Their mantra was “free market Capitalism” and they worshiped and praised its many great benefits to our society. Most accepted their religion and many admired them for their devotion to it. They hated the government and its many pesky regulations that prevented them from becoming “the furnace of the world’s economy”. So the Money Changers bet their various houses on risky mortgages and complicated financial instruments and, they lost the farm. Suddenly their credo changed to one of “We have failed but we are too important to fail, the government is the only one that can save us and it must!”, and it did, using the taxes collected from factory workers and firemen and pipe fitters. Now, wholly restored, the executive bonus checks were cut, the champagne corks popped, and all was right in their world. Funnily enough “free market Capitalism” once again ruled the day. But for the other 99% of the US population all was not right, even for those among us that still worshiped at the church of “free market Capitalism”. They held out hope for their saints, feigning acceptance and understanding despite their grievous circumstances. The pain inflicted by the Money Changers’ hubris and greed, expressed in the form of financial Russian roulette that destroyed global economies, eliminated millions of jobs and sent the world into recession, still hangs like the pall of death over the other 99% to this day. But a word of warning to those that wish to occupy a space of defiance toward the new Kleptocracy; others have understood the cause and your desire to turn the power back to the "have-nots" but almost to a person they eventually paid the ultimate price for their resistance.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Merck, Pfizer to jointly develop diabetes drug
Monday, April 29, 2013
It’s Probably Going to Be OK
I became concerned recently about what the future may hold for succeeding generations. I’d encountered a few snippets from the TV shows “Jersey Shore” and “Bad Girls Club” where the goal is to take hedonism to dizzying new heights, to say the least, and I was left dumbfounded. It wasn't so much the content of the shows (which may or may not have been contrived) but rather the wild popularity with which they were received. Then today I ran across the following quote:
"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"
Who said that? Socrates. Yep, sometime around 420 B.C. he expressed similar concerns about the youth of his time. And yet here we are still, romancing, dancing, and advancing as never before. So yeah, it’ll probably be OK, now that I think about it.