The Theft of the Wealth of Our Nation

A slow motion near-recession has steamrolled the middle-class for the past two to three years. As the income of the average worker held steady at best, and the purchasing power of the dollar declined while health costs soared, and Wall Street raked in record profits. CEO's enjoyed massive compensation packages and the economy was deemed to be in good shape. "The fundamentals of the economy are strong," was uttered by many long before McCain (he was just the last one to get that this was not true). The free market, we were assured, would take care of everything.

Now the flaws of the predatory phase of capitalism have been laid bare. But what do we hear from the free market profiteers who told us the invisible hand of the market would take care of it all? We hear a cry for a bailout and we see the all too visible hand reaching out for the money of the people.

This is not a bailout. It is theft. Theft from the common good. Already we are being told that whoever is the next president will have to scale back his agenda. In other words, it is too important for rich people to get richer than it is for you and your children to have health care. It is too important for greedy investment banks to be rescued from their own incompetence than for your parents and grandparents to have a secure future.

Isn't it just an incredible coincidence that this has all come to pass as the Bush Administration winds down? After privatizing essential services of the government in order to further enrich the already rich, we now are on the brink of nationalizing the debt of the private sector. Is there anything left to take? Guard the White House silverware on January 20th.

Fancifully, some are calling the bailout socialism. If it were socialism the average worker would see the reward and the banks would be howling. Socialism would see the government take control of the assets of the bank and sort out this tangle of greed. What the current approach will be is the government (of the people: you and me) will get all the bad debt and give the incompetent and greedy who caused this billions of dollars. This is buying swamp land in Florida and being told that it's "waterfront." Call this what it is: this is fraud, this is theft. Robin Hood in reverse. Welfare for CEO's.

The Invisible Hand Picks Your Pocket

Capitalists and corporatists love to blather about the wisdom of the "Invisible Hand of the Market." Adam Smith conceived the idea as a maxim that suggested as an individual pursued his/her own interests that this also helped those within his/her community. There is an underlying suggestion that bad actors are punished due to the harm to their reputation and the resulting wariness of those conducting business with them.

The Invisible Hand is a nice metaphor that suggests a sense of quaint, rural living where everyone knows everyone and your reputation means something. It is only natural that robber barons would use imagery that seems so comforting. Let's drop in a little "Don't Worry, Be Happy," as the soundtrack.

The mortgage crisis meltdown continues and everyday people are losing their homes at a record rate while investment banks, predatory lenders and AIG are bailed out because they are seen as too important to fail. Where is the Invisible Hand? That's just it. That is their argument. These corporate cretins who have manufactured this crisis through their greed truly do believe that they are so important to the rest of us that they must be subsidized. All praise the Invisible Hand from which all profits flow.

But when the profits quit rolling and the accounting is due, capitalism just won't do. It is truly stunning to witness rabid free-market capitalists demand government subsidies to support their incompetence. Privatize the profits, socialize the costs. The Invisible Hand seems to be up to something.

It's pulling the strings on your government and lifting the dollars right out of your pocket.
Adam Smith was a naive fool.

The Conversion of the GOP on the Road to St. Paul

The Republican Party has seen the light. After years of perfecting the art of partisan rancor and the politics of personal destruction, the GOP has had a change of heart.

At least that's the official story. During the convention in St. Paul, one speaker after another decried the partisan tone in Washington and called for a new spirit of bipartisanship. In addition, there was the accompanying cry to leave personal matters and private lives out of this election.

Strange how the Republican'ts have found a need for bipartisanship and personality free politics now that they are out of power and have a busload of skeletons in the closets of their candidates. Or is that a busload of lobbyists and candidates in the closet (or bathroom as the case may be)?

The Republican'ts were so proud of their party that they made sure that it's name was not even visible to the TV audience. The only place the word Republican appeared was in small print at the top of each state's name. If you weren't looking, you would have missed it.

They now claim the mantle of the party of reform. Mavericks at the helm, they now ask us to believe their conversion is complete. "We have changed," is the battle cry. "Just give us four more years, and you'll see, this time we'll get it right." Oh yeah, and while you're at it don't ask us any embarrassing questions or point to the hypocrisy of our campaign. You see, the new GOP doesn't go in for that.

Just another charlatan claiming to have seen the light, holding out the promise of better times. Is the electorate stupid enough to fall for this doublespeak. The Republican'ts seem to think so.

Enough with the Cowboys

We now have two mavericks on the Republican ticket. At least that's how they want to be seen by the voters. McCain wants us to believe that after a quarter-of-a-century in Washington that he is a rebel. What he is really telling us is that he is another impulsive yahoo who values form over substance. The selection of the moose hunter, Sarah Palin only serves to bolster his credentials as a loose cannon.

Hasn't this country had enough of cowboy diplomacy? From the pomposity of Reagan the horseman to the jangling of Bush's spurs, a reckless attitude that values braggadocio over intellect, politics over policy has pervaded our system and diminished our country. Cowboys and their politics belong in the past.