<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Bam Investor Blog &#187; military</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.baminvestor.com/blog/tag/military/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.baminvestor.com/blog</link>
	<description>Predictive Analysis of Markets</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:09:07 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Let&#8217;s Stop the Lip Service and Start &#8216;Supporting&#8217; Our Troops</title>
		<link>http://www.baminvestor.com/blog/2009/11/lets-stop-the-lip-service-and-start-supporting-our-troops/</link>
		<comments>http://www.baminvestor.com/blog/2009/11/lets-stop-the-lip-service-and-start-supporting-our-troops/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>JG Savoldi</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[american dream]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bailout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bonuses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dylan ratigan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recruitment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[u s history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[veterans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall street banker]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.baminvestor.com/blog/?p=783</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p><strong><em>For over one year now I&#8217;ve been telling anyone willing to listen that the US bailout will be viewed by historians as a complete and utter SCAM unless we&#8217;re willing to help our military by making them part of the solution. </em></strong></p>
<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-784" title="iraq_troops03-14-2006b" src="http://www.baminvestor.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/iraq_troops03-14-2006b.jpg" alt="iraq_troops03-14-2006b" width="375" height="257" /></p>
<p><strong><em>These men and women risk life and limb for next to nothing while Wall Street feeds at the trough. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>We need to stop the lip-service and show our commitment to these returning heros by including them in the American dream. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Hell, we could GIVE each and every one of them a FREE home for less than the tax payer subsidized bonuses we&#8217;re going to be paying Wall Street in December and January alone!</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>A friend of mine sent this piece to me written by Dylan Ratigan, and it echos my sentiments exactly. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Please take a moment to read it and see if it makes as much sense to you as it does to me.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Sincerely,</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>JG Savoldi</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em>===============================</em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em> </em></strong></p>
<p><strong>The following piece was written by Dylan Ratigan</strong></p>
<p>One thing about doing a <strong><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/">two hour show</a></strong> that heavily covers both the financial crisis and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is that you notice on a daily basis the shocking juxtaposition between the lucky Wall Streeters and the unlucky soldiers.</p>
<p>We all know at this point that our banking system is being used as an unregulated bonus-seeking mechanism for bankers, now underwritten by taxpayers with<strong> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/bailout-may-cost-237-tril_n_241512.html">$23.7 trillion worth of national wealth</a>.</strong></p>
<p>Bankers lent pretend money to home buyers to award themselves actual money in bonuses &#8212; making home prices balloon and, in the process, bankrupting America&#8217;s treasury, currency, the states, and many of its citizens.</p>
<p>To simply let the housing market rapidly correct itself (or more likely over-correct) would result in massive societal disruption, possible violence and unnecessary suffering.</p>
<p>So while we slowly attempt to close the taxpayer-funded bank casinos and try to restore the basic rules of investment and lending in our economy, we have difficult decisions to make.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, our only choice for a less jarring social transition so far has been to artificially adjust the real prices of our homes via government guarantees to banks (for bad mortgages and losing gambling bets) &#8212; or relatively arbitrary handouts to <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/four-year-old-buys-a-house-with-stimulus-money-2009-10">home buyers</a>.</strong></p>
<p>What did these people do to deserve the handout?</p>
<p>How do you feel about a Wall Street Banker who has been renting an apartment here in New York and this year combined the bonus money he made on bundling new taxpayer-sponsored Fannie Mae CDS with a first-time home buyers tax credit gift from the taxpayers to buy the penthouse in his building?</p>
<p>Meanwhile, we have already been at war for 8 years with no end in sight. World War II was 5 years. We are fighting these wars with the fewest number of soldiers in modern <strong><a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004615.html">U.S. History</a>.</strong> To avoid incorporating a politically unpopular draft, we deploy the same soldiers <strong><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6865366.ece">five or six times</a></strong> with comparatively minuscule breaks in between.</p>
<p>However, the dire state of the economy has been a boon to <strong><a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/10/military_recruiting_retention_101309w/">military recruitment</a></strong>, but I am not sure if we will ever see the Wall Street bank scammers claim their rightful credit for that.</p>
<p>So instead of using these bad- (Wall Street) to- arbitrary (first time home buyers) ways to pump money into rescuing our housing market, let&#8217;s give it to those who are truly deserving of handouts: our servicemen and women.</p>
<p>I propose that we immediately enact the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Give every single man and woman that is fighting for us a housing credit of $50,000, with the caveat that the credit must be used by someone within two years.</li>
<li>Make it so that the credits are completely fungible, meaning that if the veteran doesn&#8217;t wish to buy a house, he or she can sell the credit to someone who does &#8212; and keep the money. If the reselling of gift cards on Ebay is any indication, I am sure there will be a thriving market where soldiers could probably get pretty close to 90 cents on the dollar for their credit.</li>
</ul>
<p>Considering the roughly <strong><a href="http://www.painfoundation.org/learn/programs/military-veterans/resources/vcs-va-fact-sheet.pdf">2 million veterans</a></strong> who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan so far, this would give a much needed $100 billion boost to the housing market. Just as a template for comparison, Goldman Sachs (albeit it doing &#8220;God&#8217;s work&#8221;) and the other complicit banks like JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley will pay <strong><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&amp;sid=au.pavWlxfZg&amp;pos=11">$29.4 billion</a></strong> in personal bonuses this year.</p>
<p>In reporting on this financial crisis, I have been most surprised by the blatant disregard that our politicians and even some journalists have shown for the most fundamental American notion of fairness. I don&#8217;t think handing taxpayer trillions to some of the least worthy individuals is something that our country will stand for, regardless of what the current incumbents think.</p>
<p>If we must resort to handouts to save our country, let&#8217;s at least put them in the hands of the most deserving.</p>
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.baminvestor.com/blog/2009/11/lets-stop-the-lip-service-and-start-supporting-our-troops/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

