Bright Days, Dark Thoughts

When the election of 2008 arrived, and its result became known, ... the world was passing into darkness, ... at least the Northern Hemisphere. The economic world was only beginning to grasp that its fate was sealed by men who had sapped it of every asset it had, ... and destroyed the very mathematics of its accounting, ... in such a way that some of them pretended to be the only people on the planet who understood how to unravel its intricate and perverted weavings, ... evil geniuses who had placed our own worth beyond our reach by investing them in trash heaps of securitized crap, ... instruments only a mortician could love. Worthless, ... or worse, ... for they could draw down the value of other assets by association, ... like losing your job because your college roommate sold drugs once upon a time.

And now the rest of us, the ones who did nothing but work, and work some more, at one job, or several, ... we struggle to make our payments. We angrily answer "Opt-outs" from credit card lenders when they raise rates, and drop our credit lines, ... and they hope, ... believe, that we will not remember their practices. In the end we who pay our bills did nothing but make them money, ... dollar after dollar! When the rates of return to their depositors dropped deep into single digits, they raised our credit card rates from 9, to 11, to 19,and then to 30 percent. Over and over. Miss a due date by an hour and you are trash, ... in default.

We know their names. Bank of America, ... Citibank, ... Chase, ... American Express.

There will come an end to this economic madness. We will find credit from some source when we need it to buy a home, a car, the necessities of life, and the exigencies we have not planned into our budgets. For those these banks come to us, and our leaders in Washington. For our part perhaps we seek their help when we should seek each others' help. I will bank at my Credit Union from here on out.

The banks, ... these megalithic money machines, ... seem hell-bent on self-immolation and destruction. My experience convinces me that I should never again use them for my business or my personal finances. Let them die, I say. I'll settle my accounts and then I will be done with them forever. They serve no purpose that I can see.

Sears, ... Penney's, ... other retailers, ... I'll do business with you directly. Only, that is, after you dump GE, and Citibank and BofA. Cut out the middle man. They are the reason I will not buy from you or borrow to do so. THEY are the reason our credit system is fouled.

Perhaps another day we can discuss where your goods are made. For now, ... I need your credit again to help me buy what I need. Dump the banks, and let's you and I talk!