AIG's roll of top payouts reads like a places-to-hit list for a peoples' vigilante outfit fixin' to make some serious mass arrests.
"Financial companies that received multibillion-dollar payments owed by A.I.G. include Goldman Sachs ($12.9 billion), Merrill Lynch ($6.8 billion), Bank of America ($5.2 billion), Citigroup ($2.3 billion) and Wachovia ($1.5 billion).Tar and feathers, anyone?Big foreign banks also received large sums from the rescue, including Société Générale of France and Deutsche Bank of Germany, which each received nearly $12 billion; Barclays of Britain ($8.5 billion); and UBS of Switzerland ($5 billion)."
I wonder -- will that, and the near-simultaneous revelation of maybe a billion in bonuses sliding out to various crack AIG team leaders, cause an actual congressional convulsion, not just the usual damp-squib sputter, dutifully amped-up by our fair and balanced media?
Of course, there's a bit of a problem lurking beyond the amusement-park aspect:
The Obama recovery plan will need another huge injection soon -- prolly another trillion or so. Yet polls indicate the asshole innocent wage-earning votin' weeblery have grown exceedingly restless.
So maybe any more is way way too much. I can easily imagine a sudden conservative congo majority rising up, moving from both sides to the center aisle and shouting down Pennsylvania Avenue --
"No mas, Obie, no mas! We must end this insanity! After trillions down the Wall Street rathole... No mas!"
Comments (14)
Did you catch the latest poll on baseline attitudes about class? It ain't pretty, and might suggest a "no mas" backlash is indeed possible:
http://www.economicmobility.org/poll2009
Posted by Michael Dawson | March 16, 2009 11:57 PM
Posted on March 16, 2009 23:57
The Democrats, bless their hearts, have an unenviable knack for the ugliest forms of sabotage. They're going to kill any chance that the already malevolent trickle-down rescue plan ever get to the stage where enough of it trickles down to make a difference. They're going to beautiful-lose their way into a nightmare of economic disaster.
Posted by Al Schumann | March 17, 2009 1:32 AM
Posted on March 17, 2009 01:32
A headline today, somewhere, reads "Bonuses for AIG, Cut-backs for Autoworkers". Richard Estes at American Leftist has been talking for months about the "sub-proletarianizing" of the American worker.
Back in the fifties, a GM CEO said "what's good for GM is good for America." We use to laugh at this as the height of small-minded reationary smugness. Now, apparently, it's the central philosophy of both political parties -- "what's good for banks is good for America."
This is a fantastic leap into fascist thinking, where business and its agents in government come before the people.
Posted by seneca | March 17, 2009 11:50 AM
Posted on March 17, 2009 11:50
Seneca, I think the right label is "market totalitarianism," not fascism. If you go back and read the classics on state totalitarianism, our system has all the hallmarks -- intentional domination over all three spheres of life (state, economy, personal), minute elite management of people's thoughts and habits, extreme ideology, use of fear as a primary motivator -- in spades. The only difference is that the sphere from which the totalitarianism emanates is the economy, not the state.
The "market" version works far better than the state version ever could, too, because it's both competitively applied/advanced, and also highly deniable, due to the lack of a central Politburo or Reich.
That a vector of the system like Obama can pass himself off as a challenger is one hallmark of the superior strength of MT v. ST.
Of course, none of this means they aren't in a vast amount of trouble, not least because their own ideology is obviously blocking their executive committee members from acknowledging the Keynesian nature of the crisis. Admitting such can't reach the table, because it would threaten to blast open the whole shebang. Hitler couldn't permit dialogue on race; our dictators can't admit that classes exist and, when they win, tend to over-reach.
Posted by Michael Dawson | March 17, 2009 1:30 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 13:30
I think power takes different forms to meet different situations and it happens that the "private" form works best in this case (or used to). But besides the State you've had the Church as well. I'm not sure how "deniable" private power is at this stage, it seems like it's role has become overt even if much confusion remains over the particulars.
Posted by Peter Ward | March 17, 2009 3:17 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 15:17
not related
but who among u has a web site
besides herr dawson ???
i'd like to visit
btw md
i visit yours
but i can't figure out how to comment
high praise coming ...
i feel like i'm on acid there
father's plain of aspect
melodian of a site
i know
suits my own parson brown aspect
to a T
but if i were
a red pimp
---and lordy i sure do wish i was---
i'd want me a site like yours
a jiggering carnival
of
venal lefticulated attractions
Posted by op | March 17, 2009 4:44 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 16:44
Op-san, there's supposed to be something called JS-Kit at work, triggered by clicking the "comment" bit that lies at the foot of each message.
I just put this in and have been getting even fewer comments than usual, so I'd be much obliged if you could report what goes haywire. Or is the whole thing just too small to meet the eye?
Posted by Michael Dawson | March 17, 2009 4:56 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 16:56
P-Dub, I agree that private power's getting somewhat less deniable than it has been. But check this out, in case you wonder how far we would-be accusers still have to go:
http://www.economicmobility.org/poll2009
If there were a Kremlin of shareholders, is there any doubt it would presently be under siege?
Posted by Michael Dawson | March 17, 2009 5:00 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 17:00
Michael: thanks for the correction; you're right that we are not yet at the politically-led form of fascism. However, market totalitarianism could be mistaken for, I dont know, too many superbowl programs. I still like the "f" word because it gets people pissed off at you, which is the first phase of consciousness-raising.
I'll check out your website, too.
Posted by seneca | March 17, 2009 6:14 PM
Posted on March 17, 2009 18:14
This whole big tent bounus biz proves how rewarding higher education can be.
Posted by Son of Uncle Sam | March 18, 2009 2:49 PM
Posted on March 18, 2009 14:49
Big bounuses just prove how rewarding higher education is.
Posted by Son of Uncle Sam | March 18, 2009 2:52 PM
Posted on March 18, 2009 14:52
And I'll say it again if I have to "Stay in School"
Posted by Son of Uncle Sam | March 18, 2009 2:54 PM
Posted on March 18, 2009 14:54
that's my boy sammy
if
they can't think in diffy q's
then
bite the ignorant fucks in the ass
Posted by op | March 18, 2009 4:22 PM
Posted on March 18, 2009 16:22
- no lateral collateral w/ Candy and a front man- just git em' all over a barrell
Posted by Son of Uncle Sam | March 18, 2009 6:53 PM
Posted on March 18, 2009 18:53