http://exiledonline.com/decline-fall-of-america-exhibit-514-broke-alabama-county-calls-in-national-guard-to-keep-order/

Copied below is the column in its entirety:

America’s collapse into a Third World banana republic is accelerating: Alabama’s most populous county, Jefferson County, is so broke it’s closing down courthouses and laying off so many cops that it’s now planning to call in the National Guard to maintain order:

Quote :

"BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The sheriff in Alabama’s most populous county may call for the National Guard to help maintain order, a spokesman said Tuesday, after a judge cleared the way for cuts in the sheriff’s budget and hopes dimmed for a quick end to a budget crisis."

It’s all too fitting that the county is going broke because it can’t pay the $3.2 billion in sewer bonds that the county borrowed, on bad advice from what’s now the biggest bailed-out bank in the land. They sold Americans shit, and now Jefferson County is literally eating that shit.

The reason why the county is broke is because it took the advice of the same Wall Street villains who later bankrupted America. In this case, JPMorgan Chase, which was hired by the county to act as advisor, and wound up not only giving the worst advice imaginable, pawning toxic assets onto the gullible hicks, but also charging them six times the normal bank fees–that’s right, JPMorgan charged the county six times the going rate for advice that ruined the county, according to Bloomberg:

Quote :

"The county relied on advice from a bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., to arrange its funding, rather than use competitive bidding. The county paid banks $120 million in fees — six times the prevailing rate — for $5.8 billion in interest-rate swaps. That was supposed to protect the county from rising rates for their bonds. Lending rates went the wrong way, putting the county $277 million deeper into debt. That means local officials now have to pay to banks money that otherwise might have been used to build schools, hospitals or public housing."

Why would a county do something that stupid, buying up toxic assets for 6 times the price? The answer is so obvious that the SEC and FBI even made a show of investigating, but the only thing that’s come of the investigation so far is that taxpayers were forced to bail out the Wall Street thieves who tricked them, while leaving citizens to fuck off and die:

Quote :

"“It’s ironic that the Fed can do corporate welfare for the banks, but they can’t bail out a county that was victimized by these banks,” says Craig Greer, a Catholic chaplain at a Birmingham hospice. The SEC and Justice Department are probing whether the banks that financed Jefferson County conspired nationwide to fix prices for derivatives, violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, according to target letters sent to bank employees."

That was a year ago. By May of this year, the SEC was still making its empty threats, but by then it had already given Bank of America, which sold similar bullshit swaps to sucker-counties around the country, complete amnesty:

Quote :

"Bank of America was granted amnesty by the Justice Department for its cooperation in the national antitrust probe. In exchange for voluntarily providing information and offering continuing cooperation, the federal government agreed not to bring criminal charges against the bank. Brian Marchiony, a JPMorgan spokesman, declined to comment. The company said in yesterday’s filing that it is “engaged in discussions” with the SEC to reach a resolution before the agency files a civil complaint. SEC spokesman John Heine declined to comment and Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Carns said he was unaware of any SEC moves against JPMorgan."

Right, so all BofA had to do was agree to snitch on everyone else–which is about as much a concession as telling a tapeworm that if it wants to continue thriving, it’s going to have to continue sucking on someone’s intestinal walls…or else!

Meanwhile, the gullible hicks are suffering–just like the whole country–while the Wall Street plutocrats laugh all the way to the taxpayer-subsidized bank. Sewage and water bills in the county were so high last year that some people had to choose between heat and water:

Quote :

"As nighttime temperatures plunged in Birmingham, Alabama, last October, Dora Bonner had a choice: either pay the gas bill so she could heat the home she shares with four grandchildren, or send the Birmingham Water Works a $250 check for her water and sewer bill. Bonner, who is 73 and lives on Social Security, decided to keep the house from freezing. `I couldn’t afford the water, so they shut it off,” she says. Bonner’s sewer bills have risen more than fourfold in the past decade. So have those of others in Jefferson County, which has 659,000 residents and includes Birmingham, the state’s largest city."

So there you have it: life in the banana republic of norteamerica. The banks fleece the peasantry, and when they’ve been picked clean and can’t pay another red peso, the federal government calls in la guardia nacional to keep order. It’s a good thing–from the oligarchy’s view, that is–that the suckers only response is to crash townhall meetings demanding that they not be given free health care, while spending all their unemployed time searching for holes in Obama’s birth certificate rather than the holes in their own wallets.

Americans are the only idiots in the world who take an old-fashioned ass-rape without even putting up a fight.

[Edited on August 6, 2009 at 3:04 PM. Reason : .]

8/6/2009 3:03:11 PM

This...is some quality Soapboxing sir.

Can't wait to hear what the fucking right wing lunatics have to say to this.

Lemme guess

Investments are inherently risky

they could have shopped around

bleh bleh bleh

8/6/2009 3:14:14 PM

Quote :

"they could have shopped around"

you're right, no bid contracts are the way to go.

Either way its disgusting that the fed will throw these banks whatever they ask for and congress doesn't do shit to stop it. Without the bailouts they'd be forced to either go bankrupt and eat the shit themselves or atleast renegotiate the debt down to reasonable levels.

Without some form of negative feedback they're just going to keep doing the same thing.

8/6/2009 3:47:54 PM

You know I get offers everyday in the mail for easy credit this, low-interest tha. It's up to me to make good decisions for myself.

The citizens of Jefferson COunty need to hold their politiicians accountable for putting them into these risky situatiions. Why were they gambling with the public's money?

As for the fate of the county? Since Barney Franks et al were partly repsonsible for the banking fiasco, the gov't should help bail out the county. Perhaps they could use some of the "Cash for Clunkers" money?

8/7/2009 10:13:42 AM

^

HAHAHAHAHHA

HAHHAHAHAH

You're so fucking blinded by your political ideology that you literally have no idea what the fuck you're talking about. I could have wrote that post for you.

Str8Foolish : Here is something that will challenge your thought process

EarthDogg : Ummm...ummm...can't I just post my standard political ideology here?

8/7/2009 1:09:05 PM

Earn triple bonus points by referencing Freddie and Fannie!!1

8/7/2009 2:29:51 PM

It's simply impossible to have a reasonable discussion about anything when all they do is just apply their their cut and paste ideology regardless of the topic.

I could be talking about buying drinks for a chick trying to get in her pants and this douche would herald that as a free market victory and so long as the government doesn't force me to buy this chick drinks, I'll keep getting laid.

wtf?

8/7/2009 2:42:01 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_County,_Alabama

Quote :

"Although Alabama as a whole voted for John McCain by double digits, Jefferson County voted for Democrat Barack Obama. He won 52% of the vote in Jefferson County and 166,121 votes. John McCain won 47% of the vote and 149,921 votes. [9]"

8/7/2009 3:29:06 PM

Quote :

"It's simply impossible to have a reasonable discussion about anything when all they do is just apply their their cut and paste ideology regardless of the topic."

Makes you wonder why anyone should bother. It's much more fun to berate them mercilessly.

8/7/2009 3:47:40 PM

^you have the single greatest username. i approve of all dave chappelle derivitive jokes.

8/7/2009 4:05:44 PM

Quote :

"You're so fucking blinded by your political ideology that you literally have no idea what the fuck you're talking about."

could have just as easily applied to:

Quote :

"It’s a good thing–from the oligarchy’s view, that is–that the suckers only response is to crash townhall meetings demanding that they not be given free health care, while spending all their unemployed time searching for holes in Obama’s birth certificate rather than the holes in their own wallets."

8/7/2009 6:04:40 PM

Quote :

"Lemme guess Investments are inherently risky they could have shopped around"

How about the government shouldn't be in the business of investing at all, and certainly shouldn't be in the business of paying other people to tell them who they should use to manage that money and what investments they should buy. And how about the government shouldn't be regulating and industry that it is so badly in bed with that there's no way an objective regulation could possibly be implemented. Certainly under no circumstances should the government take its low risk loans and attempt to finagle them into a high risk loan on the assumption that the economy will remain on the course it is currently on.

8/7/2009 6:52:31 PM