Who Stole the Cookie...?

     Have it be your utilities, where you bank, where you shop for groceries, or even the gas you purchase for your automobile, there is no question that you're going to have to get what you need from somewhere. And when that "somewhere" is owned by an individual or group that owns other similar "somewheres", it's hard not to pay the asking price. Especially when all the rates are fairly similar and all the rates are similarly high, with no one else in the game who can give you what you need.
     This is a monopoly, and this is what's happening to smaller banks in this nation. It's becoming harder and harder to be a small bank in this time and age and be successful. When the larger banks around are swallowing up the "little guys", then setting the "price" on rates for mortgages and loans just to have the customer default and have their property seized and taken away from them. This makes the economy poorer and really only benefits those who own the banks and the government governing over these banks.
     What Mr. Cox is saying, is that there is a whole lot of robbing going on and the ones doing the robbing are at the tippy top of the government and Wall Street. The deeds belonging to millions of Americans that have been foreclosed on and evicted are now being passed over to the troubled asset relief program, where they are being re-sold for nearly 20 cents on the dollar, right back to the very same banks that were receiving 100 cents on the dollar previously from the original owner. These properties are being sold with zero interest and nothing down. However, if no profit is generated within the first 2 years of the the property being re-sold, the government promises a rebate on the purchase price the bank paid. And if there is a profit, the government wants a cut from that, making the rich even richer.
     I understand what Mr. Cox is trying to say, the fact that the government should be held on "trial for high crimes and misdemeanors" for "recklessly" destroying the housing and job market, as well as the banking industry. Lord knows I agree, along with a good percentage of Americans, but I think the blame lies with more than just the few that were mentioned. And in fact I think that it also lies with us - the everyday average joe. The same folks that decide to go out and purchase a new home, even though they knew the market wasn't as good as the government made it out to be. Or the people who lose their job and don't have the motivation to go out and find an another job. While I do believe that there's a large part that's out of our hands, I think we as Americans can try a little harder.