So much for “customer service”

For the second time in two days, our DSL provider has incurred a major outage affecting about 100 of us.  Yesterday we could not connect to the internet for six hours.  Now this morning, the same problem happens again with preliminary prospects of another six to eight hours with no access to the internet.  If this were some local phone company with one tech guy I could understand, but this is a big company which provides local telephone service to millions of customers.

If access to the internet were only a hobby, then two outages in two days would be a minor inconvenience, but if your livelihood is based upon being connected to the internet; it is whole different story.  In our case, I use the internet to stay connected to this site and a few others and my wife uses it to run an online business.  When there is not access to the internet there is no way to conduct her business.

What is up with so-called “customer service” anyway?  Whatever happened to the old adage “the customer is always right”?  Why is it anymore that if, as a customer, you have a complaint or a situation which causes hardship or danger you are treated like someone trying to rip off the company?  I believe the “me first” mentality has fully crept into the everyday business realm.

We live in the country and our electricity is provided by a rural electrical cooperative.  For years we enjoyed lower rates than those in the city and received a check each year of excess profits.  Then last year the rates jumped dramatically for the first time in years due to the dramatic rise in energy prices.  Our response was to move out of the second story of our home so as to not run the upstairs air conditioner and embark on a series of measures to make sure we used far less electricity than before.  The result was we paid the same even after the huge increase due to decreased consumption.

Three months ago we were notified of another huge price increase that went into effect last month.  We turned the thermostat further down during cold snaps and the A/C higher.  We unplugged unused items and turned off more lights than we turned on.  In January we had the thermostat set at 70 degrees and by March it was down to 64 degrees.  There were some mighty cold mornings in this big house.  The A/C is set at 80 degrees.  There are going to be some mighty warm and muggy days in this place.

Yesterday we received the first bill with the new rate increases.  We had cut our consumption almost in half from one year ago and our bill was $15 more.  It is truly a pity that something like electricity has become something only the rich can afford.

Everywhere I go I see banks and hear commercials for lending companies touting their 4.25% interest rates on mortgages.  Every time I look into refinancing our mortgage to tap into these incredible rates I am met with the same answer MOST people get—“oh we are sorry but you don’t qualify for that rate, but we could get you a 7% rate”.  It is common knowledge that the lenders are so scared they are only giving these low interest loans to people how succeed in jumping through every possible hoop on earth.

I went into town yesterday to mail a bunch of packages.  Once again I was reminded of the 2 cent increase in stamps going into effect on the 11^th.  Less service, but pay more seems to be the way everyone is dealing with the current economic downturn.  Driving by the gas stations I saw the price for a gallon of gas had jumped 25 cents in one day.  Hmmm, if every business in America raised their prices that much overnight, wouldn’t it pretty well destroy the country?

I have no leverage with the electric company, the Post Office, the mortgage company or gasoline stations.  They are going to keep raising rates and prices to compensate for lack of demand for their services or market conditions.  But, when it comes to a phone/DSL company being unable to keep a line up for 24 hours, my patience runs out.  Besides, this is the same company that took almost a month to get service back for thousands of customers a little south of us last winter after an ice storm downed lines all over the place.  Hey what do you know, the restored the service!

It is daily getting harder and harder to stay afloat in this country.  The more one tries to conserve, cut back and be frugal, it does little good as others keep raising prices and rates at the same time.  One step forward and two steps back seems to be the name of the game now days.

The Banks are squeezing every last dollar they can from everyone they can get; I know, for they have

I understand that we are not to be in debt, so I am not sharing the following with you wanting to be scolded for being in debt. What things are is what things are, and some of us for various reasons got ourselves into situations that necessitated taking on debt and now we are getting ready to pay dearly for it.

Sparing you the details, for they are not important, let me simply say that the following are the facts:

1. We have never been late on any obligation for twenty years.

2. We live in a home that when re-financed in May of 2007 had, at the time, a full one third equity position. In other words, there was deliberately room left for unexpected expenses in the future.

3. We have 7 credit cards with balances on them and another 5 with zero balances.

4. Our income and expenses are the same as they have been for many years.

5. NOTHING has happened, on our end, to alter our situation in the past year and one half.

With these facts in mind, let me tell you what is going on. We have three credit cards that all go through the biggest bank in America. We have had these cards for between three and ten years. At times they have had balances approaching their limits and at other times balances of zero. NEVER has there been a late payment, over credit fee or any other negative. At present, all three carry balances which are at or below 50% of the credit lines.

Last week we received notices with the bills that as of December, the interest rates on all three cards were going from 6.99%, which they have been at for years, to 18.99%. As if this was not shock enough, we were informed the credit lines on all three cards were being frozen at current levels. Although we were able to “opt out” of the rise in interest rates by guaranteeing we would never use the cards again, we effectively were shut down by a bank we had up until a month ago, EXCELLENT relations with.

Yesterday the exact same thing happened with another bank we have two cards with. In both cases the so-called justification for the action was the bank did not like our “debt to income ratio”. Hello, it is the same as it has been for months. Before I had a chance to take all this personally, I did some research and found out what is going on which pertains to any of you carrying credit card balances.

A very trustworthy source, whom I trust completely wrote in an article yesterday that all the major banks and financing institutions are in the process of dealing with 2 trillion dollars in bad credit card debts. To handle this, they are systematically going through their clientele and doing exactly what they did to us with all but the very best customers on their books. In other words, they are cutting their losses by assuming anyone not making $500,000 per year is going to default on their credit card bills and thus they are freezing lines of credit and charging outlandish interest rates.

This has been going on for months and months with those in deep financial trouble, the difference is that now it is spreading to the “common folk” like my wife and I. The banks are bleeding money faster than Uncle Sam can give it to them. Look at the stocks of all the major banks and they are nearing the point of being worthless. No amount of money poured into the banks is going to help, for they are slowing slaughtering the very people who could have made them money via mortgages, loans and credit cards.

We recently found out that the same home which we had one third equity in 18 months ago now mysteriously has basically no equity. How on God’s green earth can a home lose 30% of its supposed value in 18 months? At the current rate, we will be “upside down” within six months. Oh how the vultures are circling as they make their plans to snatch this attractive property and acreage out from under us. All we can do is pray and do the best we can. These matters are way bigger than we are.

Don’t be surprised if any outstanding lines of credit you have get frozen soon. Don’t be surprised if the assumed equity you think you have in your home suddenly evaporates into thin air and you find yourself owing more than someone says your house is worth. Don’t be surprised if the reward you get for paying your bills on time, not being extravagant and trying to save money via retirement accounts is having to file for bankruptcy along with 50 states, thousands of cities and in due time, the United States of America.

Yes, that is where this is all heading. Sooner or later the government’s funny money will not be worth the paper it is printed on and no matter how much of it you make or save, it will not be able to help you. Those who sit back thinking they are safe and secure, will see sudden destruction come upon them. Those who thought they had enough in savings to carry them through their retirement years will be trying to survive on Social Security checks alone. Those who thought they had money to burn will find that money has all been burned up.

America’s chickens HAVE come home to roost in the sense that gross mistakes made due to greed are destroying the very financial foundation of this country. All logical measures which could really help the common person are laughed at and rejected outright. Instead, more and more money is thrown to the hungry ravenous wolves which represent the corrupt financial institutions of this world. They will never be satisfied until they have gobbled up every dollar from every soul in America. God help us.

Spoiled “kids” running America’s corporations and government

It certainly appears to me that all across society, we are hearing more and more screams from “big kids” who spent years and years being spoiled rotten by the system they now abhor. We all knew, or maybe we were one ourselves, a spoiled kid. This kid was usually an only child whose parents made more money than most and since they did not have a big family to spend it on; they gave little Johnny everything and anything he wanted to be happy.

A child growing up getting everything he wants, becomes an adult who demands nothing less. In our society, we have seen generation after generation rise up with no sense of stewardship and no understanding of what it takes to do without. Even today, as parents scramble to find enough money to pay the bills; the kids throw tantrums, demanding newer computer games and better toys. Even when parents try to say no, they usually crumble under the withering barrage of objections from kids who have never heard that word before.

We are surrounded by children ranging in age from 1 to 65 who never were told “NO, you can’t have that”. Kids have been given everything they think they need and everything they know they want for years. Whether junk food, cell phones, skateboards, baggy shorts or computerized games; all these “toys” have been dropped in the laps of kids for decades.

Parents who have tried to buy the love and respect of their kids by bombarding them with “things” have found these kids to be anything but loyal as they grow older. In fact, many times the kids rebel against this blatant form of bribery. On therapist’s couches across America there are stories told daily by delinquent kids who only wanted love and attention and not all the “things” they were given.

Nothing replaces the time a parent spends with their child. No amount of money and no amount of things can compensate for the time a child craves to spend with their parents. When mom and dad are too busy enjoying their lives to spend time with Junior; they usually wake up one day to a call that Junior either is in jail or killed himself. This is the sad reality of American families these days.

Kids need to be taught they cannot have everything they want. Kids need to be given quality time with their parents instead of shipping them to the mall or their friends houses to get them out of the parent’s hair. Kids need to be given responsibilities and when carried out, given an allowance. It is truly amazing how many kids are simply given money for doing absolutely nothing.

Activities such as television, movies and the such should be regulated and only available after homework is done. Activities such as athletics, drama and dance should be viewed as rewards and not as an equal part of life as breathing. Where in the world did the idea come from that every kid has to be involved with every sport taking up hours of time in practice and games year round? Where did the notion come from that a kid MUST play soccer, baseball, football, basketball along with having a major part in every school play and play a musical instrument to boot?

Is it any wonder that the country if full of families who have no clue how to function as a family? The very concept of a family has degenerated into people coming and going all the time and perhaps on major holidays they actually may all be together. Long gone are the evenings when families would sit around the table and play archaic games such as Monopoly or Clue. Such ideas of family activities today would be viewed upon as punishment by most kids and even many adults.

See, the adults don’t want to give up their favorite television shows or their poker nights or other adult activities; and the kids don’t want to give up their cell phones, e-mails, games and other time wasters. What remains is a bunch of stubborn people who are too selfish to give up what they want to benefit the other. What is truly sad is that the adults don’t have what it takes to put down their foot and simply say: “This is the way it is going to be”. Such words, even if they were said, would be met with a roomful of rolling eyes and “yea sure”.

What we are facing at the current time in this country is a crisis brought about by years and years of neglect and lack of supervision on the account of companies who violated principle after principle of good business practice. Whether they were not taught to do things right, or the greed built by always having what you want when you want it; either way, the result is an economic disaster of unprecedented parallels.

The “sins of the fathers” have been manifesting themselves ever more clearly through the events which have crushed this country in 2008. Unless and until American families get back to living according to the principles set forth in God’s Word instead of the ways of the world, this country would continue to spiral downward throughout the coming generations. Parents waiting on the government, schools or even their church to take over the raising and training of their children are perfect fools. Any parent who willingly relinquishes their responsibility of raising their family right, is a parent unfit to even have a family.

Whether due to being spoiled, neglected or being bribed; there are many “bad kids” who are now running corporations, managing huge financial institutions and are responsible for the horrible mess dragging down this country. Few parents think about the long term repercussions of the way in which they raise their kids. They simply do what is convenient at the present and “hope for the best” when the kids grow up. But what happens when they never do grow up? Look around and you will see.

How about giving us all an equal share of the next 5 trillion

It has been conservatively estimated that the United States Treasury together with the Federal Reserve Board has loaned and/or given approximately 5 trillion dollars to banks and other financial institutions this year in their attempt to stabilize the economy. Everyone keeps talking about the 700 billion dollars involved with the bailout measure, but there were huge amounts of money involved as far back as last winter being loaned to banks at low interest rates. Little, if any of this money ever has been repaid.

The mere mention of a figure such as 5 trillion boggles the mind. When the word “dollars” is added after it, the mind cannot possibly grasp the immensity of it. Not too many years ago, a very wealthy person was called a “millionaire”. Anyone who owned a million dollars was looked upon as one of the richest people on earth. Now game shows have prizes of a million dollars.

These days the people who are very wealthy are called “billionaires”. There are only a few of them in the world, but they pretty much dictate much of what goes on in this world due to their incredible financial influence. The Warren Buffet’s and the Bill Gates of the world truly are in a class by themselves as far as their net worth. But, as rich as these people are, none of them even come remotely close to being a “trillionaire”.

When these kinds of numbers are tossed around, no one can possibly grasp how big they really are. For people like me, a hundred dollar bill is still something very special and unique. It would take ten billion one hundred dollar bills to equal a trillion dollars. Logically, it would take 50 billion one hundred dollar bills to equal the 5 trillion dollars spent to try and save the American banking system. I hope all these big numbers have gotten the point across that we are talking about a lot of money.

On the other side of coin (so to speak), in the African country of Zimbabwe, they have such horrific inflation that their money is basically worthless. Before they revalued their currency recently the following shows how bad it had gotten.

Can you honestly imagine spending 10 trillion “whatevers” to get some breakfast? I guess you could if the value of your “whatever” was basically zero. The more these huge numbers are tossed around, the more it makes you wonder if the day is coming in this country when a cup of coffee will cost a trillion dollars.

If I were running this country, instead of giving the banks 5 trillion dollars to squander; I would divide that number by the 300 million people in this country and GIVE each one of them an equal share. Talk about stimulating the economy. If each person in this country received an equal proportion of 5 trillion dollars, the amount each would receive would be:

$16,666.666

Food for thought.

the staggering cost of receiving medical treatment–is it worth it?

Let me be brutally honest here. I have a list of physical ailments and corresponding medications and therapies needed to deal with them that is a mile long. With situations ranging from heart failure and coronary artery disease to diabetes to numerous herniated discs in my neck and back to kidney failure to liver problems along with skin issues; I have little choice but to try and survive on my paltry $600 disability I receive monthly from Social Security.

My life is spent going to one doctor, therapist or procedure after another. My money is spent on various drugs needed to somewhat keep all the various conditions under control along with the co-pays and deductibles for all the visits and drugs. Just yesterday I say 4 doctors in one day and spent $100 in co-pays alone. My wife also had a physical problem yesterday which resulted in her seeing the doctor. The final bill for co-pays alone came to $125. She made $130 working over 8 hours yesterday.

Now granted, yesterday was somewhat unusual since I had two doctor visits that only come up every three months, but when an entire day’s earnings are used up just visiting doctors—Houston, we have a problem. Due to the treatment regimen needed to deal with my back and neck problems, I must see the Chiropractor/therapist/medical doctor three times per week for the next few weeks. This is a $100 per week commitment. To get the prescriptions filled to relieve pain and speed the healing process cost another $50. The gas to make the drives cost another $60.

We recently had to make the yearly decision as to taking the high or low option on insurance through my wife’s employer. The basic difference came down to whether the insurance would pay 70% (low option) or 80% (high option) and whether co-pays would be $35 (low option) or $30 (high option) for doctor’s visits. The difference in price for high vs. low was an incredible $45 per week. In other words it was going to take $45 more per week to get insurance to pay 10% more of the bills.

We, as usual, chose the low option with a $40 medical re-imbursement option. Even choosing this package, the cost per week is $85. Some would say that is a small price to pay to have decent insurance; I would say that we are thankful to have the coverage, but…

If I had to go in the hospital for any of my various maladies, I would be responsible for a $300 per day co-pay and then insurance would only pay 70% of the cost of all things done while in the hospital. A one week stay in the hospital would cost a staggering $3,000 or more probably. Needless to say, I avoid any trips to the hospital like the plague.

I put off getting a bridge put in my mouth for a year. This is the third of four needed bridges. Since insurance only pays a fraction of the cost, I was left to pay the rest. Last week, an astounding $4,500 was charged to my Care Credit account to pay for a major bridge, a crown and other needed work. Last year a similar bridge “only” cost about $3,500 which was slowly being paid off. I am now maxed out on this account so I can only pray for no more emergencies.

I had to get the truckload of mail order prescriptions filled last week. The bill was just under $500. Trying to find the means to pay all these bills along with everything else is frustrating and a lesson in how people end up hopelessly in debt. Even if there were no other obligations, staying on top of numerous and varied medical conditions ends up eating all available funds plus more. Yes, things like Care Credit help with Dental and Veterinary bills (a staggering sum to care for our sick dog which recently passed away), and hospitals will set up payment plans at times for big bills. But they also want you to cash in retirement accounts and drain savings plans also.

Everyone talks about the reason people like my wife and I are in the dire straits we are in financially is due to our irresponsibility concerning finances. They say because I am lazy and won’t go find a job and insist on being sick all the time we are in the mess we are in. Here is my question to those who blame me for all our woes. Should I, as Jimmy Stewart tried to do in “It’s a Wonderful Life” go jump off a bridge and at least end the constant draw on finances my ailments bring? Should I hope to get killed in an accident on the Interstate so my wife can collect from a couple of accidental death insurance policies I have? Am I to try, at almost 56 years of age to find work knowing I cannot faithfully show up and do the job?

One of the doctors I was at yesterday was in a foul mood. I was ten minutes late due the previous doctor talking on the phone for fifteen minutes with his financial broker. The doctor in the foul mood spent all of five minutes with me and was obviously upset for I was his last patient before leaving at 10:30 in morning. I could hear him complaining as the nurse did the pre-work about patients not respecting the doctor’s valuable time. I should have walked out then and there. How many times have I waited for hours on a doctor hopelessly behind schedule.

If I could survive without medical care, I would. If I could survive without prescription drugs, I would. If I could guarantee an employer I could and would show up daily to work and do the job without being in a drug fog, excruciating pain or having to leave to go to doctor visits three times per week, I would. Since I can’t, what else can I do but what I do?

I hate being a physical liability to not only my wife but society. Should I move to Oregon and ask to end this life? Am I to sit in front of stores with a can asking for alms? Am I to ignore all my medical conditions and let them slowly kill me? I wish those who quickly condemn some of us for the situations we are in would honestly look at what got us in them instead of blasting us with their self righteous and pompous sermons about responsibility.

New World Order and USSA financial details laid out this weekend in D.C. and Europe

The overriding question that should be on everyone’s mind is who to believe. There is so much disinformation and propaganda floating around right now it is literally impossible to know who, if anyone is telling the truth. Never before has there been so many high level meetings and closed door conferences going on simultaneously.

Our beloved puppet President dutifully gets up every few days to tell us “all will be fine” even while the world’s markets collapse. The Treasury Secretary appears on television to tell us all the good things his department is doing by taking ownership stock in banks. Meanwhile the Speaker of the House gets up and announces since Obama is going to win the election, there will need to be a “lame duck” session of Congress to start work on the next 150 billion dollar give away.

When is the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff going to stand up and just tell us the truth; “Your country is no more”. It sure seems to me and most other true conservative independents that the battle is over and the USSA is a certainty to come into place no later than January of next year. Nothing seems able to derail the rush to socialism and even Marxism that is overspreading this once great country. The train has left the station and is heading straight for the rapid dissolution of most liberties this land cherishes.

The rapid fire succession of financial disasters which have wrecked havoc with millions of people have produced a panic mentality which is of course needed for a “messiah” to capitalize on to rise to power. The sheep of this country have fallen prey to the mesmerizing sweet talk of Sen. Obama and feel he and his comrades in the Senate and House will waive their magic wands and produce instant resolution to all the problems in this country.

As sheep led to the slaughter, the majority of Americans have bought the socialists bill of goods, and are eagerly awaiting the New America where there is no poverty and the only wealthy people left are the leaders. What has and is happening to this country and world makes me physically sick and emotionally drained. There is no way out and the inevitable future must be faced and accepted. The land of the free is in the midst of being transformed into the biggest socialistic state in the world.

Just wait and see as groups like ACORN rise to power and stomp their heavy boots on the necks of the rich white people they view as their enemy. Just wait and see what will become of the Hannity’s and Limbaugh’s and anyone else who thinks they can continue to spew anti-American right wing propaganda without equal time for the left to debunk everything. Just wait and see as the wealthiest Americans once again are taxed at the 80% rate they once were before Reagan changed the tax code.

Why and how so many of the rich and famous think what is coming will be good for them is beyond me. Perhaps we are in for a Cabinet of Brad Pitt as Secretary of State and George Clooney as Secretary of the Treasury and Sean Penn as Secretary of Defense. I don’t know and I really don’t care anymore. There is no battle left to fight for powers far greater than you or me have predestined this all to happen for decades.

Sure, it will take a little time for the New World Order to show the details of who they are and what things will be like; but rest assured the meetings going on this weekend all around the world were not to go over details of the upcoming Christmas party. Everyone who is anyone in the financial community has either been meeting this weekend in Washington or in Europe. Regardless of what line is laid out later today or tomorrow; rest assured what really took place in these meetings was the divulging of details of the New World Order everyone is expected to abide by. God help us all.

The Commandeering of the Financial, Business and Mortage Industries=New World Order nearing completion

How can anyone sit back and say “all is well” while watching one government after another take over ownership in part or in full of its financial institutions? How can people honestly think it a good thing for their government to assume control of the very institutions entrusted with the life’s savings of its citizens? Those who have sat back and watched without comment the unprecedented takeover of the wealth of one great country after another need not bother complaining when they soon wake up and find they have no personal wealth remaining.

It is purely delusional thinking at best to think that any lasting good will come from the commandeering of first the mortgage industry, then the investment banks, then the banks and soon many businesses by the government. Dangling financial bailout money like a carrot in front of desperate business owners in return for part of full ownership in their business is pure folly, yet it is happening at breakneck speed.

Who in their right mind would think this whole financial fiasco is not contrived? These things which have happened did not take place by accident. The current credit squeeze did not just happen overnight for no reason at all. This was all a carefully planned and executed endeavor on the part of those who pull the strings of the world’s political and economic power structures to capture and transfer the world’s wealth to themselves.

While the common business owner, mortgage owner and individual highly in debt rejoices in the daily announcements of “free money” to bail them out of mistakes they made though greed or bad judgment; those who are assuming control of the nation’s assets are smiling all the way to their vaults where they will be storing the deeds to the nation’s real estate and ruling jurisdiction over the businesses which produce the wealth.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Illuminati have won. There is no turning back what has happened the past month. The transfer of wealth is nearly complete. Now all that is needed is a period of relative prosperity to promote the mistaken notion that all is well and then the big collapse will strike and suddenly millions of people will lose their homes, their businesses, their bank accounts and stocks. Once this happens, there will be no recourse but to cry for what could and should have been if only…

Sell your stocks, cash in your CDs and buy gold. Sell your expensive house with the sky high mortgage and find a little place to rent or buy to fix up. Liquidate your assets and take the earnings and invest in gold, silver or other tangible commodities whose value is not imaginary but real. Sell your business and concern yourself with being self reliant and self sufficient instead of laboring 20 hours per day to keep the government off your back.

What has happened and is happening before our very eyes is the long anticipated and much denied takeover of America by the big money, new world order elitists who will never be satisfied until they squash the common person and succeed in grabbing everything he has spent a lifetime earning and saving. Anyone so naïve as to think the American government acts on its own in the interest of its citizens welfare obviously has much to learn.

Don’t take my word for it. Invest some time and honestly read about the agenda and grandeur plans those promoting the New World Order have worked from for centuries. This is not merely another conspiracy theory, this is what is happening even as I type this blog post. It is absolutely mind boggling to watch what is taking place under the very noses of an apathetic and brain dead American public.

Can you not see, have you no eyes to behold what is happening? Everything in every realm is cascading at breakneck speed toward governmental control of everything. Sen. Obama is running ahead in the polls based on the mantra of “change”. The change he promotes and is cherished by so many is that of the government taking over everything and then providing for the citizens. Socialism 101.

It is too late to change course and there is little if anything that can be done to alter what is to come. Americans fell for the ploy and not must pay the price for their greed and blindness. As everyone’s retirement accounts dwindle and their homes lose value; there waiting with eager anticipation is the savior and messiah who will ride in on their white horse to bailout the moaning and suffering masses who cannot fix the problem themselves. All hail the power of the government who shall redeem the people from certain destruction.

Integrity and Honesty vs. Greed, Corruption and Lies=The American battle

No country, no matter how might it is, can expect to maintain its greatness if it violates principles long enough. The Roman Empire ultimately fell because it ceased doing the very things which had led to its power. The great empires of a few centuries ago fell into disarray because of greed and the failure to abide by the governing principles which led to their rise.

The United States of America has steadily gone downhill during the very time it appeared to the world to be gaining strength. Ever since World War II, this country has veered in the same direction which led to the fall of the Roman, British and other once great empires. When the truth is no longer held sacred and greed is allowed to rule, the inevitable result will be collapse of the system.

Almost an entire generation saw nothing but prosperity starting in 1981 and continuing until 2007. There were certainly a few bumps in the road such as the “recession” of 1992 and the period after September 11, 2001; but by and large, most Americans were “blessed” with an unprecedented period of financial prosperity which enabled millions of people to move up to the coveted “middle class” or even higher.

If Americans would have saved and wisely invested their new found wealth, there would be no crisis at the moment and this country would be the envy of the world. But, once greed and selfishness replaced conservative financial stewardship and charity; disaster was inevitable. Greed breeds corruption and abuse of power which spells calamity. All that has been exposed by the huge investment banks on Wall Street shows clearly the pattern of unbridled greed and the evil that springs from it.

I remember traveling to see a friend in western Connecticut in July of 2007. I was amazed to hear of and see the incredible properties which were only the SECOND homes of the high finance people who ran the big investment banks and worked on the trading floor of Wall Street. These huge properties were used only a few weekends per year and a few weeks in summer. One such property, in need of much work, was on the market for a few million dollars. I am sure it sold before the collapse.

Those who made hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of those they allegedly served are guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Those who continued to pad their own pocket even as their companies sunk into bankruptcy need to be prosecuted for fraud and thrown in prison for a few years. Those who caused the very crisis we all are enduring through unethical and many times illegal activities need to be held accountable for what they did and serve appropriate time for their crimes.

The government can continue to throw non-existent money at the financial monster devouring this country’s assets, but it will do no good if nothing changes from within. If those who oversee and run the banks and other financial institutions are corrupt and unethical, all they touch will reflect their evil ways. The government could bail out every bank and every business and every family which is in deep financial trouble and the problem would still not be solved.

Unless the underlying problems of greed, corruption, fraud, extortion and lies of all sorts and kinds are purged from the financial sector; the same problems will resurface again in different places and with different people. Honesty, integrity and commitment to principle must be honored regardless of the price that must be paid. Simply waving the magic wand and producing wads of money to throw at the problem solves NOTHING. Unfortunately, this is all that is being done and all that will be done due to the agenda of those intent on taking over the wealth of this world.