd moves on and they are weak enough, they get et.

That's part of the point. And when there are ample resources, all eat. You don't see a handful of buffalo hogging half the field while 10% or 15% of the herd goes without. Maybe if there were buffalo riot-police...

The point is not every bull bison is built to lead the herd.

We must give up the myth of American prosperity after WWII was the result of Capitalism.

what was the cause of that prosperity?

Several ideas come to mind -

America had pretty much the only fully functioning economy in the world at that time.

Building houses, cars, and other consumer goods for the american market and the Marshall Plan to restore Europe and "keep it from going communist" insured the aggregate demand necessary to keep the economy at close to full employment. As did rebuilding the Japanese Economy to act as a forward supply base for the Korean Conflict.

All of this could have been done by a Capitalist Economy but not necessarily.

This link supplies a good starting point for other views. http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2012/06/the-mixed-economy-manifesto-part-1.html

New Economic Perspectives is a good site for heterodox economic views.

"Both neoclassical economics and Austrian economics consider the “real” economy to be purely in private ownership." 'newecon

This does not define private ownership?

In my approach private ownership includes the workers and capitalist. In a way that could transfer ownership via sweat-equity for example. Another way would be; the workers would receive 15.00 direct current income and 5.00 would go to payoff the capital investment/loans so the investment would be repaid to the investor or loans used to create a business. Everyone in the operation would become capitalist. The capitalist investor would receive payment for ownership equal to capital plus interest equal to the risk.

Lots of ways to skin this cat that doesn't leave the worker on the street with no job and a house payment.

Libor Interest Rate Scandal: Crime of the Century

Published on Friday, July 6, 2012 by TruthDig.com
by Robert Scheer



Forget Bernie Madoff and Enron’s Ken Lay—they were mere amateurs in financial crime. The current Libor interest rate scandal, involving hundreds of trillions in international derivatives trade, shows how the really big boys play. And these guys will most likely not do the time because their kind rewrites the law before committing the crime.Barclays Bank chairman Marcus Agius, (L) chief executive Bob Diamond (C) and chief operating officer Jerry Del Missier. (AFP)

Modern international bankers form a class of thieves the likes of which the world has never before seen. Or, indeed, imagined. The scandal over Libor—short for London interbank offered rate—has resulted in a huge fine for Barclays Bank and threatens to ensnare some of the world’s top financiers. It reveals that behind the world’s financial edifice lies a reeking cesspool of unprecedented corruption. The modern-day robber barons pillage with a destructive abandon totally unfettered by law or conscience and on a scale that is almost impossible to comprehend.

How to explain a $450 million settlement for one bank whose defense, in a plea bargain worked out with regulators in London and Washington, is that every institution in their elite financial circle was doing it? Not just Barclays but JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and others are now being investigated on suspicion of manipulating the Libor rate, so critical to a $700 trillion derivatives market.

Caught as the proverbial deer in the headlights, Barclays Chairman Robert E. Diamond Jr. resigned this week and offered a plaintive defense to the British Parliament that he learned only recently that his bank was manipulating the index on which so large a part of international trade is based. That is plausible only if we assume he was paid $10 million a year to be deliberately ignorant. The Wall Street Journal had exposed this scandal fully four years ago but his bank continued to participate in it nonetheless.

“Study Casts Doubt on Key Rate” was the headline on the May 29, 2008, investigative report, which concluded: “Major banks are contributing to the erratic behavior of a crucial global lending benchmark, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.” Even then, according to the report, it was known that the Libor rate was being manipulated “to act as if the banking system was doing better than it was at critical junctures in the financial crisis."

Fast-forward four years to Diamond’s testimony before Parliament this week in which the CEO claimed his recent discovery of a pattern of interest manipulation by Barclays had made him “physically sick.” Who was to blame? According to the executive, subordinates acting behind his back.

The American-born banker, who has dual citizenship in the United States and Britain, is well versed in financial chicanery, having started by putting together derivatives packages at Credit Suisse First Boston back in 1996. He was compelled under parliamentary questioning Wednesday to admit that “I can’t sit here and say no one in the industry [knew] about the problems with Libor. There was an issue out there and it should have been dealt with more broadly.”

He couldn’t deny widespread chicanery within his bank because, as in the collapse of Enron a decade ago, investigators had uncovered an email record of market manipulation so glaring that if the top executives were unaware, it was because they didn’t want to know.

As The New York Times editorialized: “The evidence, cited by the Justice Department—which Barclays agreed is ‘true and accurate’—is damning. ‘Always happy to help,’ one employee wrote in an email after being asked to submit false information. ‘If you know how to keep a secret, I’ll bring you in on it,’ wrote a Barclays trader to a trader at another bank, referring to their strategies for mutual gain. If that’s not conspiracy and price-fixing, what is?”

The U.S. Justice Department made a deal with Barclays, and although it may prosecute some individuals in the scam, it agreed not to go after the bank itself. “Such an agreement makes sense only if that cooperation will allow prosecutors to nail other banks that have been involved in setting the rates, including potential cases against Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and HSBC ... ,” the Times editorial said.

Both Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase were reported by The Wall Street Journal years ago to be suspected of rigging the Libor interest rate. The leaders of those banks, despite such media exposure, clearly remained confident enough to continue on their merry way.

The sad reality is that they will probably get away with it. The world of high finance is by design as obscure and opaque as the bankers and their political surrogates can make it, and even this most recent crack in their defense of deception will soon be made to go away.

I would like more details on how they were manipulating the LIBOR rates.....

For those who might not know LIBOR is simuliar to US Prime rate. LIBOR rates are usually lower than Prime rate.

LIBOR
The London InterBank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, is the average interest rate at which a select group of large, reputable banks that participate in the London interbank money market can borrow unsecured funds from other banks. There are many different LIBOR rates (maturities range from overnight to 12 months) for numerous currencies, including U.S. dollars. In the United States, the most common LIBOR maturities used in pricing loans -- 1, 3, 6 and 12 months -- can be found below.

Back in the mid-1980's, the world banking system adopted the LIBOR as a much needed benchmark for short-term, interbank loans. The LIBOR rates are now internationally recognized indexes used for pricing many types of consumer and corporate loans, debt instruments and debt securities across the globe. For example, LIBOR is used as an index for the vast majority of interest-only loans in The United States.

LIBOR rates are fixed every UK business day by the global media corporation Thomson Reuters, in association with the British Bankers' Association (BBA), a nonprofit trade association.

The Fed Funds Target Rate, America's benchmark interest rate, and the U.S. Prime Rate are controlled by America's central bank: the U.S. Federal Reserve. LIBOR rates, however, are not controlled by England's central bank, or any other central bank for that matter.

Barclays Libor Scandal: Rate Rigging Affects Your Loan Payments


The Huffington Post | By Catherine New Posted: 07/03/2012 3:53 pm Updated: 07/03/2012 4:13 pm


In the world of interconnected global finance, when a trader in London uncorks a bottle of Bollinger champagne to celebrate a rate change, there is a decent chance your monthly loan payment also changes in Any Town, U.S.A.

The rate-rigging scandal at London-based Barclays bank will eventually hit home for American consumers -- at least in theory. Everything from adjustable-rate mortgages to private student loans and variable-rate credit cards is linked to the Libor rate, which Barclays -- and other major banks still under investigation -- allegedly tried to influence.

To be sure, there is no evidence yet that Barclays' efforts to manipulate the Libor rate have affected American consumers. Libor, which stands for London interbank offered rate, is the rate that banks use to make short-term loans between themselves. It is calculated daily as an average of 18 banks' rates, with the highest and lowest rates tossed out of the mix. That makes it difficult for any single bank to influence the rate, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst for Bankrate.com.

"The wrongdoing is the attempt to manipulate," he said. "Whether [Libor] was influenced is very unlikely."

But according to the Justice Department, Barclays' multiple efforts to depress the rate in order to boost its own bottom line were sometimes successful. Last week, the bank came to a $450 million settlement with regulators over the charges following a multiyear investigation. In the wake of the settlement, the bank's CEO, Robert Diamond, resigned this week.

The Libor rate is also the rate that some lenders link to some adjustable-rate products. The banks' alleged attempt to manipulate the Libor rate underscores how closely the financial health of American consumers could be tied to the profits made at corporate banks.

For example, when Libor goes up, associated interest rates and monthly loan payments can also rise. When Libor goes down, adjustable-rate loans could also have lower payments. There's no direct impact on fixed-rate loans.

Nearly half of private student lenders -- including Sallie Mae -- offer variable-rate loans linked to the Libor index, according to FinAid, a student loan information website. In addition, all the top mortgage lenders in the United States, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, also use Libor to calculate the amount of interest charged on adjustable-rate mortgages -- or ARMs, according to The New York Times.

For consumers, the only way to know if a loan is tied to Libor is to read the terms of the original loan agreement. Many adjustable-rate loans are tied to other indices such as the prime rate.

In 2008, some American borrowers with ARM mortgages saw the amount of their payments spike because the Libor rate increased, according to an October 2008 USAToday story.

The “Capitalusurers'” 1 percenters used their position in banks to manipulate the LIBOR rate causing rates at the lowest end of the interest ladder to rise. We need to rethink the whole idea of captitalism here; http://beauproductions.com/usworld/forum/index.php/topic,1340.0.html

and here;http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10253-america-beyond-capitalism-introduction-to-the-second-edition

Capitalism has brought us the great depression of the 1930's and small recessions like the 1970's and then again another great depression of 2008.

On a recent Big Picture program with Thom Hartmann, I was lucky enough to catch his discussion with Gar Alperovitz. Mr. Alperovitz has defined our problems with great accuracy, and indeed, it will take young activists to understand these things and to force the institutional changes we need. Your second link is a wonderful summary!

I see our situation in the USA like this:

The young need to be informed first to understand the problems they are up against. Mr. Alperovitz indicates that young activism is taking place, and this is very encouraging to me. These young people must spread the word (of the new understanding they gain each day) to their friends and families. Since our major media is letting us down in the information department, all we have is word of mouth - and thankfully the Internet.

The Mondragon example is extremely significant and gives me another strong reason to be optimistic, especially since its models are taking hold here. Mondragon proves the power of democracy, which I had faith in all along since learning about it in school back in the 1950s. Although our political elite refer to our nation as a democracy, they do all they can to prevent the people from having any significant say about anything important. This is Orwellian!

Our "democracy" has been made irrelevant through government corruption. We, the people, need to understand how important it is to retake direct control. I hope young activists will read this and take it to heart!

I agree that workers' co-operatives are a great step towards an egalitarian world. That is why I and others are collecting and consolidating information on them [link:http://www.socialistphalanx.com/t922-workers-co-operatives|

is in labor and resources. Even for retirees is work and value, defined as something that actually helps life. Money is a unified system, a symbolism to help insure order and fair valuation, again whose real value is in that SERVICE and real relationship to resources and human lives.

A far cry from the upside down tyrannical abuse that one can only call Mammon Unchained that acts more like a fantasy horror god than anything with a service relationship to human life, real resources or anything beyond its abstract, obscenely abuse self.

We did not escape chaos, our failings, the temptations of greed and unfairness, envy and irrationality. We enshrined them and made the obscenity have value by making people stop working, sending them to kill, denying life and services and destroying and withholding real resources. All in the constant demonstration of raw power by a system that has no real value in the real world. The god knows it could theoretically vanish by a stroke of the pen in a day but protects itself by fear and loyalty and utter dependence with less and less return lest true understanding sink in.

That argument is abstract but the power, even though a primal social contract is nearly absolute and corrupt beyond its power. This is the general trap that is accepted by too many victims and challenged by not enough reformers.

Derivatives give them more fake value, more "real" power by the inverting process of denial of goods and services, by ritual human sacrifice.