Uh oh.
I couldn’t bite my tongue. Last night, I briefly watched (God forbid) a clip on CNN about the Big 3Detroit auto CEO’s who had marched, hat in hand, to capitol hill to lay claim to their piece of the bailout pie. The segment I watched was showing various clips of the senators speaking to these nutty Big 3 CEOs. During the middle of the segment I leapt out of my chair and launched on a tirade that would have been better saved for rallying a bunch of guys to throw tea into Boston Harbor.
Now, the content of CNN segment will soon (if it is not already) be famous. Can you guess what it is? Actually, you can read the whole story here. The gist is this: the Big 3 CEO’s traveled to Washington D.C in private jets to ask for federal bailout money for their companies. Of course, the symbolism of this is that the executives of the auto companies still have their heads in outer space, are out of touch with reality and, therefore, giving their companies money would be putting good money after bad.
This doesn’t seem like such an illogical conclusion, does it? Oh, the hipocracy of it all!
Wait for it…YES, ELIZABETH, THIS IS THE BIG ONE!!
Now, Politicians completely divorced from reality is not something new. But, in this case, they may be even more “Cuckhoo for Cocoa Puffs” than the Big 3 CEO’s.
How about the fact that we, as American taxpayers essentially gave the pols in Washington a multi-trillion dollar checkbook that they have effectively messed up beyond belief and comprehension (can anyone figure out the tax code or the medicare thing?) The senators on the panel yesterday essentially screamed and railed against the audacity of the CEO’s to arrive on private jets and ask for federal bailout money for their companies.
Uh, excuse me Senators, but how well do you travel? How many perks do you enjoy on the taxpayer dollar? How much are you feeling the recent economic downturn your constituents are dealing with?
My guess is, Senators, that you travel well. Since the median net worth of a U.S. Senator is $1.7 million (read more here at OpenSecrets.org, I am guessing that you aren’t feeling the ‘recession’ as much as your constituents. I have to hand it to you, though, Senators, for it was a fine performance for the cameras. You are “fighting for responsibility” and don’t want “these auto companies to come back here in 6 months again asking for more money so you can just fly your private jet home to your palace of gold!”
Never mind, Senators, the $700 or so billion that will need to be printed like monopoly money to “fix” the financial system that teetered on the brink a few short weeks ago. I think there is enough pork in that bill to cost you the vote of the animal rights lobby.
Senators, you act like the trade and budget decisions you have collectively made have had no impact on U.S. industry or jobs. Yes, I guess you are free to choose when to use “fuzzy logic” and when no to. Just as long as it fits.
Let me make sure I understand you, Senators: it is OK to have an insane farm subsidy program for decades and light fire under Government Sponsored Entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to fuel a housing boom (and, by the way none of these industries have rich CEOs that travel on their own planes- wink). But, these auto companies, hey “we’ve got to be responsible here.” Uh-huh.
So, who wins in all of this you might be asking? Many things are zero sum - somebody wins, somebody loses, so…drumroll please….
And the award for the biggest sucker holding the bag goes to…The American Taxpayer!
Tell them what they’ve won, Johhny!
We’ll Ted, The American Taxpayer has won an all expenses paid trip into the bondage of debt for the better part of eternity! **Applause** That’s right. Not only will working men and women be in indentured servitude for their existence on earth, but future generations will also be eligible for the same lifetime benefit! It’s a total prize package value of over $100,000,000,000,000.00!!! **Applause**
