See, the economy and the money moguls' management of it--the alleged "free market"--are like the Hindenburg just as it docks in Lakehurst, New Jersey. And the hydrogen is the money you've invested. And what Congress is proposing to do by ramming this rescue, i.e. bailout bill through is to run a pipeline directly from your future earnings and your children's future earnings and their children's future earnings right into that flaming mass. Meanwhile, they're filling their own zeppelins with nonflammable helium so they can float away after the rest of us have plunged to earth.And now we learn that this "urgent" bill that the Senate already passed and which the House may pass tomorrow is larded with $100 billion in pork projects. What I want to know is why can't the Congress pass a bill that deals ONLY with this alleged crisis in liquidity?
Secondly, I want to know why absolutely no lead story on this matter was available on the Google's main news page. You'd think that it would rank somewhat higher than Joe Biden's debate with a demonstrably airheaded governor of Alaska who thinks the earth is 6000 years old and that men road dinosaurs to their jobs on the rockpile.
I can guess the answer to the first one. The combination of stupidity and greed that collects in Washington and Wall Street is so resistant to common sense or shame that if you put a gold Krugerrand inside the spleen of his or her mother, any senator or stock broker would ask to borrow your Swiss army knife to cut it out of her and then wipe his hands on her shawl afterward.
The answer to the second makes me sound like a conspiracy nut, but it smells pretty goddamned funny.
Are they rioting in the streets at home yet? It sure seems like a logical result of this week's proceedings.
Instead of using taxpayer money to bail these bastards out, how about seizing the assets of all the failing banks and liquidating them to finance the bailout, along with the punitive taxation of all insane consumption like third and fourth and fifth homes, big yachts, $100,000+ automobiles, giant jewelry, etc. If it's a real crisis, then take from those who can most afford to sacrifice, not the ordinary schmuck who is two paychecks away from homelessness.
Until I see legislation like that, I don't think there's a true crisis, only the propaganda about one to loosen what little we have left from our weakening grip.
P.S. My favorite sign at the protests over the Wall Street bailout: "Jump you fuckers!"
5 comments:
Again, Olaf for president. You rule, and I totally 100% agree with you.
cb
This is really beginning to scare me a bit, but again I have to agree with most of what you said. I especially liked the bumper sticker. The only issue that I would like to remind you is that both sides of the isle are equally "air-headed". Or was it really FDR on the telly back in the great depression?? Fuck me...if Palin would have said that, she would have been forced off the ticket. Oh that's right...he's a democrat so it's just Joe being Joe.
My disdain for all poloticos and the media for that matter is equal.
C.
Actually, I agree with C. Palin couldn't say something like Biden did about FDR, 1929, and television. First off, from her I'd expect, "Who's FDR?"
Olaf, how's Germany? I wish I could get out of this place. No, America is not burning down, and there is no rioting yet, as far as I can tell. I think most of us are holed up in the isolation of our crappy paycheck-to-paycheck jobs. With no alternative in sight, we had better all buckle down, or we might lose even... this.
mb
MB, Berlin seems quite robust in spite of the apparent global liquidity/credit crisis, which I can only (anecdotally) attribute to the sound social safety net. That is, that health care is still yours if you lose your job, and also you cannot be tossed from your apartment as easily. Unemployment insurance benefits are better here, and investors as well as investment operations are more cautious and haven't been sucked into the casinos of Wall Street.
Life seems very, very good here, and after nearly three weeks, both Mrs. Olaf and myself have found a level of relaxation and enjoyment of the moment to moment pleasures that helps us remain optimistic and somewhat philosophical regarding our own losses in the US economic crisis, which are not insubstantial.
It's a different philosophy of living that we find here. Today we spent a long time over in the Prenzlauer Berg area of Berlin, and everywhere there were mothers and an equal number of fathers shepherding young children on bicycles or walking, taking advantage of the beautiful green, well-appointed public parks, looking relaxed and happy, optimistic even, given the many many very young kids we saw. The feeling one gets from this is that there is optimism in full measure that comes from certain shared sense of the common good. There is a lot of style showing, but no extreme shows of individual wealth. Well-to-do people share the S-bahns and subways and trams with working folks. There is no sense of fear anywhere we have been in the city, despite the turmoil described on CNN.
(By the way, its 4:30am right now--I watched the debate--so I may be less than clear as I'm pretty sleepy.)
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