Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees – and, by extension, to themselves.“These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.”
But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”
“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
Now THAT is wielding the Power of the People! And/or, “the mob.”
Mao said “All political power ultimately comes from the barrel of a gun.”
The advance and advantage of democracy on that truth, is that NOW, in a democracy, political power CAN come from the tines of a pitchfork. Despite the conditioned fears that the image of the mob draws upon…..
How is wielding this NOT an advance from the political power of the State’s and The Ruling Class’s guns? The THREAT of the pitchfork is the balance to the power of the Ruling Class, byt the Ruling Class and their media have convinced us not to make that threat, and thus we have found ourselves politically powerless as they….and their “troops…”
Today I confronted a DA who is trying to prosecute protesters as terrorists
Have run roughshod over The People.
Yes there are dangers in Populist Power, but we are now seeing, now are IN….the dangers of not using that Power to BALANCE the Power of the Ruling Class.
Summation: The Ruling Class has used fear on us for decades…if you don’t toe the line you will be fired or jailed…
Instilling a little Fear of the Pitchfork in them at regular intervals is necessary. Obama used it masterfully in this instance.
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NPK is doing better and should be back soon to say hai.
and the fill in.
Frightening the rich in order to control them isn’t anything new. Bush used 9/11 to do it, but his convenient enemies were terrorists.
We are not the enemy and we should NEVER be considered the enemy. We are equal citizens with equal rights.
This is the sort of talk that FOSTERS feudalism. We need the feudal mentality to be dismantled, not encouraged.
grab one of them at random and throw him out the window, too. Might have made the rest sit up a little straighter?
You know, Tony Soprano School of Motivational Sciences? 😉
I dunno.
Im not getting anywhere with these damn media email addys. Theyre all online Form Dealiemabobs.. Maybe we should see if the Legalize Pot DFH’s will let us have their list. heh.
You know, I got thinking about this overnight, and I wonder how many of those bankers looked at each other after Obama said that, and the turned back to Obama and replied with something like “Thanks Buddy, for being on our side and covering our asses! What a guy!”
Maybe Obama meant that he’d do everything he could do to calm down the peasants while shoveling hundreds of billions across the table?