The Great Bank Heist of 2013

Well, watching all the machinations and scandals (the never-ending and never-effective Benghazi inquiry, the IRS targeting conservative groups, and the AP phone records seizure by DOJ) for the last week or so, I was suddenly struck with a thought:  this is just all too easy.  It's like there's a set up of stuff for us to watch and talk about while they're picking our pockets.  The old game of government Three-Card-Monty I've talked about in the past.

And I've just found at least one thing that we've been distracted from:  the House passing H.R. 807, the so-called  "Full Faith and Credit Act,"  which passed the House on May 9.  This piece of crap legislation sets up priority in payment of debt in the event of a debt ceiling event to holders of "public debt" and the Social Security Trust Fund.  How?  By exempting from the debt ceiling the issuance of "new debt" (which we still get to pay back with interest) to pay that old debt.  How's that for financial hocus pocus? 

Now, if the Senate passes this crap bill, the effect is:  Holders of US treasury debt get paid before everyone else--before people doing actual work for government agencies, before soldiers, before food stamp benefits, before unemployment (which those people paid for out of their pay when they were employed), before people who sold copy paper to the local IRS office to print out all those seized phone records--before everyone.  So who are the lucky recipients of this favored status?  I bet you aren't going to be surprised.

Over 30% of the debt is held by "US Individuals and Institutions,"  which includes "regular' Americans (well, those who still have enough money to hold Treasuries), BANKS, INSURANCE COMPANIES, and other government entities, like state governments.

Another 10.8 percent, and growing with every "quantitative easing," is held by our buddies the BANKS who own the Federal Reserve.

And another  34.1 percent is held by FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS (mostly their central BANKS--their equivalents of the Federal Reserve). 

My numbers are current through FY 2012 and come from here.

So, there you go.  We're supposed to watch their little comedy (tragedy?) of errors while the banks are setting up the legal framework to steal what little of our money they don't already have.   As I said before, when the side show is heating up,  keep your eye on the main ring.  You'll almost always see something interesting going on.

Don't forget to send a thank you card to Mr. Boehner, even if you can't afford to match the $2.47 million in campaign contributions he got from the insurance, banking, investment and financial services industries in the last election.  I'm sure he'll appreciate just the thought.