Sunday, March 22, 2009

Pseudo Donkey



I happen to like David Brooks, a brilliant New York Times contributor. However, the Times like so many other Pseudo Donkeys got it wrong with the endless outrage for American Incompetence and Greed (AIG). There are many axes to grind from those who are screaming murder with Wall Street Chief Executive Officers who by virtue of their jobs, are entitled to whatever they desire, while ignoring the very capitalist market response that they bow to.

The moral outrage can be summed up on these two fronts: Moral outrage just for the hell of it. For most people, their moral outrage with AIG's behavior emerges from the tea leaves of the bonuses themselves, or the 90/10 rule. The 90/10 is a new capitalism phenomena that asserts the following: Only ten percent or a very small percentage of society deserves the spoils of life. This theory and practice has served to eliminate whole sections of the American body-citizen and the Democratic ideals that they adhere to.

Left out of the fray on the Sunday Morning political talk shows is another outrage, unearthed last week, by New York State investigative officials. Two top advisers of Alan Hevesi, former state comptroller, had their way with $122 billion dollars of state pension funds in a pay-to-play scheme. The 123 count indictment that followed is by state prosecutors is a "damn joke."

We have grown accustomed by now, to these gargantuan figures. What's even more troubling about rumors and evidence of financial slight-of-hand, is the small number of people who benefit, ruin and control them. What many citizens are becoming more weary of, is the creation and expansion of an economic mafia. A small group of mostly old men and women who determine who eats, when they eat and how much they eat, literally. Th AIG bonus scam is quietly awakening the common sense in us, while slowly washing away the braying donkeys in the press, government and other institutions, whose commentary serves to do nothing more than reinforce the status-quo.

We are on the verge of a much needed uprising of some sort. Calling for the rubbing out of Chief Executive Officers and their families is counter to the ideals of freedom and Democracy and the rule of law, but something needs to be done. That something cannot and should not be left in the hands of politicians from either side of aisle,political pundits or the media. For they represent the dangerous and out of control pseudo donkey of our society. The one voice and minority ideology that contends: Only they know what's best for us and when.
As I listened to those who believe that things will get better and the economy will recover, the question remains, for who? The same 90% that wins all the time.

It is time for the people to stand up and take back what is rightly theirs. Dignity, a fair wage, stability and a larger piece of the pie than the 90/10 rule that has been shoe-horned down our collective throats. If that action leads to uncharted territory, then so be it. Capitalism, like other political systems that it usurped needs a major overhaul, and it needs that overhaul today. Not next week, next month, or next year, but right this minute. This once revered system has quietly turned into a dinosaur. How much more ruin, dreams stolen and souls displaced must we tolerate, before we insert the balance that is needed to safeguard and guarantee the equality that is desperately needed.

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