Our American System

Time after time lately, it appears that no matter what the horrible blow that a corporation strikes against people (the banking meltdown, outsourcing, denial of healthcare coverage, BP oil disaster, etc.), there are minimal consequences at most. It fact, much of the time the companies involved wind up giving bonuses to their top officers, while the people affected either suffer the damages in shadowy anonymity or go down the tubes without any attention from the media or the powers that be.

BP talks condescendingly about the "small people" it supposedly cares about, while it works to conceal how bad the oil disaster it caused is. Unemployment pushes close to 10%, with no sign of getting any better anytime soon, and there's barely a blip on the radar screens of our public discourse, while the deficit becomes the cause du jour. Rich owners who walk away from real estate investments are considered good businesspeople, while homeowners who try the same thing are considered immoral. And the bankers are bailed out with money from the taxpayers while refusing to reduce loan interest rates to the people who paid for the bailout.

This is life in modern America. "We the people" have become the great unwashed masses to the politicians, media, and corporate entities who suck their sustenance out of our lives. They may give us a few crumbs now and then, but even the barest of consideration, such as extending unemployment, is considered extravagant, while trillion dollar bailouts and war budgets are passed without a blink.

This is one of the reasons I haven't written much here lately. I find myself becoming cynical and feeling defeated. Not the best source of thoughts to express. It may change soon, but I don't feel very hopeful now.