So Who Stores Your Value? Part II

An addendum to the folly that is the banking "crisis" addressed in the last post:

Today Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified before Congress to explain his announcement that the federal government has an unlimited line of credit available for banks, especially those teetering on the brink of insolvency. When asked why he won't declare some quantifiable figure for that amount, he said if he gave a figure it would be completely tapped, but if he just left it as "indefinite" then it won't be.

He actually used the analogy of a squirt gun versus a bazooka. If he announces he has a squirt gun, he may have to use it. But having a bazooka will mean he's less likely to have to pull it out.

Interesting metaphor, using weapons to make his point. As they said in Rome, Tam Marte quam Mercurio, or "As much by Mars (war) as Mercury (business)."

The key is how it is that Paulson can say the feds have an unlimited line of credit. Unlimited? Well not exactly. In fact, you can see precisely how much that is in the Bible. There in the fourth chapter of Genesis. Look.

It is a value degree of seven. That is, Paulson has at his disposal seven times what anyone else can claim to have to keep the city humming and all its inhabitants submissive. And from where does he get that capital? That is simple too.

He extracts it from those in his domain.

As a top financier of Caesar's empire, he can easily appropriate the value--the very productive capacity-- of those World inhabitants contracted to allow him to do so. He can't let on that this "indefinite" amount is indeed seven-fold, because he is certainly correct:

All those who covet and desire their cut of the extraction will make their claim to it as well.

Don't think those people are out there? Look at the front page of your morning newspaper. At least there on the Los Angeles Times today was a photograph of a long line of people waiting to withdraw their deposits from IndyMac Bank, recently taken over by federal regulators who said quite plainly, "Hey! How's it going? Terrific! Hey, just wanna let you know that we're good to go! Happy day! No bother! Don't sweat it! You know, FDIC, woo-hoo! It's all good!"

Yet still they lined up for blocks, a tacit statement that they all knew the feds, the bankers, the whole crew were still lying.

But that's what they do.

Paulson can't tell you he's got seven-fold liquidity. It's not just because he's lying, but because he'd be telling that to a bunch of liars themselves.

How nice the World is.

Oh, and real quick. Do you know the amount increase there would be if instead of Caesar, you actually asked Christ to be the measure of your value? Look in the tenth chapter of the gospel of Mark. You'll find it. It is, by the way, a teensy bit more than seven, and it involves a bit more than little slips of green papers.

Some thoughts about the quite fetid financial whirlwind of the World are here.

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