The Money Eats Itself

I was speaking with someone I know and respect.  She was unhappy with the "bail-out" of stupid people who got stupid loans on over-inflated houses.  She did not think the government should bail them out.  She reminded me that other people, (the non-stupid ones) including her own family, worked hard, played by the rules, scrimped and saved, and made sure that they would not default on their 30 year mortgages.   Nothing was coming their way to help them out.

I (with no dog in this fight - I'm a renter) reminded her that already the Feds are bailing out the Money Boyz on Wall street, and that it was a little unseemly, to be making those guys whole, while letting the little guys flounder.  But then I hedged and said, but you know "it's complicated."

It is.  John Robb at Global Guerillas tells us that foreclosure and violent crime go hand in hand.  So if this trend continues we may end up with roving gangs and militias sprouting up across the land, driven by "a volatile mixture of wealth/expectation destruction, neighborhood decay (due to empty and abandoned properties), and a visceral sense of economic betrayal/abandonment..."

Mad Max sprouts up from abandoned housing developments!

I don't know why all this is sort of interesting.  I've been fascinated by the whole "sub-prime" debacle, and amazed at the billions and billions of dollars that was made and lost.  Everyone was riding the money train, and now the train hits an immovable force.  Money is vanishing before our eyes!  

I do believe it's one of the signs of the apocalypse when the Bankers don't know how to responsibly lend money. Or no maybe they knew exactly what they were doing - it's apocalypse when Bankers start acting like Crack Dealers!   Finally the last stage of decadence: the money just eats itself!  And the people? They're pissed off and just want to Kick Out the Jams!