A Little Pre-Christmas Cheer

Okay, I don't wanna say I told you so, but...

(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-weber/play-bail_b_130317.html)

Guys and gals: if we don't get it by now, then we deserve it please-sir-may-I-have-another.

The trillion dollar bailout was a scam. No accountability. No disclosure. It smelled awful but we let the greed whores do it anyway. They said "Do it or else XYZ will happen!" We flinched. And they had us. But good. The old ones are the best.

Forget their blatant abuse of the system.

Forget their utter contempt for justice, for fairness, for honesty, for Democracy, for America.

Forget the media's blizzard of pallid punditry, with their candy coated smiles and their phlegmmy shrieks and their distracting bust lines.

Think: the corporate capitalisto-fascists must hate, I mean reeeaaallly, hate

People.

Must hold them in utter disdain. And to harbor such dizzying revulsion for them it must be that they truly, ultimately fear them. Though clearly, not while they trundle around in their Ambien® sleep-walk-eat-fuck state.

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things. So saturated and swollen by fatuous television, disposable music, myopic perspective; so reliant upon an infrastructure purposely neglected to keep its dependents on edge; so trained to submit to authority no matter how incapable or incompetent so long as it waves a flag or brandishes a religious symbol or promises more pie in the sky when you Wii.

Justice must be taken out of their pockets and placed into our hands.

A nation of rubberneckers pausing to watch their own car wreck as though viewing it on a small, pinchable screen; so distanced from their own senses tragically having come to trust distrust, to embrace their own submissiveness, to ignore their own extinction. Funny -- no, terrible how a nation which once prided itself on individual strength and grit and honesty could be so pressed into a weak and hollow brand, a generic herd poked and prodded by wranglers perched high in glass towers.

Christmas is coming. And regardless of what you know deep down to be happening, they would like it -- you'd be doing them and yourselves a favor -- if you'd spend a little more. And a little more. And a little more. You'd be bailing them out. Be charitable.

After all, these are hard times.

Comments

[bonbk]

Smart post Steven! Unfortunately you're on the money. The whole situation truly stinks.

As another posted stated, who is the people's lobbyist!?!

[WhoneedsGoverment]

Who's our lobbyist? We got a gov'ment probem.

.

[Alrightythen]

Wow, so well written. Wow. But I don't wannoo be THAT charitable!

[slarabee]

Well written? You cannot be serious. This is blather. Albeit much of it may contain truth it is still blather.

[Alrightythen]

Totally serious. It's lean, to the point, immensely readable. It really "spoke" to me so I like it, ergo "well-written". Not comparing it to Dylan Thomas' work or anything like that, mind you. Oh, and just a small note: "blather" by its definition means to talk nonsensically, so you need to pick a point-- does it contain truth or is it nonsensical?

[thinklib]

This is one case where we all have to root for Republicans. They are finally taking a stand against the bailouts. All but 10 Repubs voted against the automaker bailout, while almost all Democrats voted for it.

No one has ever answered the question: Why don't the automakers just file Chapter 11? It would let them reorganize and get back on their feet again. Why do we (the taxpayers) have to bail them out?

This is insane.

[flatus]

Root for republicans because their aim is to castrate the UAW? You cannot be serious.

Also, you do realize that in bankruptcy many small manufacturers will not be paid and be left to swing in the wind, no?

[logic63]

So it's ok for the foreign cars makers to get billion dollar tax breaks but our American auto makers & workers have to beg and end up empty handed. Shame on you.

[Overd0g]

Yes.

[thinklib]

So it's good policy for retired workers to make 75% of their salary, plus benefits, after they retire?

The US automakers have deep, deep problems - management, the unions, everything. Chapter 11 will help them reorganize and become profitable.

Are you saying no one involved with the automakers should have to suffer any consequences?

[RedneckDem]

Me thinks Weber was speaking of the Wall Street bailout, not the Big 3. I'm sure that this is just an oversight on your part for not picking up on the clues (i.e. words).... sheesh...

[Mnemanth]

Thank you, Sir, for stating what so many (I hope many) people can see, but simply can't believe.
Merry Christmas, indeed.

[rbspickles]

Yes, Steven, I agree. I remember a few years ago I read something that at the time I thought was pure insanity. This person thought that the world leaders were actually a reptile alien species who loathe human beings and were trying to enslave us for their use as slaves. Today, I'm wondering if this person really was insane or if they are closer to the truth than anyone could imagine.

[brynn6]

I've got some heavy-duty tinfoil in the kitchen. My afternoon project will be (drumroll) constructing stylish, yet serviceable headgear.

[flatus]

How about constructing a sense of humor, instead?

[Pulemerci]

A bail out was necessary (at least according to Nobel winner Paul Krugman). However, as usual, when Congress got their greedy hands on it their was a porkfest.

[Diana]

One of your best pieces, Stephen. Thank you.

[Diana]

ohhh, so sorry, S-T-E-V-E-N.

[MMrocketman]

the politics of lazy, scary, lying continue
everything is posed as a "crisis" and then we stop thinking and get irrational and go along with the programs and policies that are presented

[Overd0g]

Yep. Beware of any "emergency" that requires the government increase in power. Even your personal favorite "emergency".

[innapigseye]

Man I woke up from the worst nightmare this morning. In the dream, it was discovered that all of the billions of dollars fleeced from the taxpayers, was actually being set aside to finance WWIII. The automakers were financially abandoned so they would be forced to churn out tanks, jeeps, and all sorts of weapons. Martial law was declared following a heinous false flag attack on American soil. Oh it was a horrible dream. I was so relieved to wake up and realize that it was all just a dream. Gratefully nothing like that would ever happen in America.

[Overd0g]

Especially since the domestic arm of the auto companies that manufacture weapons systems are financially separate from their commercial counterparts.

[wmfor]

Well, there's still a month left for Bush to figure out another way to rob the country blind or bring it to the brink of destruction. And you know he wants to go out in a blaze of glory, just like all those megalomaniacal James-Bond villians.

Nero already burned Rome, so Georgie will have to think of something much bigger to serve his "leagacy". (Having shoes thrown at him doesn't quite count as courage under fire.)

[Overd0g]

Of course, the pure as the driven snow congress isn't culpable at all.

[phlashba]

Once they got us to (needlessly) take off our shoes at the airport...it was all pretty much over.

[gwhizz]

Agreed.
Follow that up with way too many people responding, "Well I don't have anything to hide, what are you afraid of?" when being told our phone conversations are all being monitored and you have The End.

[midknightryder13]

My answer to that is, "What is the point of HAVING rights if you don't claim/use/assert them?"
Odd, every time I've said that, it's always been answered by silence.

[salespud]

Oh...maybe you did not see the press conference yesterday where the reporter threw his shoes. Shoes don't kill people...people with shoes kill people. Democaracy was doomed to fail when politicians discovered they could vote themselves raises. (paraphrased quotation)

[RepugsOut08]

Rock on, Steven!
When the big bailout was thrust in our faces in Oct., I couldn't help but be reminded of the old Monty Python gangster skit.
As these shakedown artists and fast talking pimps for big business entered our homes through the fantasy world of TV's main stream news media, I half expected them to say, "Nice economy ya got here. Be a shame if anything was ta happen to it!"
And just like in a thousand bad gangster movies, we paid the ransom hoping to avoid the inevitable, but the inevitable always comes.
As you've so eloquently pointed out, the ball is in the court of each and everyone of us.
Will we rise to the occasion? I don't know, but history is clear. Those who fight for their rights win, and those who lie down are subjugated.

[qtpi410]

I have to relatives with different stories. One is self-employed as an IT guy that contracts with companies to implement payroll systems. He is now looking for work, the jobs were once plentiful and he made a good living. At this time he and his family are just hanging on. He can not collect umemployment (even though he paid state UC) because he is self-employed.
The second guy is a Morgan Stanly employee and as I write this is vacationing in Aruba with wife, kids and the babysitter. He is in no fear of losing his job and still expects to get his bonus.
What's wrong with this picture?

[whatsthatsound]

I have no mouth and I must scream.

[DarleenMB]

ah, another Harlan Ellison fan.

And yes, Steven, you are absolutely correct. all one has to do is look at how Congress has treated the auto industry (read UNIONS) to see how they hate the citizens.

and while I'm on that subject ... I AM NOT A CONSUMER. I am a CITIZEN. I am not here to benefit business, rather it is the other way around.

[kathy001]

Hear, hear!!! Very well said and I agree whole-heartedly!