An American Outrage: Bernie, AIG, and Us
Mar 22nd, 2009 | 7 responses
by Rosemary and Walter Brasch
There have now been more than 4,000 deaths and 30,000 casualties of American military in the war in Iraq. More than 100,000 Iraqis and others, most of them civilian, have also been killed in what is now known to be an unnecessary war. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
We have recently learned that former President Bush and former Vice-President Cheney had authorized the use of torture. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
The Supreme Court has ruled there have been significant and substantial constitutional violations during the Bush–Cheney era. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
More than 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance. Millions don’t get the health care they need or are turned away because they can’t pay. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
The unemployment rate has climbed past 8 percent. More than 12 million Americans are unemployed and actively looking for work. About three million have been unemployed more than half a year. About 2.6 millions jobs were lost just in the past four months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Companies have eliminated jobs, forcing the remaining employees to work beyond their capacity. These companies have cut wages and benefits; they have shipped jobs overseas. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
About 38 million Americans are living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
About 3.5 million people were homeless last year. More than one million of the homeless are children, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. Over a half-million are veterans. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
Almost every reputable scientist has told us that the world’s environment is in jeopardy from man-made destruction. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
We are killing off our animals by a combination of neglect and planned destruction of their lives and habitat. About 1,600 animal species are critically endangered, according to the World Conservation Union; about 25 become extinct every year. But, we as a nation are not outraged.
But, we are outraged about one thing. Our money.
We are outraged that Wall Street financiers, corporate bankers, and real estate brokers have seemingly conspired for personal greed, leading to a plunge in the value of our own stocks and investments, forcing the nation into the worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.
We, as a nation, are outraged that Bernard Madoff scammed individuals and charitable foundations for billions.
We, as a nation, are outraged that executives at failed insurance giant AIG are receiving millions in bonuses paid for by taxpayer funds. In Congress, conservatives and liberals, many of whom were part of the problem of the subprime mortgage crisis, have united for the first time in years and have expressed their outrage. The President, who inherited this mess, is outraged. The media who had failed to adequately report this mess are outraged. Almost every American is outraged.
And why are we outraged? Because it’s money.
As homeless children sleep beneath bridges, as millions desperate for work are told to go home and collect a pittance in unemployment, as innocent Iraqis die, as young soldiers return without limbs, as our earth is being destroyed, we sit and yawn through the news, desensitized to the horror. But, sadly, the one thing we react to, the driving impetus to contact our legislators, and the one thing that moves us to outrage is money.
And we criticize the Wall Street financiers and investors, the greedy bankers and those wanting to make a quick-flip profit in housing?! Perhaps our outrage comes from a deeper place, an inner reality that we see just a hint of ourselves and what each of us is capable of if we were given the financial opportunity.
[Rosemary R. Brasch is a retired secretary, labor/union specialist, and college instructor in labor issues. She is a also a former national Red Cross family services specialist for national disasters. Walter M. Brasch is a university professor of journalism, social issues columnist, and the author of 17 books. His current book is Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush, available from amazon.com, bn.com, and other stores.]
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7 Responses to “An American Outrage: Bernie, AIG, and Us”
This is a request. . .both of you have impressive experience in the societal realms. . .could you go deeper as to why we have outrage over the economical more than the life of a child in poverty or loss of life of a fellow human being? Is it fixable?. . .
Last week i read a simple story on the web, would site it but do not remember the site, it went something like this:
” a professor of philosophy and logic went to a toy shop with his wife to purchase something beautiful, a new toy, for their only child as a gift. They tried many toys but they were all old. . . a little bit modified here and there. . . .The shopkeeper, seeing that they were not satisfied , went inside the store and brought out an absolutely new toy they had never seen before. . . It was a jigsaw puzzle. . .He said, “This is the latest and the best – you MUST like it.”. . . .They tried to fit the jigsaw puzzle together. . . First the wife tried. . . . She failed, she could not figure it out. The husband laughed . . . and he said, “Wait! I will do it. . . . And remember he was a logician , a professor of philosophy ; if he cannot do it, then who will be able to do it? . . . He tried hard. . . First he was very much inspired and finally he was simply perspiring. . . . the whole inspiration became perspiration!. . . .He was drenched in perspiration. . .the longer he worked with it the more he became outraged. . . And a crowd had gathered, and there was no way to figure it out. . . The puzzle remained a puzzle, became more and more puzzling. Finally he asked the shopkeeper, “What kind of jigsaw puzzle is this? . . . If I cannot do it. . . I am the Head of the Department of Logic in the University. . . mathematics is my hobby. . . if I cannot do it. . . then how do you hope that a five-year-old child will be able to do it?”. . . . The shopkeeper said, “Who told you that anybody can do it?. . .
This toy represents the world. . . It is made in such a way that it cannot be fixed. This is just a lesson for the child about how the world is!”
(end of story)
I have thought about this story off and on all week. . .have compared it to the child's toy that cannot be fixed. . .after reading your post, took the story a layer deeper, for our economy was created by that which is so much more broken than the toy. . .truly as you have pointed out we are the ones that are broken. . .
Pehaps it's not just about the money. Read the other postings below on the problem with the latest bailout proposal by Mikkel Fishman. It's the overall fatigue. We haven't addressed those many messes for many years and we thought government decided it was no longer up to that task. Then we elected a person who stated that government would be different. Now we see the new administration continue the prior administration's sole interest in preserving, protecting and promoting greater wealth concentration in the very wealthy. If we spend trillions of dollars on our bankrupt banking/financial systems, we won't have any funds to do anything else. The 2009-2010 budget proposal is already facing an uphill battle in Congress from both political parties. The entire political and economic system must be remade. I hope President Obama actually shows actions that match his rhetoric. Most Americans are ethical, moral and when fully informed, make decent decisions. We have been so lied to and misled by the wealthiest in our country who now control our political system, that our outrages have time limits. But without the overall society spending its public funds on something other than bailouts, the many other serious problems cannot be address. From another TMV co-blogger – Marc Pascal in Phoenix, AZ.
Rosemary and Walter absolutely nailed it. I once had faith in the priorities of Americans, but in this day and age they have become pathetic.
People tend to listen to and trust their leaders. Bush, Cheney, et. al. went to war and lied to us. Many Americans believed them, but not all of us did.
The GOP believes in personal responsibility and most Republicans I personally know do not feel too concerned about the plight of poor Americans, illegal immigrants, etc. because the GOP leadership has said that those people are a drain on our economy and the taxpayers' pockets…. The GOP leaders in effect are saying that f you want to help them then you're a Democratic socialist (and maybe even a communist). Many Republicans believe that those people who are down on their luck are lazy and don't want jobs. I know…. you should see some of the correspondence I have with my brother's wife's family over the differences in Dem and Republican on issues…. These relatives by marriage always bring up how the Democratic stimulus package is going to give all “their” hard-earned money to the homeless and inner city folks, who don't deserve it. They also say that Obama is redistributing wealth and not rewarding hard work. What's astounding is that some of these same people consider themselves Christians and will go to Africa for a week at a time every few years to do missionary work….. But they're not willing to help fellow Americans or even talk sensibly about these issues. To them (as an example) the illegal immigrant solution is simple: build a wall all the way across the US/Mexico border and immediately deport everyone (and their families) who are here illegally. As far as the environment- they say that they don't believe in global warming and they basically spout the Bush mantra.
The Democratic Party is the party which now fights for equal rights, justice, etc. The Democratic Party is made up of a melting pot of people, each with their own issues, whether its immigration or civil rights. The GOP makes jokes about their party being made up of the “haves and the have-mores”. The Republican leadership has drawn a line and does not encourage people to talk about America's social problems because part of the fix means spending money, whether on insurance for children or soup lines for the unemployed or spending money to protect the environment. The single over-riding theme among Republicans today is “lower taxes”. The Republicans lowered taxes when times were good and the Republicans want to lower taxes as a panacea for all that ails us during these hard times. Of course the Bush administration, with all their jokes about the Republicans are the party made up of the “haves and have-mores” made it un-American to talk about the social ills because doing so would put you in the Democratic column, wanting to turn the country into the land of socialism and, by golly, either you're with us or you're against us.
Of course everyone is upset about the economic crises because the leaders of both parties are calling for their respective supporters to be outraged and I think we have every right to be. But the Republicans are also claiming that Obama's plans will not work and they even want Obama (and the country) to fail.
When Bush took office many well-respected economists were sounding the alarm over Bush's tax decreases and where that would lead us. Of course we know that Bush is famous for using fuzzy math and he countered with his own “experts” which said the Republican way was right. Now eight years later and partially as a result of the Bush tax cuts, the economy is facing the hardest times since the Great Depression and all the Republicans can do is continue to turn Americans against each other and continue to tout their failed policies.
StockBoySF
As long as the Democratic Party supporst set asides, Affirmative Action, quotas, race based programs, it does not believe in equal rights or justice. When the Democratic Party decidced that punishing Jennifer Gratz because was white, they forgot about equality and justice.
What the Democratic party has been since the 1960's is about picking winners and losers. The Democratic Party sees the upper middle class as prey that activist, NGO's and social engineers can prey upon. Maybe when your children attend Sidwell Friends and live in gated communities it is easy to talk about helping the poor and open borders. When your children attend a large public schools when the violent predator children, illegal aliens, nad the poor make it virtually impossible to learn, then it is harder to worry about the poor.
Maybe if the Democratic Party could restain itself from spitting in the faces of the middle class, it could accomplish more. You can blame the Republicans for their failures to actually be conservative but social engineering, heavy regulation, and the inability of elite Democratcs who personally do anything that ask of the middle class will continue to lead to the resentment of your relatives. When President Obama starts sending his daughters to public school and Al Gore moves out of his mansion, then conservatives will believe that the Democarts are saying. Until then, the Democrats need to stop asking others to do things that they will never do themselves.
Stockboy- I really wish you'd stop assuming that this narrow group of Republicans that you know are representative of the party or of conservatives in general. I associate with some liberals who are idiots but that doesn't mean that everyone left of center can be painted with the same broad brush.
CStanley, I agree that there are many Republicans who do care about these issues…. But when the Republican LEADERSHIP (and I mentioned in my post several times that it was the LEADERS of the Republican Party) holds these values (and I really haven't seen any Republicans challenge their fellow Republicans on their views on social issues, other than to say the Republican Party needs to be more inclusive- but there is no mention of actually supporting environmental, poverty, healthcare, etc. in any meaningful way) then that's what the party is about.
For Chris-sakes you have four or five GOP governors refusing Obama's federal money to help the poor and destitute. And these governors claim they are refusing the money on principle because they do not want to raise taxes. They claim the may need to change the laws on their books to distribute the money. In reality they don't have to keep those laws and programs. Furthermore the majority of states have these sorts of programs in place anyway, so what the stimulus package calls for isn't anything new.
So when I talk about the Republican Party's leaders not being too concerned about the plight of the poor and destitute that's what I see. And I don't see any elected Republicans calling for a change in attitudes. I mean these Republican governors (who are paid by the citizens) care more about their own political fortunes and never raising taxes then they do about their own citizens who go to bed hungry every night.
If you don't like the leadership of your party and disagree with them, have you written letters to your local newspaper and elected officials (including those in DC) to let them know how you feel about these social issues? (It's a rhetorical question and I don't need an answer.) But it seems to me that when people are outraged over these issues then they start writing such letters and expressing their concerns. And I just don't see these sorts of letters coming from Republicans. And to be fair I don't see these sorts of letters coming from many Dems, but then again it's the Democratic Party that's putting forth social proposals that the Republicans are calling too expensive…..
I also agree with you that some liberals are idiots and I wish they would get a life. But they're not blocking money for the poor and vulnerable in our society.
Maybe it's just my upbringing…. my parents taught me to help those in our community, especially the poor and those down on their luck. To me America is a land of opportunity and if you are in a philanthropic position then you should give back to the community. The US is wealthy enough to do this. So I get very upset at the GOP when all they can whine about is, “It's too expensive… it means raising taxes, which we're against.” How does the Republican Party think this country would function if we just suddenly shut down the federal government and stopped collecting all taxes? I think the Republican Party is out of touch and unreasonable. I've commented on here many times before that I hope the GOP can get it's act together because I think they are essential to the country. But the current GOP is nuts. And judging from the number of Americans who do not like the GOP and are voting with the Democratic Party I know I'm not alone in my thinking. Yes, you're right…. there are some reasonable Republicans out there…. but we've seen what happens to them if they go against their party- they are considered pariahs…. How many prominent Republicans came out in support of Obama, only to be tarred and feathered (metaphorically speaking)? Until enough Republicans stand up to the GOP leadership and demand that the party changes, then I'm going to continue my anti-Republican posts. All Republicans are complicit unless they demand change. It's one thing to consider yourself an exception (but at the end of the day go along with the party line). It's another to make your thoughts known. I bet if all the moderate Republicans were to make their thoughts known, by just writing thoughtful letters to their elected officials, the GOP leadership would change some of the party's policies. But at the moment the only part of the Republican Party that is heard are those nuts on the religious right.
PS: I just received another e-mail from those wacky Republicans who are relatives by marriage and it said that Obama is taking money away from the hard workers of America and redistributing to those too lazy to get jobs.
You may not like some of the repetitiveness and assumptions in my posts…. But until I actually see real Republicans take on the GOP leadership and demand change then I'm going to continue. I am tired of so many Republicans (from relatives to governors to the general wacky religious right) being opposed to programs which help the disadvantaged (and unfairly characterizing the Dems) that I just want to scream.
If I don't call the Republicans (and it seems to be the majority of Republicans who believe these things, though not all) on this then who will? I know there are exceptions but I'm not talking about exceptions- I'm talking about the majority of Republicans who live by the Republican rules.