Are American Bankers the Jews of 1938 Germany?

Posted by airfredd22 11 years ago to Economics
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Could this be the future of the United States Banking and Economic System? The political system in Venezuela is just slightly in front of us at the rate and direction our administration ia moving.

Are American Bankers the Jews of 1938 Germany?

On November 9th and 10th, 1938 the German Nazi government under Adolph Hitler ordered the attack on the Jewish population of Germany and Austria and confiscated or destroyed their property.

Are there similarities between that occurrence and the Obama administration demonizing of the American Bankers?

Is the Obama administration planning to do the same thing? I don’t believe so at this time but denunciation of the Jewish population was only the beginning. The reason the Nazi’s used this particular tactic was that they needed a common enemy to focus the populations’ hatred on.

There is a similar tactic used today against the management of financial institutions. They make too much money. They don’t care about their customers. They’re only in profit for themselves. They are destroying the country.

Let’s examine who the real owners of American financial institutions are.

The majority of stock held in banks and Wall Street institutions are held by mutual and retirement funds. Those funds represent millions of private citizens. Only a small percentage is owned by the executives of financial institutions.

When the administration demonizes “Bankers and Wall Street,” they are in fact demonizing you, the public who are the majority owners. I will agree that in some cases it seems that management of these “Wall Street Firms” and the management of banks are being overpaid, especially when they are creating losses. What is not mentioned in the speeches given by the President and administration officials is that the people who receive what they claim are excessive compensation are contractually required bonuses for making a profit for their divisions.

Let us not forget that contracts between two parties are in fact property rights and property rights are protected by the U.S. Constitution. The only parties who have a right to dictate compensation are the stockholders of a corporation.

Even though the administration committed billions of dollars to “financial institution bailouts,” they may not change the terms of a contract retroactively. That can only be done legally by renegotiating a contract.

What is the purpose of these attacks upon management? Just like in Germany of the 1930’s it is to misdirect the true cause of the problems existing in the economy and targeting the management of financial institutions as being evil.

In reality the economy can only function if a streamlined financial system exists. The public deposits money in banks and invests in Wall Street in order to create a profit for themselves. Pursuing this self-interest provides the basic cash flow for an economy to grow. Banks collect money, pay interest to the saver and lends out the money to businesses and buyers of major products such as homes and automobiles. Without this system of financing, the economy could not grow.

We can find many faults with how the financial sector operates, but that is a part of the financial system. Those companies that operate within the rules of the capitalistic system will prosper, and those that do not will eventually go bankrupt. No bailouts and let true capitalism work.

Fred Speckmann


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  • Posted by LionelHutz 11 years ago
    It is an interesting comparison. Here's the way I see it. Germany was intentionally hyperinflating their currency pre-WWII to pay off war debts. This financial policy brought ruin to the common man. Many German bankers were Jewish. It wasn't their policy to print all that money, but they were the public face of the banks and made a convenient target. Likewise, today we are printing tons of money, though it hasn't (yet) brought ruin to the common man. You might be right that Obama will eventually try to scapegoat them for HIS policies. However, Hitler was an outsider in the political system of Germany at the time he made his accusations, during his rise to power. Obama IS the policy maker. If history repeats itself, one might more expect to see another political figure, an outsider, make the accusation.

    The largest investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, etc) are totally in bed with the Federal Reserve banks and by association the federal government. They are gaming the system because they are the recipients of basically free (newly minted) money given to them to "stimulate" the economy or to cover their idiotic investment losses. They should not be viewed the same way as your home town bank that has to offer you interest to get your money and then has to wisely invest it to generate the interest. Though Obama may rail against the bankers, have you noticed how many have been prosecuted for misconduct by his Attorney General? No...I think he's railing against the people that have money. It's that simple with him. He's a Marxist, and people with money (that are not government people) are the enemy. That's his entire worldview: you didn't build that, it's not yours, and I'll be taking it now in the name of all those who don't have it. It doesn't matter if you're a Goldman Sachs banker or Joe the Plumber. If you're successful, you're in the gun sights.
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      You are correct in broadening your net as to whom Obama will attack. However, he was an outsider until he got the backing of wealthy and influential people that although wealthy, few of them earned their own wealth. They either inherited or married it and therefore have little understanding of capitalism that allowed the creation of that wealth.

      At the same time e can easily place the label of moocher upon the wealthy who support Obama as they are now securing the administrations protection while attacking the real self-made men and women.

      Fred Speckmann
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  • Posted by KDanagger 11 years ago
    Today's financial sector is completely dominated by Federal Reserve cartel of banks - it is corrupt to the core. Even the local banks and credit unions are forced to participate in the corruption because we lost all vestiges of honest money over 40 years ago.

    The only way that a banker can be an honest agent of free-market capitalism would be if they lent honest money (gold-silver) - not these gov't mandated IOU's which we have been forced to call "money".
    When they force me to accept a loan of gov't corrupted fiat - created out of thin air - in exchange for my talent and labor, that's not exchanging value for value. That is an indirect theft of a part of my life.
    They are the enemy of the freedom of all men, and they dominate the financial market by their total control of gov't force. Make no mistake - they control all the politicians, lawmakers, and military.

    Galt, Francisco, and Ragnar would all agree. They need to be exterminated.
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      Re: KDanagger's comment,
      I'm troubled by your hopefully hyperbolic call for banker extermination. No matter how you meant it, it's the kind of statement that I find unacceptable in a forum like this. Let us not forget that civility is a positive trait and should be encouraged. It is also the best way to be persuasive.

      Having said that, please understand that I am not defending corrupt bankers and investment firms.

      My purpose is to draw attention to the similarities between the actions of Hitler and the Nazi Party and the treatment of businesses in general and financial businesses especially by this administration.

      We are traveling a path toward dictatorship, although sugarcoated by the mainstream media, until it's too late. As Americans we have the dangerous belief that we could not possibly suffer such a fate. Let's learn from history.

      Fred
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      • Posted by KDanagger 11 years ago
        Let me make my meaning more clear - the banking cartel needs to be exterminated - not the individuals involved. However, the individuals should be tried for their criminal activity, and suffer the appropriate punishment.
        As far as this administration is concerned - the banking cartel owns it - as they have almost every administration in the past 100 years. Any "punishment" directed at the banking industry is an insignificant token act to seduce the people into believing that government is protecting them. In reality, the government needs to get the hell out of the way to allow the market to crush these criminals, so that honest banking - with honest money - can re-emerge.

        Civility? In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit.

        Fractional reserve lending and fiat currency are inherently dishonest and criminal.

        "The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks." - Lord Acton
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        • Posted by 11 years ago
          Very little disagreement on my part. However I would hold both parties responsible. The corrupt politicians as well as the corrupt mega banking industry. We differ slightly as to who owns whom. I believe more in that the corrupt politicians are the ones with the ultimate power. They own the guns and the IRS, not to mention that they have the power to interfere with free enterprise by regulation that is even more lethal than laws.

          Thank you for your comment,

          Fred
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          • Posted by KDanagger 11 years ago
            Perhaps is is better to say that politicians and the big banks are partners in crime.
            Thomas Jefferson warned about the dangers of the banking institutions to our liberties in numerous quotes. So did Charles Lindbergh, Louis T McFadden, and many others.

            Ultimately, the corrupt politicians who are seduced by the lure of dishonest fiat currency are equally to blame. The politicians may have all the guns, but who is more guilty, the hit-man or the person who hires the hit-man?

            "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
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            • Posted by 11 years ago
              I would say that during the campaigns the financial industry tends to think they own the politicians, but once they get in power, they double-cross the banks and spend their time perpetuating their power. Once they're in, it becomes more a question of extortion.

              Fred
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  • Posted by lostsierra 11 years ago
    I think most of them are the Jews of America, 2013, and the critics refer not to the shareholders but to the managing executive. I refuse to deal with the Big 5 Banks and my wife and I do business with two small local banks. I have no sympathy for the fascist big banks. Throw the execs in prison. Their manipulation and naked short selling for the Fed. guvmint and Fed Res is criminal enough. Note: I am a gold mine owner and have suffered financial damages from these thugs.
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  • Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 11 years ago
    Contract law means little to the current regime. Just look at the auto bailouts as an example.

    I agree with Lionel that there's a lot of cronyism going on with the investment banks and it all sticks. I also agree that obama wants to take money from the rich...the rich that aren't his buddies. He's not planning on turning over any of his for redistribution.
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      I don't doubt all that much that Obama wants to redistribute the wealth and if a little falls of the table along the way, he wouldn't be totally against that. For an example we need look no further than the salary his wife received from the hospital she "worked"at when Obama became a state Senator. or the future speaking fees he will receive when leaving office.

      His redistribution scheme is however dependent upon the destruction of our economy.

      Fred Speckmann
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      • Posted by Hiraghm 11 years ago
        The destruction of our economy is the point.
        We have to be pulled down to the perverted view of equality with which these perverts are obsessed.
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      You are correct that contract law means little to the current administration. I would add that Constitutional law means absolutely nothing to this administration and to President Obama, the "Constitutional lawyer and professor in particular.

      Fred
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  • Posted by $ Maphesdus 11 years ago
    "Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls-Royce to get advice from those who take the subway."
    ~ Warren Buffett
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  • Posted by $ Stormi 11 years ago
    It depends on which bankers you are speaking of, and involves a lot more than just banks. We should refine our hatred to goals of International and Federal Reserve Banks, who would rule the entire world if allowed. Two frequent visitors to the Obama White House have been George Soros and Henry Kissinger. Soros brags on TV of stealing from fellow Jews during Hitler to enrich himself, and has expressed desires to bring down the US economy. Kissinger has long wanted to see International control, as he summed up around 1976:
    At that time,Kissinger stated that by controlling food, one could control people. By controlling energy (esp. oil), one could control nations.and their financial institutions. He went on with advice to put all three under International control, predicting one could then achieve world government by 1980.
    People were too smart to fall for it, and it did not happen then, however the goals continue, with the help of a much dumbed down populace via government schools.
    The Community Reinvestment Act set the stage for his mess, thanks to Carter. Refined in 1994, it set the stage for mortgages to be granted to unqualified borrowers. Further, the government threatened local banks with prosecution if they did not loan to that same demographic.Then- ACORN stormed into board meetings, threatening just such action, if loans were not granted.
    Glass-Steagall kept banks out of the investment field, until Rand's former student Alan Greenspan came out calling for repeal in 1987, which finally happened in 1999. Suddenly the banks were not just commercial, but investment houses. In 2004, Paulsen came in and got them to waive the reserve level banks had previously been required to have.Thus, with the extra investment power, we had the rage of trading of mortgage-backed securities, many poor risk.
    In the midst of this, the the Bank of International Settlements met in Basel, Switzerland for Basel II. That is the chief bank of 55 International Banks, which are immune from government audit, or prosecution for criminal or other acts. They are private. In 2004 they set new rules about bank reserves, requiring securities to be valued at the lowest market value for such instruments. This left some banks holding the bag on the bad mortgage packages. Again lending money dried up for a time.
    Around the same time, the banks were allowed to invest money with the Federal Reserve, also non-government and unaudited. This left banks with more money to lend, at little or no interest to them. It made local investors unnecessary. One local banker told me he really did not need my certificate of deposit (CD) investment money because of this, thus the extremely low interest on money invested by private citizens resulted.
    So what is the goal of all this bank manipulation. The goal to destroy the dollar and put an International Bank, private, in charge of world finance.This move would make richer a handful of banking families, increase their power, and set the stage for complete International socialism.
    Never forget the role of the UN in all this manipulation either. Also in 1976 at a meeting in Canada, the UN declared private land ownership is an instrument of accumulation of wealth and is social injustice. They declared the private ownership of land cannot be treated as an asset controlled by individuals.Collectivism, here we come via UN Agenda 21, which Obama and Hillary have both spoken about favorably. Stripped of land, a worthless or non-existent dollar, and food controlled via controls over farming under UN Agenda 21 - would leave a desperate populace, turning to government to feed, house and clothe them - or turn us all into triscuits at their will.
    .
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    • Posted by 10 years, 12 months ago
      Re: Maphesdus,
      I must agree with almost all your points. You may have slightly misunderstood my point re: the bankers in 1938 Germany. I'm certainly not defending any bankers who commit fraud and I'm including all financial institutions when I use the generic meaning of bankers.

      It is the constand blame game of Obama in order to appeal to the low information public that I was talking about. I would agree that many of those bankers should be in jail for fraud. Of course Obama is using his rhetoric to pit one section of the population against the other.

      By the way, in the 70's during the Savings and Loan fiasco, it was the same problem, the government forced to Savings and Loans to write down the value of most of the bonds they were holding. In fact the value was much higher than the prices they were able to get in forced sales. Remember that Jim Wright, democrat Congressman from Texas who became speaker of the house and one of the most corrupt representatives of his day. He forced through the increase in insurance for the Savings and Loans so that they could sell Jumbo Certificate of deposits to each other and made many a developer very rich. Of course as with all schemes, sooner or later people catch on.

      The bottom line is that the moment politicians who are dumber than most people, after all most of them are lawyers, get involved in dictating the actions for the economy, disaster follows.

      Other than the above you are right on the money.

      Fred Speckmann
      commonsenseforamericans@yahoo.com
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 11 years ago
    "In reality the economy can only function if a streamlined financial system exists."
    Yes. My impression is the banks, the gov't, and many US citizens believe that this means the US economy can only function with the *current existing financial institutions*. They also believe that financial institutions are "in charge" of the economy.

    In reality, people do need a way to store their wealth and invest it in profitable ventures. They will find a way to do that no matter what. Financial institutions and society in general give too much credit to the financial industry.
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      I agree with you that people will always find a way to invest their money. My piece wasn't meant to make excuses for bankers or investment firms, but to point out the similarities between 1938 Hitler and the NAZI's and Obamas administration and their constant scapegoating the financial sector in order to shift blame for their failed policies.

      I too find our present financial system to be filled with corruption especially when it concerns lending to mortgages and small businesses.

      Thank you for your comment.

      Fred Speckmann
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  • Posted by nogestapo 11 years ago
    The banks are "crony capitalists."
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      I agree that many, especially the big national banks easily fall into that category. I would suggest that small businesses do business with their small local banks. I can remember times when small businesses could get small loans (under $10,000) on their signature and a handshake. Sadly, those times are over. Bankers are now hindered by too many regulations and CYA is the rule of the day.

      Fred Speckmann
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  • Posted by ED_V 11 years ago
    They will always have their "Bogyman" du jour but it should be clear to any one paying attention that the government and the banks are holding each others well greased palms.
    Occasionally one will throw the other under the bus to give the illusion of a correction but that is only an illusion and the old ways continue unabated and the ones on top relish in having gotten away with it one more time as they have done so many times before.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 11 years ago
    Misdirection is the practice of diverting people's attention from what you're doing to something or someone else, so you can finish out of sight. Obama has become a devoted practitioner of this approach, placing blame on carefully selected targets. Bush was an easy target, since the media had done such an effective job of blaming him for every evil deed since the Creation, but some of his other attempts aren't going as well.

    The banking community is always driven by enhancing the bottom line, in any way they can, and government money has always been considered the safest bet (particularly since the shift to fiat money). With such liberal flow of government dollars, and with policies and regulations designed to entice questionable practices (like the mortgage debacle brought on by a government push to give money to risky debtors), the financial market has become addicted, with the government as the pusher.

    Obama's effort to blame the medical insurance industry for the failures of the ACA isn't selling well, and the ridiculous claim that it's all the Republicans' fault because they predicted it would fail is selling even worse. He is losing the public's support, so if he goes too far to demonize Wall Street he could lose the support of the very wealthy class that has so far helped prop him up.

    Real antisemitism is just around the corner, starting with an effort to blame Israel for all of the ME troubles, with Israel-lover becoming a Democrat epithet, soon to morph into Jew-lover.
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  • Posted by $ Mimi 11 years ago
    I don’t know, Fred..bit of a stretch. Hating Jews was pretty common place in Europe at the time, but Germany was already suffering from a loss of national identity caused by WW1. Jews in Germany were persecuted for not being German as much as they were persecuted for being Jews. (If that makes sense.)

    Bankers in this country need checks and balances. Yes, we are the stockholders and pensioners and the ‘public’, but many of us lost all our savings while those who caused the losses floated over us with golden parachutes. Anger at Wall Street was justified, however, organized movements against Wall street were/are more about exploiting the raw emotions of the public. Misdirection like you said. At the time, they wanted a villain so the public wouldn’t noticed that the government was swapping mortgaged-backed securities at the window. I always thought it was interesting they bailed every firm out but the first one to crumple, Lehman Brothers. Does anyone why this is?
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    • Posted by 11 years ago
      Thank you for your comment. There are a couple of points where we differ. Germany after WW I certainly lost much of its economic power, inflation was unbelievable and people were literally using wheelbarrows full of money to buy basic necessities. Zimbabwe's inflation had nothing on them.

      Until the 1930's however, Germany treated the Jews better than any other European country, that's not to say there wasn't discrimination and even what we would now call prejudice against Jews. However they were relatively safe and could conduct business as they wished.

      I agree that many investors took great losses in the 1990's but by definition an investment can go up or down. There was plenty of fraud to be sure, but that was caused by regulations as much as by criminals. Government involvement in the economy will always lead to disaster.

      Oversight to a limited degree, yes, but open competition is always the best insurance.

      Fred
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