Hemingway: I am getting to know the rich.
Mary Colum: I think you’ll find the only difference between the rich and other people is that the rich have more money. After the market crash of 1929, there were regulations put in place to remedy a situation where the gap between rich and poor had become too great. Also, to avoid another huge market correction, or the "boom bust" cycle that was the roller-coaster ride that had been western capitalism since the mid 19th century, the rules were implemented to make sure people "played fair". As the 1980s began, each and every one of these regulations was repealed so that by the mid "oughts" of the 21st century, the playing field returned to it's 1929 rules. And the same thing happened again. CRASH KE-BANG
In the dirty 30s, the new deal introduced the above-mentioned rules. The Rich were blamed for the mess and were asked to pony-up money to get things moving. But in 2009 and after, it seemed the last bastion of the middle class was to blame. My anaology has always been this: The company shows a profit of 12 cookies. The CEO takes 11 1/2 of them. With cookie crumbs falling out of his mouth he points to the plant manager and warns him that greedy union rep wants too much of that half cookie. I call the modern CEO part of the uber-greedy.
Obama came in to change this. He didn't.
That the Mitts and Newts of the world don't need a fraction of what they have is a given. That they grab all they can and tell the poor they have to make do with less is predictable. The rich may think they are different, but they really do just have more money. What boils my potato is the mass agreement that has been there: that somehow it is the fellow with 3 cookie crumbs who has to give 2 of them back, to make things right. In this once great country, we elected Harper who is a cookie monster. Almost one one in three Canadians voted for him as they swallowed his story that the role of government is to get rid of as many rules as possible - because, as you see, THAT is what is making the game unfair. We all know a good hockey game would have no refs at all and if teeth and bones are smashed, that's just the way it should be!!!
I watched the 1951 "A Christmas Carol" recently, well actually right around Christmas of course, and Scrooge would be to the left of half of the right-wingers, and that is BEFORE the ghosts!
I think now it is becoming too obvious to ignore the fact that the system is broken. I am not so much of a hippie that I think "all rules are bad, man!". I have always objected to rules that were there for no reason, rules that do not work, or rules that are unfair. But well-thought rules are not simply desirable, they are essential.
The occupy movements are too broad and unfocused. But at least they are a welcome start. But how can we translate that into votes?
Thomas.
