The New Propaganda

I know that it is rather off-putting when, in the opening of an essay, the author begins at screaming level, with the emotional volume already on "10". I usually don't want to read on when that occurs, as the thought process tends to degenerate quickly.

In order to avoid that, I will say, as simply and as dispassionately as I can, that bankers and their political lap dogs have coined a new batch of phrases and terms that are designed to take your money and make it their money.

Barack's New Deal is quickly being wrapped in Bankers' New Bullshit.

The first term that I will present for your inspection is "toxic assets".

It is not unlike the old George Carlin "flammable/inflammable" routine. One is simply never certain what it means, so the usual decision is to let someone else handle it. Toxins are bad, so they must go, of course. The banks have "toxic assets" on their books, and for the banks to be healthy and for all of us to be happy and prosperous again the banks need to purge those toxins from their books. Mind you, these toxins are disguised as ASSETS, so we may infer that they are wily by nature, and the poor banks need assistance with this process, lest they be POISONED BY THE TOXIC ASSETS!!! SOUND THE ALARM, TO ARMS, CITIZENS, TO ARMS!!!

Slow down, Jasper, it's getting fragrant already.

Allow me to peel the layers of this particular onion. What is actually happening is that the bankers and the investors in the banks, some of whom include the bankers themselves by way of stock options, have screwed up to a fantabulous degree. They have pissed right thru the federal diaper that you and your kids and your kids' kids will pay for, for years and years and years to come. The bankers have made bad loans, ridiculously bad loans in many cases, and they want you to give them money to make the boo-boos better. You, taxpayer, give them more money, and at a time when they, the banks, have the whole goddammed country financially constipated because they aren't lending to anyone.

A little closer attention here to the term "toxic asset". This is so absurd that it would be cool, in a way, and if we didn't have to pay for it. It is elegant in its simplicity, as are many great swindles. Go back to junior high math to understand: a negative ("toxic") times a positive ("asset") is a negative. Unfortunately for the bankers/hucksters, bullshit is not arithmetic.

That allows us to consider the second popular term of the day "private participation will be required".

Bite me, banker boys.

In my business, when we screw up, we fix the screw up--at our cost. Screw up too many times and someone takes your place. It's basic Darwinism.

Our governmental units have become accustomed to "private participation" by raising taxes to cover their screw-ups: doing crappy stadium deals, financing ridiculous bad investments with public money, running inefficient governmental services, creating programs that bleed money endlessly instead of attempting to create solutions.

So beware, folks, when the new stewards of bullshit, the bankers, begin to inform us that "private participation will be required", what the are saying is that their political buddies are coming for your wallet, to make some more of your money their money.

That is where we began this quiet rant, so it would appear that we have come full circle.

That is all.