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Versus Democracy: A Battle for the Future  Posted 1 year ago on
Jan. 3, 2013, 2:57 a.m. EST by LeoYo (4470) This content is user
submitted and not an official statement  Debt Versus Democracy:
A Battle for the Future  Wednesday, 02 January 2013 09:52 By
Marisa Holmes, Truthout | Op-Ed     The crisis began in the
mid-1970s when the US went off the gold standard and pursued
policies of inflation, effectively plunging the Third World into
a debt crisis. From Burkina Faso to Argentina, countries took
out predatory loans from the IMF and World Bank to pay the
difference, but they could not pay and, in many cases, did not
pay back these loans. Domestically, the US experienced decades
of deregulation, which expanded the financial sector and allowed
for increased speculation.  By 2006 and 2007 the housing bubble
was already in the making. Market rates had begun to fall,
causing subprime mortgage holders to default on their loans.
Major financial institutions