Thank-you, Outraged, for exposing the real and nefarious nature of these Public-Private Investment Programs. It is hard to understand how public policy could become so missaligned with wealth creation and private accumulation. 

The RealNews interview with Eugene Jareky is excellent and thought provoking, a brilliant piece of journalism. I am convinced it is time to revise our perception of Eisenhower. I hope TD members and casual readers will find a way to support this effort.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world—that is the myth of the atomic age—as in being able to remake ourselves.

Obviously the American Way of remaking the world is a myth doomed to failure…the sad and tragic part is that most all Americans still believe in the myth.

“...that is the kind of behavior that a system that has allowed too much collaboration between those in government and those in private enterprise and that system takes hold…”

This is what we are seeing in these “public/private partnerships” such as the “Public-Private Investment Program” and “Infraguard”.

The PPIP:
“The two parts of the U.S. Public-Private Investment Program each involve using a combined $75 billion to $100 billion of Treasury funds from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to match equity stakes from private investors in a series of funds that may buy as much as $1 trillion of assets.

“While I think highly of the ‘Loan Program,’ I believe the ‘Securities Program’ stinks like a ‘pay for play’ program,” Rosner wrote in a note to clients yesterday. “Once the market and public figures out the truth of this program, whether tomorrow or in a few years, I expect it will become a rightful focus of public outrage on a scale not yet seen.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1T8v9KTqCq4&refer=home

“The centerpiece of the program is the creation of the Public-Private Investment Funds. Those PPIFs will then purchase bad loans and mortgage securities from the banks that hold them. Private investors will actually manage the funds and direct the bidding for the securities, but they will have access to government money and financing. The government will also promise to cover a significant portion of the potential losses that investors could face. Should a toxic asset investment prove worthless, the private investor may lose only his cash down payment.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102280144

Infraguard:
“receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public, and at times before elected officials. “There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate Total Information Awareness program (TIPS), turning private-sector corporations—some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers—into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI,” according to an ACLU report…”

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/3-infragard-the-fbi-deputizes-business/

“The goal of InfraGard is to promote ongoing dialogue and timely communication between members and the FBI. InfraGard members gain access to information that enables them to protect their assets and in turn give information to government that facilitates its responsibilities to prevent and address terrorism and other crimes.

The relationship supports information sharing at national and local levels and its objectives are as follows:”

http://www.infragard.net/about.php?mn=1&sm=1-0

It goes on to claim how any company can join and has 29,823 members.  Exactly what type of “information sharing” is going on here and what is considered “a terrorist threat”?  Why are our PUBLIC AGENCIES involved so closely with PRIVATE INTERESTS.  Mussolini had a public/private system too…. he dubbed it fascism.  Both of these “programs” certainly imply fascism, if not outright claim it.

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.  It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courge - to move in the opposite direction.”......Albert Einstein

Mr. Jarecki’s assertion that a general can be far less militaristic than the public makes perfect sense, history dictates that militaristic generals are usually one of two things; closet businessmen or psychotic.

My favorite Dwight D. Eisenhower quote:
“I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.”