A couple of years ago, I had a job working for a major mortgage lender. My job was to facilitate negotiation of “marketing agreements” with realtors and builders to try and get their buyers’ business, while at the same time not breaking any of about a bazillion laws. A lot of the proposals that would come across my desk involved sub-prime mortgages, people we shouldn’t be lending money to but we would anyway and charge them higher interest. It’s all about the market share. And there were several occasions where I told my co-workers, “This is a train wreck waiting to happen.”
And it did happen. It was, after all, bad mortgages that led to the crash on Wall Street and sank us into this depression. So I get to dance around and say “I told ya so.”
“It’s a huge sh–t sandwich, and we’re all gonna have to take a bite.”
— Full Metal Jacket
So what’s to be done about it? Well, we could drag all the Wall Street CEO’s down to Times Square for a public hanging on live national television. Let’s keep that idea in mind, but first we need to pay the cosmic deficit we’re running up here. Where’s all this money going to come from?
One thing could save our economy:
Legalize marijuana.
Its effects are no more deleterious than those of alcohol. Actually, have you ever heard of someone getting stoned and getting into a fight? It should be regulated, of course, the same as liquor: no sales to minors, no driving under the influence, etc. Otherwise, if legalized, it can be taxed, pumping untold billions into the treasury and easing the burden on the taxpayer.
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