The Fleecing Continues.

At this juncture I'm not entirely sure what the point is of continuing to chronicle government malfeasance and mendacity as it pertains to the devastated financial realm. There are plenty of blogs, some of which I have listed on this site, that do an excellent job of keeping tabs on the ongoing financial horror show, so one more voice, i.e. mine, probably isn't exactly necessary. The pity is that the diligent reportage of other bloggers, who have substantially more expertise than I, seems to have had no appreciable effect on public policy. I think the primary value provided by those writing on financial matters, whether they be name or no name authors, has been to instill some small number of the populace with the confidence to take the necessary steps to avoid having their life savings wiped out. This is no small matter, and while the job of stewarding folks away from the financial abyss is most commendable, my efforts, at least where this blog is concerned, will be increasingly towards awakening in my readers a revolutionary spirit, particularly where their government is concerned.

Yes, that's right, from this day forward, I'm here to agitate for a "REAL CHANGE" not "change you can believe in." For that matter, forget the word believe. I don't want people to have to resort to the con artistry of faith, I want people to KNOW that the sort of change they had in mind when they voted is real and not some facade erected to bamboozle them. That said, President Obama's brand of change is no change at all. I know many of us who voted for Barack Obama may not want to believe that, but, lamentably, it's true. How do I know he's a con? I know because of who he has surrounded himself with, particularly with respect to his economic team, but the evidence hardly ends there.

But let me take this beyond the disappointment of the sitting President, because the issue transcends the Commander in Chief. It more properly rests with the the Democrats and Republicans, a two headed hydra that has confounded genuine reform and progress now for generations. The cavalcade of professional politicians that make up the vast majority of membership in both parties are in thrall to corporate interests to a degree that can not be addressed without severe upheaval. For those of you who have tried to effectuate change through traditional means, i.e. voting, personal visits, letters, faxes, e-mails, petitions, and on and on, it should be apparent by now that those methods are largely ineffective. To that end, despite enormous numbers of well argued good faith appeals from the citizenry, government's handling of the banking crisis, if that is indeed all it is, has been unconscionable. Regrettably the corruption in government is so deep and pervasive that to truly address our present predicament to the degree required would expose levels of corruption that would likely destroy governments ability to, well, govern.

This is why AIG and the rest of the financial malefactors are not dealt with as they ought to be. I believe that the legislature and the executive know that to fully do so would reveal shocking levels of corruption that would likely send even the most sleepy members of the citizenry into the streets with a frightening sense of purpose and resolve. So, instead of hard nosed and constructive reform, we have, instead, initiatives that do little but maintain things as they are via a haze of misinformation and obfuscation. Our government and its leaders are akin to the Wizard of Oz, a character who was widely thought to be a benevolent if fearsome potentate, but who was, in reality, nothing more than a wily, pot bellied, middle aged grifter. My dear readers, it is time to take down the Wizard.