If you have any doubts about the rich and powerful taking over the political systems of not only America but the whole world, the front page of the NY Times on Monday Dec. 3rd will surely put them to rest.
Two stories, one worst than the other dominate. The first is about UBS settling an action against them by American and British authorities for $450 million. The story doesn’t say which authorities are bringing the suit but one has to assume that they are government authorities. What did UBS do to gather such scrutiny from government officials in two countries? Actually that’s not important. What’s important is that no one is going to jail. This settlement, the largest in history for an offending bank, in itself indicates that some pretty impressive thievery was going on. But no one is going to jail.
Some poor clown steals a carton of steaks from a loading dock or gets caught with two ounces of grass and he goes to jail but the corporate thieves, the serious thieves, the thieves who steal billions, they get off with a fine that doesn’t amount to what they have stolen. What does that mean? It means that even though these rotten bastards got caught, they still made a profit and nobody went to jail so why shouldn’t they do it again? They’d be stupid not to, especially because no one goes to jail.
Isn’t it time for Eric Holder to stop playing with himself? Isn’t it time for him to stop pushing a totally failed war on drugs and try to do something constructive about the real crooks in this world? What the hell is the matter with our government? In the late eighties we sent 800 bankers to jail over the mess they caused then. Now with the biggest, most dishonest, attack on the American economy by twisted bankers, mortgage company executives, stock brokers and hedge fund operators, not one single thief has gone to jail.
Bank of America has had hundreds of actions against it and no one has gone to jail. Bradley Manning, a guy who was trying to do the right thing is going to serve time but none of these cooperate thieves will see the inside of a cell.
Barack Obama, you’re not going to run again. It’s time to throw the corporate thieves to the wolves. You don’t need their money any more. It’s time to do the right thing for the American people. Dump Holder and hire someone with some balls to prosecute the men who are stealing billions from Americans. Stand up on our hind legs and be a man.
And that’s only half of it. Down in Texas, where the oil barons run the state and Rick Perry, quite possibly the dumbest governor in the country, walks around saying “I’se de lawd,” the state is giving away over $19 billion a year in tax breaks to big companies that don’t really need them but sure love the profits they lead to.
Perry and the Exxon Mobile and Neiman Marcus types that tell him what to do, will be quick to tell you that the result of these tax breaks is that Texas has the highest job creation rate in the country. What they don’t tell you is that this is all non-union work and that the state is 3rd highest in the nation in hourly jobs at or below minimum wage. What they also don’t mention is that the state has the 11th highest poverty rate in the country despite all the corporate largess being doled out by the state. Sure corporate America is heading for the Rio Grande, the state pours on all the tax breaks they need and allows them to screw their workers like no where else in the free world. Welcome to the United States of the Congo, a place where, “Hook ‘em horns,” has a meaning far outside the parameters of football.
The Democrats may have won the election but it’s going to be a long hard fight to get corporate America’s teeth loose from our juggler.