More than a month has passed, actually now it has been two. In the third week of June, I heard the song in my head for the first time. With each day that passes the volume increases. Friends, family, and familiars were privy to what has been a curiosity for me. Still haunted by what I know needs to be shared farther and wider, today I tell you my tale. The story begins with two Florida Democrats. Each aspires to fill the one open United States Senate seat. The date; June 22, 2010. I was amongst those invited to attend the initial Meek Greene debate.. The place? The Palm Beach Post headquarters. The time? Midday. The reality realized and the reason my mind marinated in the melody titled It's About Time. Today, Democrats, Progressives are not as they were.
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama rolled out a new plan to limit the use of offshore tax havens and crack down on corporate abuse of the tax system. These tax havens siphon over $100 billion a year from the government, and have allowed many U.S. banks to duck paying taxes despite receiving massive, taxpayer-funded bailouts. The president's plan is far from perfect, but comes as a welcome acknowledgment of the unfairness embedded in the current tax code.
Blaming sub-prime borrowers is a common mistake being made by most media reporting and the pundits. On the Friday, Oct. 10th, edition of NPR's All Things Considered, David Brooks was commenting on what the presidential candidates' were blaming as the cause of the economic meltdown, and he said, "They totally excuse the American people as if these sub-prime mortgages were forced upon people."
What I have been learning is that the titans of finance who created and traded unregulated securities of debt instruments and derivatives called Credit Default Swaps involving some $62 trillion are much more likely culprits in the worldwide financial collapse. Common sense tells me that bad mortgage loans, even in large numbers, could not be responsible for the tremendous losses required to affect the entire world markets, including bankrupting the country of Iceland. The Credit Default Swap market, however, was large enough to have this effect when that house of cards crumbled.
On behalf of sub-prime borrowers who must be feeling the guilt of causing the next great depression, I wrote the following letter to Mr. Brooks at the New York Times and to All Things Considered. A sub-prime borrower's apology for causing the crash.
Dear Mr. Brooks:
I heard you say on National Public Radio All Things Considered that sub-prime borrowers should take their share of the blame for the economic crash. At first, I thought things wouldn't get so bad, but now it seems that the entire world economy is collapsing. Frankly, I was just going to keep quite and hope no one would notice that I am one of the sub-prime borrowers. But listening to your explanation of the cause of this crisis has made me feel ashamed of what my wife and I have done. I want to come clean.
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