Archive for February, 2009

Here are two thoughts.

Take for example, the 30 top venture capital (hence to be called vulture capital) firms which manipulated the oil market and extracted trillions of dollars from the economy.  These top vultures paid themselves an average of $877 million for last year’s evil deeds alone.  That is over 30,000 times what the average American worker makes annually.  Yet these men put their pants on one leg at a time.

If we took just last year’s ill-gotten gains back from the dirty-thirty, allowing them to feel the pain the rest of the nation and world is feeling for just a second, we recapture $26 billion.

 Well, we just financed national healthcare and the 30 vulture donors won’t even notice the dip in their cash accounts.

 Or take the Merrill Lynch (should be lynched) top executives who paid themselves $120 million in bonuses on top of salary for last year  They took this money as fair compensation for losing billions upon billions of shareholder and depositor equity.  So we take that back and give one million people $120.  That’s one million people who are $120 happier and 4 vultures miss their bonus meal.

Think these moves would lift some spirits?  It would put an instant smile on a million people, and a sad face on 34. The rest of the country gets free healthcare for a year. You still get to go to your own doctor, and you can move ahead with the stuff you’ve been postponing for years; and when you’re all shaped up the government gets the bill. You think that would make a few people happy?

Of course this is all a pipe dream.

The local, state and mostly federal revenuers usually confiscate first and ask questions later when crimes are suspected. But not when these suspects (“gentlemen”) step out of stretch limos in Armani suits.  Then they bend over and kiss these “gentlemen’s” rings and take the fragrant grease

All kidding aside, if we did punish the real criminals for a change, I mean the really bad guys. the ones who are ruining lives by the millions I think the whole world would applaud.  Confidence would be restored in American leadership, money would pour back into the system, and we would be on our way to a full recovery.

It would appear that President Obama’s detractors

have found a very tiny target indeed.  So far they have

proven him human; he can make mistakes after all. 

But for this country he is like Don Quixote riding

Rocinante to the rescue.

We managed, despite incredible odds, to overthrow

the oligarchy and we elected a noble idealist. A great

president in time of great need  The people have spoken.

IMHO we are the most optimistic and forward

thinking nation on the planet today as a result of our

spectacular election process and result.

If we can keep the detractors away for another day,

optimism will again sweep the nation.  By spending

money on ourselves we help stem the hemorrhage of

cash moving abroad. For my money I would prefer one

or more universities and schools per state in our country

to a 700 million dollar pile of  rocks in the middle of a

foreign desert!

A few more good moves and we are on our way.

Instead of all our money going to the biggest greediest

gangsters in the world we may all get to share a little

more.  If we squeeze these crooks back by demanding

our government tax obscene profits which, coincidentally,

were a major contributor to the world financial meltdown, 

we can get that money back and spread it around

where will actually do more good than harm.