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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / No Honor Among Thieves

No Honor Among Thieves

by John Cole|  October 6, 20096:29 pm| 92 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics

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In the movie the Sting, there is a scene near the end of the movie before the big scam goes down, and Redford’s character Hooker is talking to Gondorff (Newman) and asks him how many folks he has scammed. Here is his response:

Two or three hundred I guess. Sometimes played two a day when I was in Shea’s mob. We had it down to a business.

(pause)

‘Course Chicago was a right town then. The fix was in. The dicks took their end without a beef. All the Wall Street boys wanted to make
investments for us. Even had marks looking us up, thinkin’ they could beat the game.

(pause)

Yeh, kid, it really stunk. No sense in bein’ a grifter if it’s the same as bein’ a citizen.

I’ve been thinking about that scene a lot, lately, especially after the story yesterday in the NY Times about the private equity firms running legalized Sopranos-style bust-out operations.

It just feels like the fix is in for the average guy every where you look these days. The top story at the Times now is the market surge because there was bad news for the dollar. What is bad for America is good for the Wall Street boys.

Meanwhile, one party in Congress is completely devoted to defending the rights of insurance companies to screw their customers, the ratings agencies have paid no price for their part in the meltdown last year and are still slapping triple A ratings on anything that moves so that the big swinging dicks on Wall Street can swindle pension funds out of their holdings- I’m really looking forward to that hoocoodanode/come to Jesus in a few years. The pension funds are already horribly underfunded, social security is strained because employment is so bad that people are collecting benefits early, setting the stage for the Republicans to push through some way to tinker with social security, benefits are running out for a lot of people collecting unemployment and the jobs market has not recovered, and banks are failing left and right and Congress decided the banks didn’t need to pay fees to the FDIC for a decade or so.

But hey- Goldman is turning a profit. Fuck it all.

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Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    Betseed

    October 6, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    If the Democrats don’t embrace a populist message, the teabagging crowd could gain a lot of support. The average American is getting screwed by corporations and the financial sector, and the Dems have got to run on this. Of course, digby made this argument weeks ago, but the Simmons story and the predictions of long, bad unemployment really brought this home to me.

  2. 2.

    Snark Based Reality

    October 6, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    And your transformation is complete.

    Welcome.

  3. 3.

    Bob In Pacifica

    October 6, 2009 at 6:39 pm

    If you haven’t, read Pizzo, Steven; Fricker, Mary; Muolo, Paul (1989). Inside Job: The Looting of America’s Savings and Loans.

  4. 4.

    scarshapedstar

    October 6, 2009 at 6:41 pm

    Nothing a round of tax cuts for the rich won’t solve!

  5. 5.

    Comrade Jake

    October 6, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    @Betseed:

    The left could use its own Glen Beck, in other words. I can’t say I disagree with that sentiment. I think Maddow has touched on the corporate malfeasance from time to time, but nobody’s really taken on the Wall St. fuckers in a big way.

  6. 6.

    beltane

    October 6, 2009 at 6:44 pm

    Why aren’t people more angry? When did we become the most docile nation on earth? Freedom cannot coexist with pervasive poverty and deep, unending debt. Will Americans ever wake up and realize the extent of the crime that has been perpetrated against them?

    Maybe I should just look into buying some of those happy pills everyone else must be taking, the ones that bring a state of blissful oblivion.

  7. 7.

    beltane

    October 6, 2009 at 6:45 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Well, there’s Michael Moore, but he’s fat. We need a scarier version of Michael Moore.

  8. 8.

    Xenos

    October 6, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    This comment calls for a little Pete Seeger and Johnny Cash.

  9. 9.

    Comrade Jake

    October 6, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    Oh and, less it go unsaid, I’d just like to mention how thoroughly enjoyable a movie The Sting is. One of my all time favorites.

  10. 10.

    Brien Jackson

    October 6, 2009 at 6:47 pm

    To pit nits for a second, the dollar depreciating isn’t “bad news for America,” per se, indeed you probably want a lower valued dollar at the moment, as it makes domestic goods cheaper to export, which is good for GDP. If the dollar was appreciating, that would mean American made goods would be getting more expensive relative to goods made in Country X, which isn’t what you want when you’re trying to come out of a recession.

  11. 11.

    WyldPiratd

    October 6, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    i’m feelin’ you, john.

    My “best job” came three days outta HS–At a Ford Plant in Tennessee. Great benefits and pay. Worked two years and made enough to pay for undergad outright.

    Thirty years and an MS and PhD later, I’m out of my shitty job (that paid 20k/year less in inflation-adjusted dollars than job #1) at a shitty State U because “the best and the brightest” fucked the nation’s economy in the world’s greatest ass-rape of all time.

  12. 12.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 6, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    @beltane:

    Why aren’t people more angry? When did we become the most docile nation on earth? Freedom cannot coexist with pervasive poverty and deep, unending debt. Will Americans ever wake up and realize the extent of the crime that has been perpetrated against them?

    Because there is still enough of a middle class that’s been sedated by television and legal drugs (alcohol, for instance) and the Intertubes. But I think that as the situation gets worse, you’ll see more anger, more demands for change, etc. The frustrating thing is that Washington is bought and paid for. It will take a huge sea change to flush that down the hole.

    And I think there’s a generation coming up who won’t be able to get those good jobs who will find their voice eventually.

    At least, that’s my hope.

  13. 13.

    aimai

    October 6, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    You know, I really thought I couldn’t get more depressed and cynical after the Bush years. But it turns out I could.

    aimai

  14. 14.

    calipygian

    October 6, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    indeed you probably want a lower valued dollar at the moment, as it makes domestic goods cheaper to export, which is good for GDP.

    Not only that, if your biggest competitor owns all sorts of dollar denominated bonds, wouldn’t you WANT to pay off that debt in debased dollars?

    Wait, isn’t currency debasement the cause of the decline of the Spanish Empire?

  15. 15.

    Violet

    October 6, 2009 at 6:51 pm

    @beltane:

    Why aren’t people more angry? When did we become the most docile nation on earth? Freedom cannot coexist with pervasive poverty and deep, unending debt. Will Americans ever wake up and realize the extent of the crime that has been perpetrated against them?

    I think it started after Watergate and with Reagan. It probably started before then, but in the modern era I think that’s a reasonable beginning. After Watergate people were sick of feeling bad about their country. Reagan came along, told everyone it was morning in America, the stock market went up (more or less) and people were fat and happy.

    The concept of bread and circuses isn’t new, however. The “circuses” of reality TV, celeb-worship and so on keep people distracted from the real world. Apparently people like it that way.

  16. 16.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 6, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    Also, I wish Reps. Weiner and Grayson would have a more prominent role in financial matters. I think those populist voices are good for the democratic party. I wish there were more in the Senate.

  17. 17.

    Makewi

    October 6, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    One party in Congress has no power whatsoever, but since you are head over heels in partisan love for the one with actual power you will ignore their failure to fix these issues and use cheap insulting rhetoric to shield your love and blame the powerless.

    You could try to make the country a better place by getting the party in power to take the steps necessary to fix these issues, but instead you feed hate. How in the hell do you expect this to do anything other than make this country a worse place to live?

  18. 18.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 6, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    BTW, am I the only person who’s pissed off that there’s an argument to “inch up” medicare age from 65 to 70? As someone who’s mid-40s, it pisses me off to no end that these f**kers are going to make it so my generation can never retire or get decent health care in our old age.

    see the Ratigan/Weiner/McCaughey discussion here.

  19. 19.

    Demo Woman

    October 6, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Dylan Ratigan doesn’t get enough prime time air time on MSNBC, imo. He understands what happened on Wall Street.

  20. 20.

    BDeevDad

    October 6, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    But it’s bloggers that the government is worried about. They’re actually making the FTC a Blogger Ethics Panel

    The Federal Trade Commission on Monday took steps to make product information and online reviews more accurate for consumers, regulating blogging for the first time and mandating that testimonials reflect typical results.
    The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren’t typical.

  21. 21.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 6, 2009 at 6:56 pm

    @Makewi:

    One party in Congress has no power whatsoever…

    Bullshit. see Snowe, Olympia.

    Of course, the only reason the party of “no” has any power is because the Dems give it to them.

  22. 22.

    MikeJ

    October 6, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    One party in Congress has no power whatsoever…

    Did he really try that argument? Maybe the republicans don’t have as much power as they would like because those pesky voters hate them.

  23. 23.

    Makewi

    October 6, 2009 at 7:04 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Think about it for a minute. They don’t need to accomplish anything because you aren’t going to do anything other than scream at the “other team”. So it’s you who is giving them the power to do nothing.

  24. 24.

    BombIranForChrist

    October 6, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    Worst of all, after the tragedy of the Bush years, Obama has more power than any president in any generation, except perhaps for those in the war years, and he is doing exactly dick to fix it. That’s the worst thing. When America elects Jeb Bush in 4-8 years, and it’s going to happen, it’s going to get even worse.

  25. 25.

    PeakVT

    October 6, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    @calipygian: Currency debasement, imperial overreach, and slower economic development than its competitors. Sound familiar?

  26. 26.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 6, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    @Makewi:

    Think about it for a minute. They don’t need to accomplish anything because you aren’t going to do anything other than scream at the “other team”. So it’s you who is giving them the power to do nothing.

    You keep pulling “facts” out of your ass like that and I’ll go back to Firefox just for the pie filter.

    FYI, there’s a huge pushback from progressives toward “democrats” and the president about the health care debate and financial services reform. I’ve personally put my money and my phone calls/letters where my mouth is, and so have thousands of others.

  27. 27.

    demkat620

    October 6, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    Just wait til the teabaggers get back control of the house. It will be wall to wall hearings on Obama’s birth certificate, America hatred, wife, kids, dogs, countertops.

    You think nothing is getting done now, just wait until 2011.

  28. 28.

    John Cole

    October 6, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    Makewi- why are you wasting all of our damned time with partisan bullshit? Other than the fact they are beholden to the health insurance industry, I never even mentioned your damned beloved Republicans.

    Just go away until you have something worthwhile to say.

  29. 29.

    Gwangung

    October 6, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    @John Cole: Uh-oh, Dad’s mad….

  30. 30.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    It’s just bidness senor Cole.

    @Makewi:

    These problems were created by and large by wingnuts who have had the lions share of power the past 30 years, and managed to instill, or poison the economic well with a systematic dismantleing of Great Depression era firewalls to keep what has happened from happening. They will not be solved in 8 months and likely in 8 years, even with a large majority of dems and a dem presnit. And now the GOP does nothing to help clean up their mess, and won’t even acknowledge their complicity in causing it, while blithely chanting Soshulist at every turn dems make to fix it.

    And why? Because they don’t want to fix it. They want their oligarchy now and won”t lift a goddamn finger to stop it.

    I fully expect them to get back power and finish the job of taking this country down for none other reason than to afford the opportunity to reshape it to the Corporate Theocracy they crave. And the peasants be damned.

  31. 31.

    cincyanon

    October 6, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    John,
    I’ve been reading you a long time and I gotta say, since your “turning” you’ve gone from right to moderate to… to Woody Guthrie populist. The funny thing is you do it all with insight and passion. That’s rare. Good on ya!
    (though the Bearcats are the Big East team this year, not your favorite WVA)

  32. 32.

    Steven Rockford

    October 6, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Karl Marx once said (in “Das Kapital”) that, left on its own, Capitalism would collapse under its own weight. Of course, Karl was greatly responsible for creating a competing force that didn’t allow Capitalism to be left on its own for close to a century.

    Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, however, Karl’s prescient words can finally be proven.

    And proven it has!

  33. 33.

    Penfold

    October 6, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    @calipygian:

    Wait, isn’t currency debasement the cause of the decline of the Spanish Empire?

    And you forgot about Poland Weimar Germany! And, amidst myriad factors, Rome.

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Because there is still enough of a middle class that’s been sedated by television and legal drugs (alcohol, for instance) and the Intertubes.

    Yeah, this is really a problem. I think I differ from your perspective in that I’m afraid by the time everyone wakes up to, the right-wing crazies will have destroyed what remains of our already more-or-less procedural/in-name-only democracy.

    Cheerful, I know.

  34. 34.

    Comrade Dread

    October 6, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    Why aren’t people more angry? When did we become the most docile nation on earth? Freedom cannot coexist with pervasive poverty and deep, unending debt. Will Americans ever wake up and realize the extent of the crime that has been perpetrated against them?

    If you have outrage after outrage perpetuated upon you with no recourse and no justice, after a while, it is natural to become docile and figure that protesting isn’t going to do any good, so it’s your lot in life to suffer.

    Also, Americans, despite their earlier rebellious roots, after a deep ingrained cultural respect for authority, wealth, and the establishment.

    There is also enough people who still have something and have options. They are not going to risk defying authority and the resultant consequences unless they have no choice or some singular horrible outrage is inflicted upon them which inflames their passions to such a degree that their normal instincts are suppressed.

  35. 35.

    Fulcanelli

    October 6, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    Any time you’re ready to really take the gloves off with your posting and bring the pain to the powers that be John, I’ve got your back and I stand waiting with my torch, pitchfork and wallet at the ready. I’ve been waiting since I first came here months ago.

    Please don’t dominate the rap, Jack If you got nothing new to say, If you please, don’t back up the track, This train’s got to run today

    I spent a little time in the mountain, Spent a little time on the hill, I heard some say “better run away”, Others say you “better stand still”

    Now I don’t know but I’ve been told, It’s hard to run with the weight of gold, Other hand I heard it said, It’s just as hard with the weight of lead

    Who can deny? Who can deny? It’s not just a change in style, One step done and another begun, In I wonder how many miles?

    I spent a little time on the mountain, Spent a little time on the hill, Things went down we don’t understand, But I think in time we will,

    Now I don’t know but I was told, In the heat of the sun a man died of cold, Do we keep on coming or stand and wait
    With the sun so dark and the hour so late?

    You can’t overlook the lack Jack, Of any other highway to ride, It’s got no signs or dividing lines, And very few rules to guide

    I spent a little time on the mountain, Spent a little time on the hill, I saw things getting out of hand, I guess they always will

    Now, I don’t know but I’ve been told, If the horse don’t pull, you got to carry the load, I don’t know whose back’s that strong, Maybe find out before too long

    One way or another, One way or another, One way or another, This darkness got to give

    props to: hunter/garcia

  36. 36.

    Gwangung

    October 6, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck: What’s really sad is that Makewi is one of the more coherent wingnuts….but her entire strategy is to oppose the “liberals” without referencing any facts or features of the real world. That’s why Larison is such a blast of fresh air.

  37. 37.

    Penfold

    October 6, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    I fully expect them to get back power and finish the job of taking this country down for none other reason than to afford the opportunity to reshape it to the Corporate Theocracy they crave. And the peasants be damned.

    This.

    I’m definitely drinking tonight.

  38. 38.

    cincyanon

    October 6, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    Oops. “WVA” … WVU.

  39. 39.

    srv

    October 6, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    @beltane:

    Why aren’t people more angry? When did we become the most docile nation on earth?

    At a dinner where people compared their huge 401k losses, it was clear the working folks were embarrassed they had gambled so. They knew those 15% annual gains were a scam, and the sheep took their end without a beef. They know who runs the country.

    Me, if I’d ran Goldman, I would have at least had somebody working on something like chemtrails before risking my ass like this. I guess that’s why they earn the big bucks.

  40. 40.

    Calouste

    October 6, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    @Brien Jackson:

    To pit nits for a second, the dollar depreciating isn’t “bad news for America,” per se, indeed you probably want a lower valued dollar at the moment, as it makes domestic goods cheaper to export, which is good for GDP. If the dollar was appreciating, that would mean American made goods would be getting more expensive relative to goods made in Country X, which isn’t what you want when you’re trying to come out of a recession.

    That would make sense if America had much left to export and not most of the manufacturing jobs had been sent to China. And if America made much that the rest of the world would actually want to buy.

  41. 41.

    The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

    October 6, 2009 at 7:23 pm

    @BDeevDad:

    This will never have any effect. The Enderles, Dvoraks, Thurotts, etc., etc., et endless cetera will never disclose the freebies and kickbacks they get because they’re so far up MicroShaft’s ass that they don’t even recognize it, any more than a fish recognizes water.

    The regulation can’t take effect from the corporate end, either, because the law doesn’t apply to MicroShaft. And if it can’t be applied to these most egregious cases of conflict of interest, how is it ever going to be applied to anybody else? They’ll say: “They let Enderle and Dvorak skate, why are you bothering me?” There’s no answer to that.

    Jim Cramer has suffered no prosecution for his literally criminal activities (under existing law) either, and he never will.

  42. 42.

    2th&nayle

    October 6, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    “Three rousing rahs and few hussahs
    And a hip, hip, hip, hurray
    What’s good for General Bullmoose
    Is good for the USA!”

  43. 43.

    Demo Woman

    October 6, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    The Repubs want to put Nancy Pelosi in her place.
    Mike Allen of Politico talks about the Axelrod and Ailes meeting today as if it’s just a disagreement between two organizations.

    At a time of tension between their organizations, White House senior adviser David Axelrod met with Fox News chairman and chief executive officer Roger Ailes two weeks ago, sources tell POLITICO.

    I don’t remember the Presidency being referred to as an organization before, never mind an organization that is on an even par with FOX. Am I reading the article wrong?

  44. 44.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 7:26 pm

    @Gwangung:

    Scarlett is lazy and thinks she can flit by with flowery bullshat. And whines that dems hate her cause she’s special that way.

    Avirtual fly in the ointment is her only ambition. but the meanie dems just won’t play fair with their facts and stuff.

    Booh fucking Hoooh

  45. 45.

    Calouste

    October 6, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    @Betseed:

    IMO there will be a good opportunity for a sensible, populist third party rather than the teabagging crowd if the Dems screw up things like health care reform. Bloomberg being the most obvious choice to fron this at the moment. It would be helpful for them if they could get some Senators and Reps to switch from both parties, although the Congressional GOP doesn’t have many non-ideologues left who could flip, although there will always be people who are willing to switch if it improves their reelection chances.

  46. 46.

    Penfold

    October 6, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    @Comrade Dread:

    Also, Americans, despite their earlier rebellious roots, after a deep ingrained cultural respect for authority, wealth, and the establishment.

    I can’t recall which sociologist/cultural critic originated this description, but I most recenty saw it reference by Morris Berman, about the “slave mentality” of Americans being stronger than that of the other Western nations because, among other things, all rebellions against the dominant political/economic system have been so effectively crushed (note here he is referring to things like Haymarket and not so much civil rights, but when you think about how we are actively trying to turn back the clock on civil rights and liberties, that may fit the theory, too).

    Combine this with more broadly conservative streak of the American populace (I’m reminded British writer Michael Moorcock saying that Americans probably didn’t understand the sense of walking into the past that Europeans often feel coming here in the present day) and a decades-long dismantling of the rhetorical/political basis for liberalism, and corporate money controlling both parties, and I think you have a recipe for what you see now. Namely, the most discontented part of the populace is a right wing radical pseudo-populism

  47. 47.

    Mark S.

    October 6, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    Taking out a $375 million loan to pay yourself a dividend? Who were the idiot banks that were agreeing to that?

    As for why we let the rich continually fuck us over, this guy had some ideas about it.

  48. 48.

    Nicole

    October 6, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts: No, you’re not the only one. I watched that bit today, and while BM was yammering about cost savings, blah blah blah, I thought, “Am I crazy, or is she talking about raising the Medicare age limit?” and then AW said, you’re talking about raising the Medicare age limit and I thought something along the lines of fuckyfuckyfuckityfuck. How that woman (McCaughey) can look at herself in the mirror is beyond me. What a thoroughly reprehensible human being. And shame on every gov’t official with their health care paid by their constituents, looking at an option like this to take care away from those constituents. Boo.

  49. 49.

    Bas-O-matic

    October 6, 2009 at 7:38 pm

    Now the guy’s got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy’s got to come up with Paulie’s money every week. No matter what. Business bad? F–k you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? F–k you, pay me. The place got hit by lightning, huh? F–k you, pay me. Also, Paulie could do anything. Especially run up bills on the joint’s credit. And why not? Nobody’s gonna pay for it anyway. And as soon as the deliveries are made in the front door, you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn’t matter. It’s all profit. And then finally, when there’s nothing left, when you can’t borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match.

  50. 50.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    October 6, 2009 at 7:40 pm

    Since the topic is theft on an epic scale, did anybody else see this pair of stories, highlighted by Nemo of CalcRisk fame. Two guys try to smuggle 134 billion in fake bonds in a suitcase across the Swiss border? And they got away? That puts a whole new meaning to the phrase “My name is Bond…”

    I smell a movie plot.

  51. 51.

    freelancer

    October 6, 2009 at 7:44 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    WTF are they gonna do? Start they’re own space program?!

  52. 52.

    aimai

    October 6, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    Taibbi on the Peasant Mentality pretty much nails it:

    After all, the reason the winger crowd can’t find a way to be coherently angry right now is because this country has no healthy avenues for genuine populist outrage. It never has. The setup always goes the other way: when the excesses of business interests and their political proteges in Washington leave the regular guy broke and screwed, the response is always for the lower and middle classes to split down the middle and find reasons to get pissed off not at their greedy bosses but at each other. That’s why even people like Beck’s audience, who I’d wager are mostly lower-income people, can’t imagine themselves protesting against the Wall Street barons who in actuality are the ones who fucked them over. Beck pointedly compared the AIG protesters to Bolsheviks: “[The Communists] basically said ‘Eat the rich, they did this to you, get ‘em, kill ‘em!’” He then said the AIG and G20 protesters were identical: “It’s a different style, but the sentiments are exactly the same: Find ‘em, get ‘em, kill ‘em!’” Beck has an audience that’s been trained that the rich are not appropriate targets for anger, unless of course they’re Hollywood liberals, or George Soros, or in some other way linked to some acceptable class of villain, to liberals, immigrants, atheists, etc. — Ted Turner, say, married to Jane Fonda.

    But actual rich people can’t ever be the target. It’s a classic peasant mentality: going into fits of groveling and bowing whenever the master’s carriage rides by, then fuming against the Turks in Crimea or the Jews in the Pale or whoever after spending fifteen hard hours in the fields. You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your shit. Whatever the master does, you’re on board. When you get frisky, he sticks a big cross in the middle of your village, and you spend the rest of your life praying to it with big googly eyes. Or he puts out newspapers full of innuendo about this or that faraway group and you immediately salute and rush off to join the hate squad. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger. And that’s what we’ve got now, a lot of misdirected anger searching around for a non-target to mis-punish… can’t be mad at AIG, can’t be mad at Citi or Goldman Sachs. The real villains have to be the anti-AIG protesters! After all, those people earned those bonuses! If ever there was a textbook case of peasant thinking, it’s struggling middle-class Americans burned up in defense of taxpayer-funded bonuses to millionaires. It’s really weird stuff. And bound to get weirder, I imagine, as this crisis gets worse and more complicated.

  53. 53.

    aimai

    October 6, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    Bugger. Everything should have been in block quotes.

    aimai

  54. 54.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    And now for your daily dose of wingnut family values.

    From the venereal American Family Asses

    PepsiCo gives $1,000,000 to help promote the gay agenda Company forces employees to attend sexual orientation classes

    In the last two years, Pepsi has given $500,000 to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and $500,000 to the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The $1,000,000 was to be used to help promote homosexuality in the workplace. Pepsi refuses to give money to any pro-family organization that opposes the homosexual agenda. Plus, every homosexual organization we know of is overwhelmingly pro-abortion.

    Got Pepsi!

  55. 55.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 7:48 pm

    that was Off topic

  56. 56.

    Mark S.

    October 6, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    @Nicole:

    There’s something scary about Betsy McCaughey. She lies so effortlessly it’s like watching a sociopath.

  57. 57.

    Comrade Dread

    October 6, 2009 at 8:01 pm

    There’s a lot of other factors.

    Schools are generally deferential to the authority/establishment, because they are a large part of the authority/establishment and derive their existence from it. The establishment is generally only challenged when you get into college and meet up with your DFH, populist, (or on a rare occasion non-Randian libertarian) professors.

    We are indoctrinated from our first day of school that the American dream is that anyone can work hard enough and become rich based on their ingenuity, merit, and intelligence. Therefore, if you are not a part of the upper class, you are (in some fashion) inferior and should shut the **** up about the AIG bonuses because you just don’t understand.

    Social studies courses generally fail to mention such things as nepotism, legacies, and the advantages that come with being born into the upper class. Nor to many PoliSci classes really delve into the sewers of our modern state which is so intrinsically tied to corporate America as to be almost indistinguishable with robber barons hopping from corporate boards to the offices of the government departments responsible for regulating them and vice versa.

    And while everyone bleats about regulation stifling free market industry, almost no one ever realizes that most regulation (in modern times) is often written by or for large corporations and is anti-competitive and stifling for that exact reason. The corporation has its market share, fuck the competitors.

    God, I’m pissed off now. I need some booze.

  58. 58.

    srv

    October 6, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    @Comrade Dread:

    God, I’m pissed off now. I need some booze.

    Nothing a socialist Pledge of Allegiance won’t fix.

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    October 6, 2009 at 8:25 pm

    @Comrade Dread: But the aspect I see left out is – what happens if you buck The Man.
    This deference to authority is larger than just indoctrination, it’s also about having something left to lose. That’s what they’ve done. They’ve set up a system where if you cross The Man and get arrested or otherwise flagged you can’t be gainfully employed above the service level. You’re done.
    And let’s face it, they can arrest you for protesting anything in a public space. Anything.
    If you’re a parent? You could lose your child.
    Lose your job, lose your healthcare, lose your pension, lose your house, lose your friends, lose your middle class life.
    There’s still something to lose, and that’s what they are counting on.

  60. 60.

    Stooleo

    October 6, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    What, You all don’t like financing Wall Street with your 401ks, so they can leverage it 300X to buy shitty mortgages, repackage them and resell them to pension funds at huge profits? All of this with the tacit approval of the rating companies (Moodys, S&P and Fitch). Well Sir, I am forced to ask, why do you hate America?

  61. 61.

    slag

    October 6, 2009 at 8:29 pm

    Fuck it all.

    Indeed.

    What @Snark Based Reality said.

  62. 62.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 6, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    They’ve set up a system where if you cross The Man and get arrested or otherwise flagged you can’t be gainfully employed above the service level. You’re done.

    Very well put, which is why I always promote the ability to comment anonymously, since there are huge paybacks for bucking the system. In a day and age when we don’t all grow our own food, bucking the system can mean huge economic repercussions.

  63. 63.

    LD50

    October 6, 2009 at 8:41 pm

    In the last two years, Pepsi has given $500,000 to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and $500,000 to the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The $1,000,000 was to be used to help promote homosexuality in the workplace. Pepsi refuses to give money to any pro-family organization that opposes the homosexual agenda.

    Dang! A shame Pepsi tastes like shit and I don’t drink soda anymore anyway.

    Oh well, here’s another boycott for little Makewi, I suppose.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    October 6, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    @aimai:
    Is my Déjà vu meter pegged for a reason? Did you post this somewhere else, like your blog at some time in the recent past?
    I swear that I’ve read this before, and thought it was on the money then. And I haven’t changed that view. And it is the definition of weird.

  65. 65.

    geg6

    October 6, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    Comrade Dread: I agree with every word you just said. And now I think I’ll go cut my wrists. Because we are so fucked.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    October 6, 2009 at 8:48 pm

    Tks.@aimai:
    So I see it was all Taibbi. Déjà vu meter back to normal.

  67. 67.

    Ruckus

    October 6, 2009 at 8:55 pm

    @Corner Stone:
    This.Is.It.
    It is what power always counts on. Not just control, but putting one in position to control themselves, because anything else is financial/lifestyle suicide.

  68. 68.

    Makewi

    October 6, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    @John Cole:

    I guess you don’t even read your own site? It’s you who is pointing out the one party in Congress who is “protecting” insurance companies, not me. You know I’m right. You have the perfect storm, the once in a lifetime golden opportunity, and you are doing nothing but bitch about the other team.

  69. 69.

    Makewi

    October 6, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    I fully expect them to get back power and finish the job of taking this country down for none other reason than to afford the opportunity to reshape it to the Corporate Theocracy they crave. And the peasants be damned.

    Ah, you think that the Democrats aren’t complicit in this.

  70. 70.

    Makewi

    October 6, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    @LD50:

    I have nothing against gay people. I’ve known and been friends with them my whole life. So the problem here is you, who apparently needs to group everyone into your neat little predefined boxes so you can despise without having to deal with the reality of individuality.

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    October 6, 2009 at 9:28 pm

    @Makewi:

    Ah, you think that the Democrats aren’t complicit in this.

    So what is your position here? That the D’s are just as corrupt and bad? The R’s are out of power and should not be held to the spotlight?
    Partisan rancor allows the true culprits to hide in the shadows? Everyone’s guilty?
    What do you argue for, or suggest beyond some quasi-even-steven-culpability?
    What do you say?

  72. 72.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 9:39 pm

    @Makewi:

    Some went along, but they weren’t driving it. It was laissez-faire, the market will regulate itself,. Boilerplate conservative economic theory launched by Ronnie Raygun to Phil Gramm and the repeal of S-G and making derivative trading a free for all. Then Bush and his kinder gentler SEC and the rest is sad history. And don’t try that equivilence crap because a few dems voted with the wingnuts. It doesn’t fly here.

    It’s the GOP’s brilliant brain farts that crumbled the economy. No two ways about it.

  73. 73.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 9:40 pm

    should be Glass-Steagall

  74. 74.

    Scott Rock

    October 6, 2009 at 9:40 pm

    @Corner Stone: Don’t bother. To paraphrase the news: it’s like debating a pyromaniac in a straw man factory.

  75. 75.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    @Makewi:

    So the problem here is you, who apparently needs to group everyone into your neat little predefined boxes so you can despise without having to deal with the reality of individuality.

    In the words of esteemed wingnut Frank Burns. Individuality is great, long as we all do it together.

    And from another great prophet of the right, You help a terrorist, you are a terrorist. Short version.

  76. 76.

    Egypt Steve

    October 6, 2009 at 9:49 pm

    Jesus fuck, what an appalling story — but yo, isn’t this exactly what Dennis Kozlowski got sent up for?? Why aren’t these corporate looters doing hard time???

  77. 77.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    @Makewi:

    You are right that a handful of dems may well be protecting the insurance companies, or that come from red states and have fear of the tea bagging crowd. But they are dems, and when the witching hour comes for voting, they will remember who butters their bread the most, and that is the dem party.

    And if one or two weak dems happen to bring down the numero uno issue for the party, they had better just go ahead and switch to the goopers, cause a hard rain is going to fall on their heads.

    And Cole is also right that one party to a man or woman is , and has been protecting insurance companies and seedy business practices in general. And that party is the GOP.

  78. 78.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 9:54 pm

    @Scott Rock:

    it’s like debating a pyromaniac in a straw man factory.

    Sometimes a little fire is good for the soul.

  79. 79.

    Corner Stone

    October 6, 2009 at 10:01 pm

    @Scott Rock: I get that. But Troy is playing Mid TN so I got nothing else going on. I’ve been considering what level of attracted to I am regarding Speaker Pelosi. So I think it’s time for a break.
    And FSM help me, but this one is at least more coherent than BoB.

  80. 80.

    Makewi

    October 6, 2009 at 10:03 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    First, yes in matters of business and regulation the modern Democrat is the same as the modern Republican. The Democrat may talk a good game, but at the end of the day the same pockets will get lined.

    Second, yes the GOP is out of power and so the time to move forward with the Dem agenda is now. Things could be being changed, fixed, modified, but instead we are being treated to another rendition of “look how much the right sucks”. But so what if they do, they are irrelevant now. If you can’t effect change while you own the entire government, you never will.
    It’s a losing proposition in any case to continue to harp on the right, as the public knows who they put in power.

    Lastly, yes the feet to be held to the fire right now are those of the Dems. They are the current vehicle for change. Don’t like what’s happening with the continued cheating on Wall Street, talk to the people in power? Don’t like that FDIC is about to go tits up, talk to the people in power. Don’t like so many uninsured or under insured, you know the drill.

  81. 81.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 6, 2009 at 10:31 pm

    @Makewi:

    It’s a losing proposition in any case to continue to harp on the right

    But it’s fun, and snakes can grow new tails. This new concern troll mode Scarlett, may show some promise for you. You should try it out over at Protein Wisdom. I’m sure JD, Dareleen and the braintrust would soak up your new gospel since they have renounced Bush and the GOP for a more enlightened Classical Libertine ideology. You could start a new movement or something. The bad news is, we don’t care for your pompous blatherings.

  82. 82.

    Corner Stone

    October 6, 2009 at 10:32 pm

    @Makewi: Let’s agree I stip to all this. Do you have something further to say? Or is it just, “Don’t blame the R’s for the last 8 years”?

  83. 83.

    Chuck Butcher

    October 6, 2009 at 10:36 pm

    @Makewi:

    Lastly, yes the feet to be held to the fire right now are those of the Dems. They are the current vehicle for change. Don’t like what’s happening with the continued cheating on Wall Street, talk to the people in power? Don’t like that FDIC is about to go tits up, talk to the people in power. Don’t like so many uninsured or under insured, you know the drill.

    Do you also snow ski in the nude? I ask because publicly parading that level of stupidity ain’t a good idea. You will get mocked for ignoring that the Senate is locked into a 60 vote closure and your pack of nitwits can’t find one or two to vote to close debate. Read that again asshole – not fucking one.

    You figure the (D)s are gonna fix 30 years of your shit legislation and propaganda in 8 months? You expect that in the face of that pack of hyenas unilateral opposition? Opposition that is base on what part of what is good for the nation when you don’t even have to play little games with the numbers to show the bankruptcy of their agenda?

    You wonder about the fury? After you stick a fork in my eye and tell me it’s my fault I’m supposed to react with sweetness and kiss your ass? Your pack walks out with blatant lies to scare the shit out of the public and that’s supposed to somehow fall to the (D)’s responsibility?

    You are a textbook passive/aggressive ass and nobody around here or anyone with two functioning brain cells that talk to each other will take you seriously other than as a target for mockery. It’s my fault I didn’t clean up your mess ‘toot-sweet.”

    John,
    we need a better class of concern trolls…

  84. 84.

    LD50

    October 6, 2009 at 11:32 pm

    I have nothing against gay people. I’ve known and been friends with them my whole life. So the problem here is you, who apparently needs to group everyone into your neat little predefined boxes so you can despise without having to deal with the reality of individuality.

    And yet you slavishly support a political party who demonizes them. You’re right, you’re far more mature and moral than me. Can you ever forgive me?

  85. 85.

    Makewi

    October 7, 2009 at 4:04 am

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Please, while you try to hide your feelings it is increasingly clear you are totally in love with me. It is kind of funny how you need to make up stories about what I’m doing in order to better understand it. To each his own.

  86. 86.

    Makewi

    October 7, 2009 at 4:06 am

    @Chuck Butcher:

    I’m not a Republican, but it is sweet how you slavishly stick to the “it’s not my fault” script. A real team player you are.

  87. 87.

    Makewi

    October 7, 2009 at 4:08 am

    @LD50:

    You are confused about the world, which makes you lash out. It’s ok, some day maybe you will grow up and learn to deal with people less as a child would, and more as a responsible adult would. Or not. Probably not, but we can always hope.

  88. 88.

    General Winfield Stuck

    October 7, 2009 at 9:08 am

    @Makewi:

    I’m not a Republican,

    That’s what all the wingnuts say these days.

  89. 89.

    LD50

    October 7, 2009 at 9:34 am

    @General Winfield Stuck: Let me guess: Makewi spent the last 8 years blasting Bush some place where none of us could hear her, and supporting Ron Paul.

  90. 90.

    LD50

    October 7, 2009 at 9:35 am

    @Makewi: And perhaps some day you’ll quit being a hypocritical patronizing liar. Or not. Probably not, but we can always hope.

  91. 91.

    Makewi

    October 7, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    You and LD50 both have deep, rich fantasy lives. It’s just a shame they happen to be so dark.

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