Bailout Bullshit
The conservative right wing nuts were screaming about socialism when Obama got elected. They were screaming about his incitement of class warfare.
Now no one is saying anything about classism directly, but they have finally struck upon the attitude in this country even if they are not putting a label on it. The Wall St. bailouts have been handled largely by handing over absurd amounts of money to a bunch of guys in suits who used their positions to play fantasy world domination with few questions asked. In the meantime, the Big Three Automakers and their union workers have been dragged over the coals in front of Congress before anyone would consider giving them a paltry sum to keep manufacturing and blue collars going. Wall St. keeps operating like business is usual, handing out bonuses to guys who ran the system into the ground while Detroit is forced to the bargaining table and their unions required to give up what they have fought for over years of contract negotiations.
As long as we still have guys in suits going to work everyday, I guess everything is A-Ok in the U S of A! Never mind that none of them has ever produced anything tangible. Never mind that what they do is just socially acceptable gambling. AIG isn't allowed to fail, but Capitalism is awesome! We can prop up Wall St. and continue to believe in corporate survival of the fittest, but if you try to apply the same standards to Detroit, then, well... maybe they should be allowed to fail; afterall, it's a free market system and only those profitably operated businesses should survive.
I can't think of a more obvious example of how this country operates and has operated in an atmosphere of classism. You don't have to have the intention of suppressing the workers or disregarding their needs in order to have an elitist mind set that allows you to think that Banking and Stock Speculation is more important that manufacturing and producing tangible goods. When you value those things that way, you value the people involved in those activities that way, whether that is what you intended to do or not. When you give a dollar to a a guy that squanders money over a guy that uses it to feed his family, you are telling both of them and the rest of the society that cares to look at what you are doing that you like the guy in the suit better.
The argument was brought up that the Fed gave AIG it's first bailout without benefit of oversight in September and so you could argue that Congress wasn't given the chance to to rake Wall St. over the coals when this thing started. But I would tell you, it is very telling that there is a system in place to give money to Wall St. without oversight to begin with. There is no such system set up within the Federal government to help out Detroit in the same circumstances. Is it because all things Wall St. are more important than all things manufacturing? Where do those speculators get their monopoly money to play with? Capital comes from the sweat of labor. Without labor, you got no products, goods and services for Capital to profit from and invest in their fancy games of chance.
Wake up, America. You seriously need an attitude adjustment.
Now no one is saying anything about classism directly, but they have finally struck upon the attitude in this country even if they are not putting a label on it. The Wall St. bailouts have been handled largely by handing over absurd amounts of money to a bunch of guys in suits who used their positions to play fantasy world domination with few questions asked. In the meantime, the Big Three Automakers and their union workers have been dragged over the coals in front of Congress before anyone would consider giving them a paltry sum to keep manufacturing and blue collars going. Wall St. keeps operating like business is usual, handing out bonuses to guys who ran the system into the ground while Detroit is forced to the bargaining table and their unions required to give up what they have fought for over years of contract negotiations.
As long as we still have guys in suits going to work everyday, I guess everything is A-Ok in the U S of A! Never mind that none of them has ever produced anything tangible. Never mind that what they do is just socially acceptable gambling. AIG isn't allowed to fail, but Capitalism is awesome! We can prop up Wall St. and continue to believe in corporate survival of the fittest, but if you try to apply the same standards to Detroit, then, well... maybe they should be allowed to fail; afterall, it's a free market system and only those profitably operated businesses should survive.
I can't think of a more obvious example of how this country operates and has operated in an atmosphere of classism. You don't have to have the intention of suppressing the workers or disregarding their needs in order to have an elitist mind set that allows you to think that Banking and Stock Speculation is more important that manufacturing and producing tangible goods. When you value those things that way, you value the people involved in those activities that way, whether that is what you intended to do or not. When you give a dollar to a a guy that squanders money over a guy that uses it to feed his family, you are telling both of them and the rest of the society that cares to look at what you are doing that you like the guy in the suit better.
The argument was brought up that the Fed gave AIG it's first bailout without benefit of oversight in September and so you could argue that Congress wasn't given the chance to to rake Wall St. over the coals when this thing started. But I would tell you, it is very telling that there is a system in place to give money to Wall St. without oversight to begin with. There is no such system set up within the Federal government to help out Detroit in the same circumstances. Is it because all things Wall St. are more important than all things manufacturing? Where do those speculators get their monopoly money to play with? Capital comes from the sweat of labor. Without labor, you got no products, goods and services for Capital to profit from and invest in their fancy games of chance.
Wake up, America. You seriously need an attitude adjustment.