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"Arrogant and Ignorant" and in Cohoots with a Vampire Squid
This entry was posted on 7/3/2009 9:53 AM and is filed under media,politics.
"Why do we repeat the same mistakes?" asks William Greider in his new book "Come Home, America?" The Korean War, Vietnam, and Iraq wars were all based on mistaken premises, wrong information, and manipulation of facts by one administration after another. So is it the arrogance of a military superpower and a "winner's complex" in the executive branch and the Pentagon? Or is it ignorance on the part of our representatives in Congress who can't be bothered to know the history of hatred of China by the Vietnamese or the difference between Sunni and Shia in the Muslim world? " Or is it both?" Greider asks.
Whether it is foolish and hideous wars or a foolish and hideous health care system, American has come to resemble some place I don't recognize from marching in the Palos Heights Pet Parade back in the 1950s. I knew something was wrong in the 1960s, but I thought we kind of worked our way out of that mess with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the end to the Vietnam War. But like a python eating its prey rather than the quick death of a crocodile grabbing and crunching, our democracy has slowly been eaten and is disintegrating in the belly of the beast.
And our congress helped. To use another gross metaphor, parasitical entities like the investment bank Goldman Sachs have attached themselves to the body politic and not content to suck fees from the wealthy, they now prey on John and Jean Q. Public' s wages and social safety nets.
This is a momentous time, but we are led by timid people with little curiosity about how to build a better place. We have managers who ignorantly accept legislation written by cunning con men. These relentlessly mediocre managers just want to get something passed without a thought to the big picture. Then there are the schemers who do know what they are doing. They are not ignorant. They have the cunning of mob bosses. So instead of getting an energy bill that builds a new energy grid and promises fast trains and smart buses, we get some scheme to reward coal producers and enable Goldman Sachs to make another killing off the last vestiges of the American crony capitalist system. At least that's what Matt Taibbi is telling us in his Rolling Stone article. He calls Goldman Sachs "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."
And here's an interview with Taibbi about the Goldman reaction to the piece. Goldman has decided to just try and spin Taibbi as a crazy wing nut conspiracy theorist and that he is all but accusing them of being the second shooter in the Kennedy assassination. "Isn't Goldman Sachs just doing what it is built to do, make gobs of money?" says business reporter to Taibbi. "Isn't it up to government to rein Goldman Sachs in?" says the creepy business reporter. "Isn't it the stupid teachers' pension funds or people who invested in petsmart.com that are to blame for investing in crap companies?" says the cold hearted business reporter?
Whether it is foolish and hideous wars or a foolish and hideous health care system, American has come to resemble some place I don't recognize from marching in the Palos Heights Pet Parade back in the 1950s. I knew something was wrong in the 1960s, but I thought we kind of worked our way out of that mess with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the end to the Vietnam War. But like a python eating its prey rather than the quick death of a crocodile grabbing and crunching, our democracy has slowly been eaten and is disintegrating in the belly of the beast.
And our congress helped. To use another gross metaphor, parasitical entities like the investment bank Goldman Sachs have attached themselves to the body politic and not content to suck fees from the wealthy, they now prey on John and Jean Q. Public' s wages and social safety nets.
This is a momentous time, but we are led by timid people with little curiosity about how to build a better place. We have managers who ignorantly accept legislation written by cunning con men. These relentlessly mediocre managers just want to get something passed without a thought to the big picture. Then there are the schemers who do know what they are doing. They are not ignorant. They have the cunning of mob bosses. So instead of getting an energy bill that builds a new energy grid and promises fast trains and smart buses, we get some scheme to reward coal producers and enable Goldman Sachs to make another killing off the last vestiges of the American crony capitalist system. At least that's what Matt Taibbi is telling us in his Rolling Stone article. He calls Goldman Sachs "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money."
And here's an interview with Taibbi about the Goldman reaction to the piece. Goldman has decided to just try and spin Taibbi as a crazy wing nut conspiracy theorist and that he is all but accusing them of being the second shooter in the Kennedy assassination. "Isn't Goldman Sachs just doing what it is built to do, make gobs of money?" says business reporter to Taibbi. "Isn't it up to government to rein Goldman Sachs in?" says the creepy business reporter. "Isn't it the stupid teachers' pension funds or people who invested in petsmart.com that are to blame for investing in crap companies?" says the cold hearted business reporter?
Taibbi Interview on Business News
While this heist is getting underway, the great health insurance heist is being planned. Looks like Taibbi's next assignment for "Rolling Stone" will be health care. Just in the nick of time! The former "Rolling Stone" reporter and editor William Greider must be pleased that there is somebody to follow in his footsteps of real reporting. Greider and Taibbi share a common attribute that most main stream reporters and certainly our congress lack. That's curiosity.
Curiosity does not kill the feral cat.
While this heist is getting underway, the great health insurance heist is being planned. Looks like Taibbi's next assignment for "Rolling Stone" will be health care. Just in the nick of time! The former "Rolling Stone" reporter and editor William Greider must be pleased that there is somebody to follow in his footsteps of real reporting. Greider and Taibbi share a common attribute that most main stream reporters and certainly our congress lack. That's curiosity.
Curiosity does not kill the feral cat.
