I read Bob Herbert's column in the Times today-which once again expresses his continuing disgust with Wall Street and the way our financial system is rigged to protect the most wealthy-in the same way I read all of Bob Herbert's columns: in a detached, world-weary, "yeah, whatever, hippie" mood. "I'm amazed at how passive the population has remained in the face of this sustained outrage," writes Bob, and my immediate reaction is, really, you are? We hate poor people in this country and venerate the most obscene exemplars of greed. We've spent the last thirty years being stunned into a stupor of consumption and impossible dreams of our own potential wealth. You really think there's going to be some kind of uprising?
Then I read the paper's front-pager on the reluctance of certain Wall Street entities to attend a fundraiser for President Obama. This quote jumped out at me:
Dr. Daniel E. Fass, another chairman of the event who lives surrounded by financiers in Greenwich, Conn., said: "The investment community feels very put-upon. They feel there is no reason why they shouldn't earn $1 million to $200 million a year, and they don't want to be held responsible for the global financial meltdown."And you know what? I can sort of see Bob's point. I mean, I'm not getting off my own well-padded ass to do anything about it, but he's not wrong.
Our outrage circuit is overloaded. You can't sustain the level of outrage justified by these people for more than a week without having an aneurysm.
A co-worker handed me a catalogue called The Tender Filet the other day. It's devoted entirely to fancy cuts of meat.
Sometimes I think we got the recession we deserved.
(You guys. The Tender Filet. I MEAN.)
We also got the steaks we deserve
http://www.trumpsteaks.com/
This topic was ripe for satire four years ago! And things have only gotten more outrageous! http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30624
I have stayed awake at night imagining myself standing on the side of a busy street holding a picket sign saying that the STILL unregulated Banking Industry has stolen everything I've worked for my whole life. I feel that if I do that, although most people would agree with my anger and secretly want to join in, they would consider me the town loon.
Balk, you're being too cool. So Herbert nails the same subject on occasion; doesn't me it's dull, or justifies your moderate condescension.
If Wall Street takes all the money, then there's not much left for anyone else. Money is finite, actually.
They lit the fuse; I stand confused.
Seems to me that outrage keeps bumping up against detachment, at least among the smarts. Is it detachment? Sometimes it almost feels like disdain.
It's the poverty should make people angry, not the wealth. Tax the greedy bastards quite a bit more and built Jerusalem with the proceeds if you think you can make that work, but why be angry at investors (for doing a job you wouldn't want to do -- for enthusiastically devoting their lives to activities that are actually unworthy of the energies of a freeborn person)?
Unless, of course, the rage is just envy. If envy is good (and if the lives of these Greenwich types in their absurd little ghettos are proper objects of envy), then I take back everything I said.
I was just thinking I was in the wrong line of work. Rich, entitled, whiny and irresponsible? Who doesn't want that?
Emotions are so uncool, man. Just, like, be more, whatever, or whatever. That's how I deal, or something.
It continues to amaze me how well certain people have been sold on the aspirational quality of modern-day capitalism, to the point where they accept injustice upon injustice with nary a peep. The Tea Party/Birthers/Deathers/Whateverers might make actually make a difference with their misplaced rage and paranoia, if they started showing up on Wall Street armed to the teeth and harassing the investment bankers every day.
The real problem: what to do. It all seems out of the hands of the voters at this point. How do you get rid of all the Goldman people in Obama's government? I don't have a clue.
Stop paying them.
What if, say, everyone agreed to stop paying off credit cards and stop using them?
Right now, that might bring some weak banks down.
Unless they agreed to terms that were no longer so astoundingly one-sided.
(Otherwise, if you live in NY, wait for Albany to solve it!)