True Values

The financial crisis has given us a powerful lesson on the true values of the American establishment. We have been deluged with propaganda on the need for American taxpayers to spend $700 billion to bail out Wall Street. This shows capitalists don’t care about "free market" economics.

In 2005, we were subjected to a similar deluge of propaganda about Social Security. The conservatives, citing projections that Social Security taxes will no longer exceed expenditures in 2018, were trying to divert Social Security funds to their Wall Street cronies. That attempt failed, but last week they succeeded in a different money grab.

Americans face many other problems: 40 million Americans lack health insurance, our bridges are crumbling, executives earn 8 figure bonuses for sending good paying jobs overseas, college is unaffordable for many. None of these problems, which directly impact the quality of life for ordinary Americans, inspires urgent action. Only when the Wall Street crybabies might have to experience what they have been inflicting on the rest of us all these years, does our government (with Treasury Secretary on temporary assignment from Goldman Sachs) show any urgency, writing a check for $700 billion with no strings attached.