Do We Have Cause for Hope? Or Do I Just Spend Too Much Time on the Internet?

Firewall: In Defense of Nation-State

As if I didn't have enough videos already linked. For about the first 20 minutes are so it felt more like a repeat, but instead of a recap of all the problems with our financial system Firewall offers real world solutions. I would rank The Money Masters which I linked in my previous post as a higher priority view than Firewall, but still a worth while to view at some point. It's just under 90 minutes.

One thing that Firewall does explain is public-private partnerships, the latest ripoff proposed by Tim Geithner as a solution to clean up toxic assets. I realize that this is a completely ridiculous idea, but as credit-default swaps aren't tied to anything of actual value, just tell all the purchasers tough luck. They wasted money on insurance and guess what? In typical insurance policy style, your claim has been denied! But that would just be far too logical for Wall St.

The thing the the segment on public-private partnerships most reminds me of is Huey P. Long. He was definitely a corrupt official in true Louisiana fashion, guilty of quite a few schemes that later earned him the title the Kingfish. However, he was a populist and accomplished tremendous good on behalf of Louisiana citizens. One thing being he drove a privately owned bridge that reeked huge profits by charging toll fees for use out of business by convincing the state legislature to give him funds to build his own bridge, at a "different" location.