Skip to main content

No surprise. The money found. On Wall St.

Perhaps not surprising to read that the winner in all the issues and problems raised by the GFC has been Wall St. If you haven't seen the movie, go and see the recently Oscar awarded "Inside Job". It puts everything into the clearest context - and explains how those responsible for what amounts to criminal conduct have not been charged - and are doing very nicely financially.

"It must be glorious. You crash the economy, get a taxpayer bailout and hand out record bonuses. You poll less favorably than Congress and have every reason to be on defense, but instead you are consolidating economic power and expanding your already overwhelming political might. You then insert politicians of your choice in office, and they unleash a fierce attack on working families, going directly for the last barrier standing between you and total triumph--organized workers. And you have the pleasure of watching your masterpiece unfold from a yacht or country club, martini in hand. A Hollywood scriptwriter would have trouble dreaming up such an outlandish tale, but this is a true story, concocted in lower Manhattan.

In this insecure moment for most Americans, conservatives have forcefully advanced a narrative that names government as the problem. But when we look into the heart of the crisis we find massive and unaccountable corporations driving wages down and health insurance costs up, shipping jobs overseas and failing to contribute their fair share in taxes. Government is not the problem but rather the prize, and right now it sits in a trophy case on Wall Street."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t...

Palestinian children in irons. UK to investigate

Not for the first time does MPS wonder what sort of country it is when Israel so flagrently allows what can only be described as barbaric and inhuman behaviour to be undertaken by, amongst others, its IDF. No one has seemingly challenged Israel's actions. However, perhaps it's gone a bridge too far - as The Independent reports. The Foreign Office revealed last night that it would be challenging the Israelis over their treatment of Palestinian children after a report by a delegation of senior British lawyers revealed unconscionable practices, such as hooding and the use of leg irons. In the first investigation of its kind, a team of nine senior legal figures examined how Palestinians as young as 12 were treated when arrested. Their shocking report Children in Military Custody details claims that youngsters are dragged from their beds in the middle of the night, have their wrists bound behind their backs, and are blindfolded and made to kneel or lie face down in military vehi...

Wow!.....some "visitor" to Ferryland in Newfoundland