What Have We Learned?

Just so that I’m clear on this… Our government leaders had very few qualms about handing off $700B to Wall Street and the financial institutions, and passed that level of funding in not time at all. Few stipulations were set into place, even. And that money came from the taxpayers (or will!), a decision that was purportedly so that the financial institutions who were buckling under mortgage buy-ins gone wrong would then extend help to those families who were buckling under those mortgages. At last report, only a sliver of the total number of families struggling to meet their mortgages have since received help, while the banks and Wall Street have returned to business-as-usual with their speculative buying, bonus payments, and have reportedly now even moved into life insurances as well. The $700B that was handed over is essentially vanished now.

Yet an estimated health plan that will cost $856B over the course of a decade is being stopped and hindered at every turn? If you don’t do what’s needed to keep the ones paying in to that tax base healthy and able to work, you’re shooting yourself in the foot, aren’t you?

I am NOT saying whether or not this particular healthcare plan is the answer, mind you. My point is this: How is it that we can, as a nation, hand over $700B to the rich, who have dissolved that fund pool within months– yet take umbrage with spending $876B over the course of ten years to assist our brothers, sisters, families, neighbors, and co-workers to have accessible healthcare?

How have we become a better moral and physical nation by handing off $700B to Wall Street and Banking Industries? And how have we bought into the idea that if we do that for the less fortunate among us, that we will become less than we are for having funded those who have shown nothing but disdain and lack of concern for us since we gave them our hard-earned dollar?

If this particular healthcare plan isn’t the best way to spend/invest that $856B, is it not better than what we have now? Where are the alternatives that will benefit the less fortunate among us instead of resorting to the “trickle-down” philosophy by giving tax breaks and the like to the health insurance industry itself?

At what point do we say that WE are too big to fail–us! The common man/woman, and let Wall Street and CEOs and Banking Conglomerates who demonstrably fritter away money rise or fall on their own choices? At what point will we stop funding them and start helping ourselves and one another?

I’m just curious.

All that's left to do is flush...

There’s a line from one of the most popular movies of recent years that goes like this: “Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?” (The Matrix, Warner Bros.)

These past couple weeks have been, if anything, a waking nightmare from which I keep hoping I’ll awaken. But the odds of that happening diminish with every passing day, every passing hour, every passing moment. And what’s even worse is that nobody really seems to care–assuming that they even notice.

I mean, I hate expending blog space to such idiocy when there are more dire situations going on. But last night, my mind was made up. I had to vent…  or, in this case, vomit from the poison that we’re being fed by the bucketfuls on a daily basis.

Not all that long ago, we saw the American taxpayers forced to bail out the richest corporations and financial institutions in the world, under the boastful delusion that they were simply “too big to be allowed to fail.” If these CEOs, and other elite from Wall Street and across the nation were actually allowed to experience the results of their indiscretionary greed and speculative stock marketing, it would hurt every Tom, Dick, and Harry on “Main Street.” By helping them, it would help “Main Street.” Or so we were spoon-fed and eagerly sucked down like infants at the breasts of a nursemaid. It took some coaxing and some carefully chosen words issued in an enthusiastic spiel from the latest President, of course, but we sucked it down, nonetheless. The coffers of the richest of the rich who have entitled themselves to earnings in the millions, multi-home estates, private jets and exotic cars, were suddenly flooded by American taxpayers, with little to no oversight and certainly no accountability or prerequisites on how the money would be spent. It was given unconditionally, while publicly we were assured that we would see a return on our wise investment that would prove that this was just the right thing to do at this precarious moment in our history.

Well, the months since then have passed and allowed these financial institutions to take the money we gave them, and they swiftly bolstered up their bank accounts. It wasn’t long before it became evident that the money that we had lent them was not making its way down the food chain. Only the cream of the crop were being found worthy to refinance to better mortgages. At the same time, employment skyrocketed to startling new levels, businesses closed, layoffs commenced, and the marketplace found itself in dire straits as money slowed. People were starting to notice that instead of feeding the money through to Main Street, things were continuing just like they were before—the difference now being that the banks were being even more tight-fisted with the money we gave them. Unless you had top-grade credit scores, you were out of luck and on your own. People began to get grumpy.

Once again, Obama assured the American people that everything was going as planned. That it was going to take a while. That there would be some discomfort during this period, but that everyone was feeling the pain and that we would get through this process if we stuck together and were patient.

Almost as soon as those words were issued, reports from the Associated Press and other news outlets started announcing that some of the companies that taxpayers had bailed out were already preparing to pay out significant bonuses to their employees and executives. A few were even reporting a sudden profit.

Even more ironic, there are now some 37 states that are on the verge of economic disaster, foremost being California. California has decided to start issuing IOUs for the meantime. The banks’ response: No way are we going to accept IOUs! You pay or you go without! This from the same financial instutions that were handed billions of American taxpayers’ dollars to head off “failure.” To add insult to injury, on the heels of that announcment of refusal to accept IOUs until money could start flowing again, AIG announced another series of bonus payments to itself, and according to reports, the Federal government will be given its blessing so as to stave off any public backlash that might occur.

Did I miss the punchline somewhere along the way? What is there about this that makes sense to the American public? Where is the level of public indignation that this travesty deserves in response? How is this even possible? The rising bile in my throat and mouth leaves me gagging every single moment that I expend my brain’s caloric burn in trying to wrap my head around this. And still things are allowed to perpetuate and continue.

Oh, sure, people whinge, p*ss and moan. In their coffee shops, in the break rooms, at the bus stops. But that’s all they seem to be willing to do. God forbid that people should band together and say enough’s enough. Revolting against injustice is something best left to Iraqi folk who risk their lives out in the streets, crying out for justice and to be heard. Taking back control of one’s nation is best left to Hondurans in the poorer third world. We continue to believe that we’ll just solve our problems at the next election, where we’ll once again fasten ourselves to the bloated nipple of some full-of-empty-promises, smooth talking politician who comes along swearing up and down that he or she will nurture this nation back to its former greatness, when hard work really paid off and corporations and financial oligarchies were kept in check by a people who had endured through the Awakening of a Renaissance and Industrial Age and the freedom of the Press.

Our inaction is proof that we don’t care one bit. Not really. We hide behind the delusions of “democracy” but fail to live by it: a government by the people for the people. We are a pathetic nation that deserves not even a modicum of pity as we plummet over the edge into oblivion and self-destruction. And, hey, if you get a little indignant at my selection of derogatory words in regards to the so-called “greatest nation on earth,” then prove me wrong. Show me where you and your friends and coworkers are getting ready to march on Washington and demand real change, and demand a stop to idiocy and nonsense, and I’ll sign on. I’ll march with you.

Why don’t you let me know when enough really is enough.

Obama institutes double-standards as part of his recovery plan

In what is clearly becoming more of the same old song and dance from Washington D.C., early morning television shows across the nation excitedly announced that the White House had forced GM CEO, Rick Wagoner, to resign from his position at the head of one of the financially troubled Big Three U.S. automakers. What would it mean? And what about Chrysler and Ford automakers? The news wires were abuzz with rumors and anticipation and, as has been the case for quite some time now, Wall Street, too, let their anxiety become known as the stock market reeled from the possibilities.

Even more interesting, amidst all of the hullaboo surrounding the Obama administration’s intention to set matters straight in the auto industry, is the absence of outcry over the patently obvious. Somewhere in the whispers going around the workplaces, coffeeshops, and offices, everyone admitted that Rick Wagoner drew the short straw, and was immediately served up as the sacrificial lamb in an attempt to make it look as though embattled President Obama was actively trying to fix things.

Still, there doesn’t seem to any end in sight to the outrageous policy of double-standards at work here, even in the new administration. Why was Wagoner removed from his position as CEO and yet CEOs and other culprits in the financial sector continue in their positions, unscathed—at least those who haven’t been handpicked to have roles in the new administration? Where is the demand for a plan from the Wall Street moguls in the same vein as that demanded from the Big Three automakers?

The answer, of course, has already been given to us: we are to look to the financial sector as our way out of this financial debacle—even though they are the very ones who brought it upon the American people—and the rest of the world, by extension! As for the “worker bees” of this country, they are expendable. Should the Federal Government force GM into bankruptcy (which now seems more likely than ever), union contracts are null and void—essentially, breaking the unions’ backs and any bargaining power that they have had up until now (their own greed notwithstanding). With the unions gone and the oligarchy retaining their comfortable seat at the table of the ruling class in Washington, we stand to see a change in so-called “democracy” that most will have never seen coming. After all, we Americans are now on the hook for trillions of dollars that we don’t have—and never will. You can be certain, however, that the government and its financial constituents will get what’s owed to them, by whatever means are necessary.

It’s truly disappointing to realize that Obama’s talked a good game up to this point, but his actions are getting to the point now where they speak louder than his words: One set of rules for the Wall Street moguls and another set of rules for working-class-based corporations. And why not? After all, some of the elected officials biggest contributors going into the 2008 elections were the very ones who have been romancing Congress for bailouts on a scale never before seen in the history of any nation up until now. And we haven’t even seen the end of those bailouts yet.

But if there’s been any consistency apart from the reaffirmation that Washington D.C. has been bought and sold to the rich and well-placed, and the working class American has been told to remember their place if he/she knows what’s good for them, it’s this: the vast majority of disgruntled Americans will heed the warning and bite their tongue, for fear that they, too, might lose what little they have—even though it doesn’t even belong to them in the first place. The United States of Sheep will continue to put up and shut up. It’s what we do, and we’re proud of it, too.

Who ARE "We The People"?

Democracy is defined as “a government by the people, for the people.” But given the events of late, it may be necessary to take a sobering, candid look at things and see whether that’s really the case any longer. By now, “AIG” has become a household word associated with greed and delusions of entitlement. Public outrage is at an all-time high, foisted upon recipients of contractually-obligated bonuses. Yesterday, Congress swiftly passed a retroactive taxation law that will retake all but 10 percent of individual bonuses. And that’s not even to mention all the whooping and hollering that has been taking place in Washington D.C. as fingers get pointed and denials of responsibility rise to never-before-seen heights.

At the center of the drama is this: EVERYONE is to blame. You, me…  the government officials… corporate executives… and yes, even the new U.S. President.

But what really hit the point home for me, personally, was when this statement appeared in a Reuters News article yesterday: Telecom companies vying for $7.2 billion in broadband funds included in President Obama’s economic stimulus plan urged regulators not to mandate a super-fast Internet speed as a criterion for winning the money. That’s when I really started to question just what happened to the so-called “government by the people, for the people” that I was taught in school, preached about from news outlets, novels, movies, books, television shows, internet sites, and neighbors around me.

In this particular case with the broadband stimulus plan, the telecom companies want the money, but not the strings that go with the money. They are under the delusion that THEY are in a position to set policy when they “urge” regulators NOT “to mandate a super-fast Internet speed as a criterion for winning the money.” But THEY are NOT “the people” for whom Democracy is in place. Their customers are “the people.” This stimulus plan is to benefit the customers, not the companies who reap their profits from those customers. The U.S. Government doesn’t work in passing legislation for the companies: it works for the people who work for those companies. Yet the companies are campaigning hard to ensure that they get the American taxpayers’ money AND set the rules THEMSELVES on what those taxpayers will get with that money. And if they succeed, then we no longer have Democracy—we have Oligarchy, because instead of the government making the rules by which the money will be doled out at taxpayers’ expense, the money-hungry telecom companies will be making the rules.

It seems to me that common sense dictates that if you go looking for a handout in money, that the person WITH the money is the one that sets the conditions by which you will get that handout. But that doesn’t seem to be the case here, nor in the case of the ongoing massive financial bailouts that have been taking place.

Take, for another example, AIG, which was declared as “too big to fail” and thus moved to the top of the handout list. As more and more details come out about how they engineered festive vacation parties, multimillion dollar bonuses, and more—at the taxpayers’ expense—the public outrage is building. At the same time, they are still considered “too big to fail,” so taxpayers are going to have to go even MORE on the hook financially to cover the business. And we haven’t even scratched the surface here. In another blatant example of fiscal irresponsibility, CitiGroup was reported as making multimillion dollar office renovations from the bailout money they received. Unfortunately, it getting nearly no real press coverage due to all eyes being on AIG.

To make matters worse, the U.S. Government has announced that it will be printing upwards of $1.5 trillion more in paper money in order to feed the economy that is already failed. Some of the more conservative estimates have American taxpayers on-the-hook now, when this is all said and done, for a whopping $8 trillion in debt. Foreign nations are already talking urgently amongst themselves on dropping the American dollar as a currency because the U.S.A. seems hellbent on devaluing it to the point of worthlessness (if it isn’t already to that point right now).

Meanwhile, everyone’s just angry. That’s all: just angry. Nobody’s doing anything. They’re just mad.

Oh, Congress passed the retroactive taxation policy, of course. That’s reactionary, if anything, to a problem that they themselves should have been proactive in tackling. It’s a move intended to make themselves feel better for their lack of taking the steps necessary to prevent this from happening in the first place, and protecting the American taxpayer right from the start—after all, they’re supposed to be working for us. At least that’s what they tell us during their campaigns and speeches. The interesting thing about the retroactive taxation policy, too, that is getting a passing mention currently, is that it isn’t even legal anyhow. Odds are that this will just get tied up in the legal system for years now—further bleeding the American public’s finances dry.

The President is at fault because he appointed the individuals in his cabinet that are supposed to be qualified enough to be on top of this debacle. Many of them even came directly from Wall Street and Big Business.

Congress is at fault, because nobody raised an eyebrow UNTIL things hit the fan. They chose to operate under the notion that it’s someone else’s responsibility, but that they are squeaky clean in this matter. And I’m not even going to go into the whole financial earmarks patheticism that is going on! Oh, but now that things have hit the fan, everyone is trying to sound indignant and angry and surprised. If they’re surprised, then they are NOT qualified to hold a seat in Congress because it’s an inarguable fact that they clearly don’t know what is going on around them. And that’s precisely why they are there: to know and keep track of what the rest of us can’t because we have to work our minimum wage jobs in order to finance this mess we’ve landed ourselves in. Thus the term “representative.” They are our representative in Congress. Our stand-in. They are supposed to be doing the job that we, if we ourselves were there, would be doing. Asking the tough questions. And operating from a common-sense vantage point: if someone comes asking for money, then *WE* set the conditions, not the person looking for the handout.

If, perchance, these Congressional members didn’t really, truly know what was going on, then it happened illegally—in which case, there had better be a solid, unswervable prosecution happening and soon, bringing the guilty parties up on charges of treason against the American people, not to mention dereliction of duty to the American people, whom they swore they represent when they took office.

Big Business is of course at fault for not only their culture of entitlement and greed, but for their blatant work at undermining Democracy at every turn. For their belief that they set the rules and conditions, and not the so-called “little man,” namely, Average Joe on Main Street. They have betrayed Democracy and they’ve betrayed the American people—and every other human being across the world that is being affected or will ever be affected by this debacle.

Which brings me to our own culpability in all of this. We’re at fault, too. We’re at fault because we let it happen in the very government that we chose to be governed by: Democracy. We forfeited our right to Democracy the moment we failed to take action and instead relied on our government representatives to act in our behalf when it was clear that they were NOT acting in our behalf. We can’t idly stand by and complain about things while blaming our Senator or Representative for the “crappy” job they’re doing, yet that is precisely what we are content to do. Where are the marches on Washington? Where are the townhall meetings organizing mass recalls of these public officials? Where are the DEMANDS that this ENDS. NOW!

Because I’m not seeing it. And I’m certain that you aren’t either. Because action is just too much work, and feeling angry, well that’s easy.

We are NOT the People. And maybe We never were.

GM thanks America... by cutting 2,000 jobs

Today, GM—one of the Big Three automakers that recently was given $13.5 billion dollars from taxpaying, working Americans—returned the favor by announcing today that it will be cutting 2,000 jobs from its workforce. Those workers will then become the rest of America’s problem as they apply for and receive unemployment checks funded through tax dollars, while at the same time cutting off funding for those tax dollars through taxable income. In effect, the rest of us will not only be on-the-hook for the $13.5 billion that we obligated ourselves for by giving GM the money in the first place—we’re also going to need to pick up the slack in order to compensate for the loss of tax revenues that we figured into the equation. If that’s not enough, we’re also going to need to figure out how to do that in addition to ensuring that there is enough tax revenue to pay out the unemployment claims.

If the loss of 2,000 jobs isn’t something you’re particularly concerned with because you have your job, then none of this will matter.

However, if you care about the implications of this latest high business chicanery on the part of General Motors, let me give some perspective to further raise your indignation.

According to one site, GM executives earn around $65 million dollars annually. Of course, GM president, G.R. Wagoner, Jr., agreed to settle for a $1 salary to help secure the monies we gave GM. And, of course, they decided not to award too noticeable a bonus this year and risk too high a public outcry.

Be that as it may, $65 million dollars is a significant chunk of change.

But what does any of that have to do with them announcing that they needed to cut 2,000 workers from their payrolls?

Well, let’s do the math and find out.

Now, I’m not going to pretend to know the exact amount of the wages of those workers who are going to be cut. For the sake of this argument, it really isn’t necessary. But for the sake of argument, let’s say that each worker earns $25 an hour (some earn more, some less) and works 40 hours per week. That gives us $25 x 40 = $1,000 in gross income. Multiply that by the number of weeks in a month: $1,000 x 4 weeks = $4,000. Now, multiply that by the number of jobs being cut. $4,000 x 2,000 jobs = $8,000,000 is what we come up with.

Now, to find out how much those 2,000 workers earn in a year (gross earnings, mind you!), multiply by 12 and you end up with $96,000,000.

Are you still with me? Yes?

Alright, now, if GM executives were really wanting to help their company and repay their gratitude for the rest of us working, tax-paying Americans throwing that $13.5 billion dollars to them, they would say, “Look, we will all settle for a $1 sum for our payroll, and tighten our belts this year to ensure that our workers can continue to meet the needs of their families, and together we will get through this crisis and reap the benefits later.”

If they had done that, they would have already had all but $31,000,000 of what it would have cost to keep those workers on the payroll and thus continued to provide tax revenues to fund their own bailout. That $31 million could easily have then been taken from those below the executive level who likewise make significant amounts of money in their relative positions as they, too, tightened their belts in order to show their support and appreciation for the workers. Similarly, the UAW representatives could have announced a temporary furlough on union fees, until the crisis passed and sales were on the rise.

What’s still more interesting is that that $31 million remaining shortfall could have been shored up with plenty left over, just from the nearly $50 million that was spent just in the first nine months of 2008 (Report by CBS News) lobbying against better fuel standards and decreased emissions. And now, they’re spending a yet-to-be-discovered amount of money lobbying angrily against allowing states to determine vehicular standards within their own borders, taking the burden off an already over-burdened federal government.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. None of it really matters, does it? Big Business and Corporations have no qualms about taking us for a ride, so long as we’re willing to pay for the gas. No “thank you” and no show of real appreciation from them.

And what is even more sad is that this won’t be the last of the job cuts that will be made. Everywhere, businesses and corporations are cutting out the workers, starting anywhere below the cushiony office suites and elitist paygrades that separate “them” from “us.”  They’re continuing to demonstrate an unhesitant willingness to chop off every other head before they themselves feel the pinch of tightened belts and conservation in spending, much less the impact of their dereliction of duty to the working class. It’s been an entitlement culture on both Wall Street and in the upper echelons of Big Business and Corporations, and by every indication, they are intent on seeing to it that things continue exactly like that.

As for the lost jobs and unemployed workers? GM’s opinion is this: “Let the rest of America deal with them. Our only concern is with our own profit margin, annual bonuses, and padded pockets and wallets. But please, keep giving us your money.”

In Debt We Trust

By the time you find this, you probably will have already unwrapped those gifts you bought this year as part of your Christmas celebration, taking advantage of low prices and enticing deals, all the while obeying the mantra to keep the economy going by doing your part: buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume.

In a few weeks, the credit card bills will start rolling in, a stark reminder that the current financial situation of this country has hit your home as well. But it was nice for these past few weeks to pretend that it would all be resolved by our leaders in Washington D.C., by the new administration that will take over come January, and by the injection of some $700 billion of the tax payers’ hard-earned money into the pockets of financial giants and their CEOs and executives—even as a major sector of the working class—the auto industry and all of its associated businesses and suppliers—faced the onslaught of haranguing from government leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives. It was a relief to see fuel prices drop to their lowest level in recent memory, so that we had more money to put toward our escalating mortgages, rising medical costs, insurance premiums, and medical supplies. Not to mention that wonderful new big screen TV sitting in our family room, at the ready to serve us up hours of mindless television filled with violence, sex, and gratuitous moments of everything in between.

And all this, even while the newspapers and the news programs remind us that we are in dire straits as a nation. Stocks rise and fall with neither rhyme nor reason, responding to the latest reports and rumors, whether employment, housing price slumps, futures trades, or the latest announcement by the incoming administration. The problem is: nobody’s listening. Or, if they are, they don’t care. It’s becoming abundantly clear that as we watch this country plummet over its cliff, it is every person for themselves. Get while the getting’s good is the order of the day.

It’s irresponsible, and everyone knows it. But they don’t care. Keep buying, keep spending, keep consuming the goods that they want to feed us. They even sweeten the pot by lowering the price to the point that you feel like a fool if you don’t buy their goods. Even if you can’t afford it, you’ll sort it out later. And why not? After all, everyone else seems to be getting a piece of the financial pie with no regard for us less fortunate, non-Wall Street folk. So why not take advantage and enjoy life a little?

What seems to be escaping everyone’s notice, however, is that Wall Street executives and conglomerates will not be footing the bill after this is all over. The giant banks that are collecting those billions of dollars, free and clear, from the U.S. government while at the same time hoarding that money and unapologetic for doing it, thumbing their noses at those who are drowning under mortgages, escalating credit card fees, and diminishing hours at work—they aren’t going to be footing the bill either.

It will be the taxpayers. Plain and simple. And it looks like the way it will work is that if you lose your job because your business decided to keep a little more of the money pie for themselves, the next administration will “create jobs” so that you can work off your share of the national debt that you never had a say in raking up. In effect, you will become an indentured servant in order to put food on the plate of the financial giants. If, after Wall Street and its associated banking conglomerates get their entitlements through your blood, sweat, and tears, there is anything left over, then you might be fortunate enough to have something left over to feed your family.

Sound impossible? Are you still under the delusion that this is America, and such a thing could never happen here? Then continue to do nothing.

Uncle Sam’s Gift to You

By the time that President George W. Bush and the 110th Congress go their happy way, the U.S. citizenry will be finding approximately $8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer-funded commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout niceties for businesses. Somewhere amidst that insanity, U.S. citizens will find more than $1.5 trillion in FDIC loan guarantees that have been put into place; $1.8 trillion in cash, tax breaks and loan guarantees that have been gleefully handed out from the Treasury Department to financial institutions and credit companies—no strings attached whatsoever; $300 billion for homeowners from the FHA (nobody has seen that money, however, and experts have made it clear that even if that money does become a reality, it is a pathetic pittance for what is really needed); up to $25 billion in assistance (“bridge loans”) for auto companies; and $5 trillion in new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending requirements from the Federal Reserve Bank.

One expert, James Bianco, did the math and came to the inescapable conclusion that this amounts to more government aid and assistance than nine other historic bailout programs and outlays combined.

Take, for example, the New Deal. It cost approximately $32 billion in its day. Today, that would translate to around $500 billion. The Marshall Plan cost $12.7 billion when it was enacted, yet in today’s dollars it only adds up to $115.3 billion, give or take. The Louisiana Purchase paid out $15 million to the French—an outlay of about $217 billion today.

So do the math. Better yet, go ahead and throw in the adjusted costs of the race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis from not so long ago, the Korean War, the Iraq War, the Vietnam War, and the financial assistance NASA gets, and you’ll see that it all adds up to a paltry $3.92 trillion—not even half of what American taxpayers are on the hook for right now, as Bush prepares to leave office and settle back into his comfortable easy chair back on his ranch in Texas.

And there’s no telling what Obama and his incoming administration will be doing in addition to this! For example, headlines are already showing up that they are working on a massive stimulus package for early next year that will make the $168 billion given away last Spring look like pocket change.

Hope you’re enjoying those new gifts, because Wall Street is sure enjoying that gift you gave them.

Stuffing Wall Street’s Stockings

Borrowing your money, no strings attached

According to a study made by Associated Press, a whopping $1.6 billion went to bank executives of financial giants in the form of salaries, bonuses, and other benefits. Even though some of those institutions made various cuts, they still made sure to pay out multi-million dollar executive pay packages. It should come as no surprise that the total amount given to nearly 600 executives of bailed-out banks and financial giants would have covered the entire bailout costs for as many as 116 entire banks!  The average pay to these same executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses, and benefits. If that wasn’t enough insult to injury, the Associated Press also found that the very banks that received bailout funding also paid out millions for home security systems, private chauffered cars, and club dues.

In one instance, Wells Fargo (which got $25 billion in taxpayer-funded money for their bailout) gave its top executives up to $20,000 each to pay personal financial planners. In another example of blatant disregard for responsible spending, Bank of New York Mellon Corporation’s chief executive, Robert P. Kelly’s stipend for financial planning services came to $66,748—and that was in addition to his $975,000 salary and a tidy $7.5 million bonus. Personal car and chauffeur: $178,879. Plus, he received $846,000 in relocation expenses, including the purchase of a home in Manhattan.

And there were several other discoveries made in AP’s study. Many of those findings had already made the airwaves. Large parties after bailouts, for example, in AIG’s case. And the list could go on.

We Don’t Have to Tell You Anything

A couple days ago, Matt Apuzzo of the Associated Press wrote, “Think you could borrow money from a bank without saying what you were going to do with it? Well, apparently when banks borrow from you they don’t feel the same need to say how the money is spent.”

The double-standard that is at work on Wall Street just goes to demonstrate how far the U.S. citizenry could care less about what is transpiring.

The AP made contact with 21 banks that had received at least a billion dollars in taxpayer money and asked four simple questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest? It should come as no surprise that not a single bank provided a direct answer to any of the questions.

And, thanks to exiting President George W. Bush, an over-eager Congress and House of Representatives, and a nation of uncaring Americans, there’s no way for taxpayers to find out. See, when Wall Street came asking for their bailout, we gave it to them—all $700 billion—no questions asked. No strings, no conditions. All because everyone bought into the blatant lie that if we didn’t, bad things might happen. We might, we were told, see another Great Depression, for example. If something wasn’t done and fast, people might not be able to buy that new car, or get a credit card. So, the blank check was signed and handed over to our Wall Street benefactors, who promptly went out and celebrated with parties, year-end bonuses, and frills the likes of which are beyond the imaginations of most working-class Americans.

What About Us?

We need to be bailed out, too!

Once the doors were opened for monetary handouts from the government, backed by good ol’ U.S. citizenry’s taxpaying dollars, the lines grew at the front door of our government. The government was so excited about getting our congressmen and representatives to sign the blank check that they quickly decided that instead of using those funds to help struggling homeowners, the funds would instead be given to the banks and financial institutions of Wall Street, pretending that that wasn’t the goal all along. They also announced that anyone who wanted a piece of the monetary pie simply had to apply as a bank or financial institution and they’d be added to the party guest list.

It was a strange twist of fate, however, when the Big Three—Ford, Chrysler, and GM—showed up at the door asking for a handout. They were swiftly escorted to the smoke-filled inner chambers of Washington and skewered before the entire nation. The manufacturing giants’ CEOs were publicly shamed and humiliated for arriving in private jets, receiving bonuses and high salaries—and it all played out on live television and via internet video streams. In effect, the CEOs were sent packing with their tails between their legs.

According to public opinion polls, the Big Three shouldn’t be helped in any way, shape or form. They should be allowed to implode under their own mismanagement and years of opposition to demands for higher fuel standards and innovations in alternative fuel forms.

It’s a fascinating example of misled masses. For one, these same Americans who are against any financial assistance going to the Big Three bought into the lie that Wall Street should be helped. Further, while the Big Three CEOs got harangued bitterly by leaders in Washington D.C., this was a markedly different treatment from what leaders in Washington gave to Wall Street executives and representatives who similarly arrived in private jets, received extensive and costly salaries and bonuses, and don’t even have to explain a single thing or render an accounting for the money they were given from the taxpayers of America. Again, a double-standard is at work, and the U.S. citizenry could care less.

It doesn’t help that the Big Three have made themselves an easy target for our disdain. As mentioned earlier, they have strong-armed Washington D.C. a number of times, fighting against new regulations and guidelines in order to keep the U.S. automotive industry competitive in the world market. And they’ve leveraged their political power in numerous other ways as well. Further, the automotive unions themselves have wielded a tremendous amount of power, and secured for themselves some of the highest wages in the world’s working class, as well as insurance benefits the likes of which the majority of working class Americans have never seen.

To many Americans, this is an opportunity for the Big Three and its unions of workers to get their comeuppance, to be taken down a notch.

Unfortunately, it is just another piece of the delusion that has been spun for us.

See, while it’s true that we have reason to be angry and resentful towards the mismanagement and greed of the automotive industry, it’s a clearcut case of distracting us from matters of greater import: the ongoing, unchecked greed, manipulation, and haughty oligarchy taking shape in our midst. So long as our disdain is directed at the Big Three, against the unions therein, our eyes aren’t on Wall Street.

Further, if the Big Three are going to be given help, it is absolutely essential that the money be given with strings and conditions attached. But then, the same should be demanded of Wall Street. Immediately. If we’re going to harangue, shame, and ridicule the Big Three—then shouldn’t the same be done for Wall Street?

Yet somewhere, somehow, people are making a distinction between the Big Three asking for and getting money, and Wall Street asking for and getting money. Americans have bought into the lies and propoganda, hook, line and sinker. The rich class has placed itself in the ideal position over us, and now delights in our resentment and bitterness towards the working class—specifically, unionized workers. If unions are broken, along with them will go any power that the working class holds in today’s society. Even Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, fights hard against its workers forming unions, because once the workers achieve that, they have a consolidated power to make demands that is impossible to make otherwise. It’s no different with the automotive unions, or electricians unions, or any other union of workers in existence.

But, break unions and you then regain power over the masses again. Suddenly, they are at your mercy and have to do what you say. Let me be absolutely clear about this: if the Big Three are allowed to go belly-up, so will some of the largest unions in this country. Are we really willing to lose what little foothold we have in the upper echelons of power in Corporate America?

And that’s not even to mention the loss of tax dollars, should the automotive industry fail. Someone is going to have to pay for that $8 trillion dollar brainchild that our exiting U.S. President is leaving for us to deal with. In a report released just today, Reuters is reporting that jobless claims have surged to a 26-year high. Those are individuals who will not be able to pay their “fair share” of the $8 trillion debt, and the burden will subsequently fall greater on the rest of us. Are you really prepared to pay more than your own “fair share” so that Wall Street executives and others of the rich class can have their luxuries and frills while you continue to try to figure out how to keep your house, keep your family fed and healthy?

How is it that we as a nation have come to the point where we are more than willing to bailout the rich class and turn our backs on the working class? How is it that we bought into such an excusable delusion? We are the working class, and without us, the rich would have nothing at all. Nobody to buy their goods, borrow their money, pay their exorbitant salaries and bonuses. But they have us believing that we need them. At the same time, they have us hating on the automotive industry, and laugh at us as we talk to our friends about how the Big Three should fail, how those greedy unions are “getting what they’ve had coming to them for too long now.” It’s abundantly clear, at least to me, that Wall Street got away with it and will continue to get away with it because we’re too busy tearing at each other instead of seeing what’s really going on.

Before long, we will be nothing more than indentured servants of the rich and civilian slaves to the government that indebted us to the rich.

And we’ll have only ourselves to blame.