[quote=equalizer][quote=Russell]For decades now our country looks like a terrible reality show called “Battle of the Welfare Queens”. The contestants are racketeers, pimps and prostitutes, who have to put bribes and arrange or pull tricks, to see who gets hit by the pain train and who gets hit by a delicious cream puff. The studio audience gets splattered with blood while the try to catch frosting.[/quote]
You just stay away from my cream puffs!
Tom Keene at Bloomberg Radio had a great discussion with a expert panel on How to Fix the Economy.
Panelists: Yale University professor Robert J. Shiller, Peter R. Orszag, former Salomon Brothers Managing Director Henry Kaufman, Professor Charles W. Calomiris, and Pimco Managing Director William H. Gross
Schiller is the lone outsider with no agenda and has summed up the mood of the country. He views may appear a tad idealistic, but he correctly identified the two bubbles of the last decade.
Shiller: “There are many dimensions to trying to restore confidence. A plan to reduce the national debt is a relatively small part of it at this point. The really big thing is, people are very upset. They feel that the country is not theirs, and that a small group of wealthy people who get bailed out and bribe the government are in charge.”
Not everyone can have cream puffs![/quote]
Of course there are omissions in the description I provide. The arbitrators of the game who gives orders to the pain train conductor and the cream puff launcher are certainly corrupt . I think the point stands that those qualified to play, rather than merely be members of the studio audience are at least pathologically, intellectually dishonest if not twisted with greed. I think this is why our country is not ours and it is not just the uber rich that are represented in the game. Focusing on that just makes it an argument over whether trickle down works or not…simply choosing the “established middle class” contestants to be the cream puff queens,without regard to honesty,integrity, quality and value added blah blah blah, has never, in my opinion, been much different…..the greed and entitlement is still there. I think whether or not the game can go on is in question. Can we build trains or come up with enough cream puffs? Are the cream puffs good for you?
