[quote=gandalf]
There is way more than $240 billion out there, fleeced from the financial system over the past 10-15 years. It is now in the accounts of the 1%. That is why ordinary people are fucking angry. If not for the financial industry of the past decade, there would be no great financial crisis of 2008, pensions would be solvent.[/quote]
Gandalf: I would agree with your entire post, save that last sentence. You’re overlooking the fact that pensions would probably still not be solvent, and not due to Wall Street, but to overly rosy assumptions that were completely unattainable (pensions were in trouble before the Crash of 2008). This problem has been coming long before the bottom fell out of the US economy, though that factor did indeed contribute mightily.
To your other point, I would also add the massive amount (in trillions) that has “found” its way overseas into cash havens like the Caymans through tax loopholes and favorable “relationships” with bought-and-paid for US politicians. You can pillory the GOP more than the Dems for this, but both parties are complicit in this and the dollar figures are staggering. Repatriation of said funds for taxation would return billions to the US.
