Zombie Nation
More than 3,000 US companies filed for bankruptcy between January and late June. For tens of thousands more that may be teetering on the edge…
- The Leveraging of America: How companies became addicted to debt - Financial Times
#Bondageddon S&P said moments ago that the number of potential bond downgrades rose to a record high of 1,350 as of May 29, above the financial crisis high of 1,028 in 2009.
- Robert Burgess – Bloomberg @BobOnMarkets
By J.M. Hamilton (7-12-2020)
It’s amazing. A nation on top of the world, the last remaining superpower, an economy & stock market – seemingly - humming at peak performance (albeit at extreme valuations), Trump’s - racist - evangelical soldiers marching as to war (enacting Sharia law, via SCOTUS), a global empire, and an America still – somewhat – respected in the eyes of the world or at least feared …
… and then, like a comet or space rock crashing into the earth during the Mesozoic Era, a virus and pandemic hits. And the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
All is not as it seems.
A political duopoly stripped bare – egomania, hubris, narcissism, & pretension are manifest; a complicit MSM; an economy leveraged to the hilt; systemic racism on full display, as the friendly neighborhood PD is revealed to be an Orwellian police state, w/ psycho killer cops; the healthcare system – the most expensive in the world – is manifestly a complete train wreck; and a so-called democracy – or republic - revealed for what it truly is.
Hunter S. Thompson, back in the eighties, once wrote: “There is a lot of wreckage in the fast lane these days.” Christ save us… nowadays the entire highway is littered – impassable – by the dangerous debris of a fallen empire. Lady liberty is suffering unmentionable cruelty – rape even – at the hands of thug bankers, the US Chamber and the Business Roundtable; and millions upon millions of the American people are jobless and impoverished.
The Treasury has been looted - and monetary policy captured - by billionaires and multinationals… w/ the full authorization of the US Congress and the Federal Reserve.
Twilight. Buy the ticket, take the ride… so walk with me, let’s take a look at a fallen star, as the Zombie Apocalypse draws near. Please put on your mask, as the tour begins.
On your right, you’ll see American businesses filing for bankruptcy at a record pace… taking jobs, opportunity, competition, investment options and the US economy with them. And leaving in place a predatory financial services sector, monopolies and utilities. The American business community owed $10 trillion in debt walking into the crisis. We can blame greed, the tax deductibility of debt, the supremacy of the private equity model, financial engineering uber alles, and government and regulatory bodies that stood by and did absolutely nothing. Instead, the politicians and the FED enabled the mercenaries who destroyed capitalism and rolled in economic statism. The FT reports three thousand US companies have filed for bankruptcy, from January through June, and POTUS Trump, repeatedly, assures us: All is well.
Over on the left you’ll see the American rating agencies – the fabled, Big Three – that not only blew it, repeatedly, leading up to the 2008-2009 financial crisis, but screwed up all over again, here & now, in 2020. A little over a decade ago it was mortgage backed securities that received full blessing from the Big Three, and now, it’s all that suspect leveraged debt that was teetering on a BBB- credit rating (and is, subsequently, being – or in the process of being - downgraded to JUNK, as a result of an entirely foreseeable event). Hundreds upon hundreds of bond downgrades – headed towards a thousand, plus, now - and assuredly more to come. Just how many times does the world have to be burned by these rating agency clowns, before we insist upon real reform (i.e. their breakup, and making sure bondholders & investors pay for these institutions, not - moral hazard defined - the companies and countries issuing the debt).
Up over yonder, you’ll see the Federal Reserve burning the nation’s credit line - and manipulating monetary policy - once again, to bailout: banks, shadow banking, hedge funds, private equity firms, billionaires, multinationals, pensions, and the bond & stock market, itself. The FED has been extremely adept at laundering taxpayer money through the debt and stock markets, enriching plutocrats and C-suite management teams with vast sums, while the American people are handed at $1200 check and told simply, “good luck.” It’s no accident that wage and wealth inequality has soared, and the number of American billionaires has spiked, over the last twenty years… correlating precisely with the rise of the U.S. national debt from $5 trillion to the specious number of $26 trillion, today. That’s a lot of welfare for a band of psychopaths, whose success seems to be predicated on developing the latest gee-whiz tech gadget, app, or, in the case of private equity, burning companies to the ground.
Behind us you’ll see a US government that is perfectly incapable of governing, imagination, or stewardship. The congress is, by and large, compromised – order takers, if you will – doing ownership’s bidding, and rearranging the deck chairs. As the pandemic struck, the congress was too busy adjusting their stock portfolios to warn the American people. The duopoly puts on a great show – aided and abetted by the corporately controlled MSM - of their differences; but on stealing the American people blind - for themselves and their donors - the two parties are unified, in lock step, and in agreement. Apparently, the congress, governors, and POTUS will say and do anything - on the oligarchy’s behalf - to get the pandemic economy rolling again. And if America leads the world in viral cases and deaths, that’s a price the political elite are perfectly willing to see essential - working - Americans pay (as politicians shelter in place and receive premium healthcare).
Three blocks up you’ll find a disease that, to date, is more deadly than any virus… the very thing Eisenhower warned us about: The military industrial complex. There’s never enough money to lift Americans out of poverty, to provide a UBI or Medicare for All, but Congress has a trillion, per annum, for a bankrupting US empire, the Police & Surveillance state, and the military industrial complex.
So what do you think? Do you like what the elite have done with the place?
That’s the end of the guided tour… for anyone who cares to learn more, there’s plenty of information online, in regards the looting and sacking of the United States by a predatory oligarchy. Please be careful as you exit the ride.
At the end of the day, what do you call mindless creatures, who would destroy democracy, freedom, and rig the government in their favor for personal gain… Boomers?
What of so-called business leaders, who would throw away capitalism & freedom in favor of guaranteed profits & socialized losses, as well as, repeated government sponsored bailouts – courtesy of the US taxpayer and future generations… Billionaires?
And how to delineate what appear to be the walking dead, who would deny systemic racism, and support the abuse & murder of gays, minorities & women. And these same individuals are perfectly willing to sacrifice their own economic future, in trade, for hate & white supremacy… do we categorize them as Racists? I think so.
To be sure, I’ve never been fond of generalizations or stereotypes, but what if they are sometimes appropriate? Boomers, billionaires, and racists… many - if not all, in the case of the latter - are the same to me. All too often, in too many instances, these are the people who have suspended compassion, empathy and reason for a death cult. And if they cannot have the U.S. on their terms, they are perfectly willing to see America burned down, and willing to take our children’s future with them in the process.
Zombies by any other name.
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2020
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