April 15th, the Day Formerly Known as Prince

Happy 5 in the morning! I’m trying to wrap my head around Obama’s economic Speech yesterday, while cursing this early-bed early-rise loop I have fallen into. Curse you Mr. Franklin, that was utter bullshit, btw.

Barack Obama: “Do no Harm.”

Stanley, my Polish Father: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Do no harm to WHOM, Mr President? The Banks or the People?

But Dad? It IS broke, you know, except for Goldman Sachs who turned a nice profit this quarter. But you don’t give a rats ass about that do you? You also used to say “I’ve never seen a Brinks truck in a Funeral Procession,” and there certainly wasn’t one in yours.

But today is the day formerly known as Tax Day; the one the Faux Pundits have tried to rename Teabagging Day. Like Symbol/Prince, you have to wonder if the new moniker will stick.  

I listened to the Teabag reports last night, as they played right into the attention grab that overshadowed the President’s Economic Talk. I am no longer sure they didn’t know EXACTLY the implications, knowing well America’s taste for the seedy and obscene. Especially after hearing “If you’re going to Tea Bag, you’re going to need a Dick Armey.”

We shall see if the non-grass root protest really happens. They had footage of some average-looking people already holding signs. It is so very top-down orchestrated.

I want to scream to the poor slobs protesting, “He LOWERED your taxes, asswipes!”

Trickle Down didn’t work in the 20’s and the Voodoo Economic Trickle Down times 3 hasn’t worked since Reagan was in office. Not to mention that Barack Obama increase on the Rich’s tax is 10% lower than it was under Reagan.

I moaned “Jesussssssssss Christ” last night when I saw the image of one of the supposed Teabaggers holding a sign that said:

“Raise taxes on the Rich, I lose my Job!”

I really wanted to rail this morning how wrong the woman holding that sign is.

But she’s not. The Rich would lay off tens of thousands of people before they would allow a loss in their huge profit margins. They will and have outsourced jobs to keep that margin. Her fear is real. (if she’s not a paid actress like NOM ad people) This psychological warfare is no empty threat. “Bring in more cotton boys, or youse gonna get whipped like never before.” And whip us into working harder for less they have done.

Which swirls my brain back to the Hippocratic Oath. Is President Obama aiding and abetting those who are actively “Doing Harm?” I want to rant and rave that he is.

But he’s not entirely wrong. The Republican Theocracy Line has been “Don’t trust the Government!” for 200 years. Even when they are in Power… but then its, “It’s all the opposition’s fault!” It is their mantra. Not to mention that Bush increased Governmental Power over us, more than ANYONE in history.

All those Bubba good ol’ boys down south may well refuse to put their money in a “Gub’mint Bank” and Lordy, Lordy, there are a lot of them. Obama is right that it is a system based on Confidence.

More than that, we have always been a system based on exalting “Rugged Individualism” rather than the grown up idea of a Common Good. That “Bootstrap Loner” ideal has been the single repeating Mantra of our history. It is why they can get people to vote against their own interest, why people see businesses as “Us” and the Government as “them.”

“Cuz a business is owned by a guy like me innit?” Joe the Plumb-liar was used as a perfect tool to reinforce that ideal. That LIE.

On the other hand, President Obama DID address the need for Government spending, countering nicely the right-wing attack. In plain terms.

It is pathetic, in and of itself, that they only way to sell Health Care, you know, the ability to have a leg set, or lung tumor removed and LIVE, is by convincing us its GOOD FOR BUSINESS.

But it is good for business. We cannot compete with other countries that have it. Or at least that was true before all companies just quit offering benefit packages, anyway.

But of course, we need New Deal type spending programs, since the greedy record-profit businesses and banks refuse to give us those now-Vietnamese jobs. I have yet to see one come to fruition though. We got money to the banks with lightening speed, but to the people? Not so much. Where are the jobs, sir?

Even the “Help for Homeowners” program has proven to be a false and useless thing. So where the spending? TARP?

The people themselves truly believe that a healthy industrial economy will make them happy and whole again. It was true at one time, but Pandora never re-closes her box. Now addicted to the Record Profit Game, industry will never again be about a good economy. It is about Maximizing Profit.

I’m trying to wrap my head around this, really I am.

Were the people, the individuals themselves not holding up the Sacred Idol of Capitalism, would it have long ago failed?

How much of what he said is true in a system based on lies?

Did I get lost in the process of my new addiction and miss the resulting conclusion?