The road to debt-serfdom is paved by the banks and enforced by the Central State.If there is any point that is lost on ideologues, Progressive and Conservative alike, it is this: the first-order servitude and second-order tyranny of debt-serfdom can only occur if the banks’ power is extended and protected by an expansive Central State.
Progressives are blind to the State’s essential role in creating and empowering a parasitic financial Aristocracy, and Conservatives are blind to the tyranny of debt-serfdom imposed by the private-sector financial Aristocracy, i.e. the banking sector.
Answer these questions before reaching for your ideological blanket:
1. How many banks would loan penniless, near-zero-income students $100,000 if the State did not backstop and ruthlessly enforce its parasitic, exploitive “student loan” programs? Answer: none.
The consequence if the tyrannical State ceased to enforce the debt-serfdom of Student Loans: the Education Cartel would collapse in a odoriferous heap, and the banking Aristocracy would be stripped of a highly profitable State-run business.
2. Under what conditions would banks originate mortgages if the State did not guarantee mortgages via FHA and the other socialized-mortgage agencies? Answer: 30% to 35% down, hefty points and a higher rate of interest than FHA loans.
We can find the answer by examining the conditions banks demand for non-State backed loans. If the State wasn’t backstopping the risk, what bank would be insane enough to originate a 30-year fixed mortgage at 1 point over official inflation and a negative rate when measured in real inflation? It makes no sense without State subsidies and guarantees.
What percentage of the mortgage market is purely private, i.e. not backstopped by FHA et al.? About 5%, and the terms of these private loans are considerably stiffer than those originated under the taxpayer-funded umbrella of FHA.
In other words, debt-serfdom is not possible without the State enabling and enforcing the banks’ power. Blaming the banks for imposing debt-serfdom is like blaming the junkie for picking up a free bag of smack or a shark for wolfing down a seal: the banks will pursue the fattest, easiest profits out of basic self-interest, just like the rest of us.
Read More By Charles Hugh Smith .
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