There's a lot of erroneous information that is integral to American mythology, buried so deeply that extracting it will feel to a lot of folks like an appendectomy performed with a fork and butter knife. Fortunately for most of out pundits, most people are as unaware of the mythic nature of our civic religion as they are.
The right to the pursuit of happiness is an American birthright, but how can we pursue happiness without a full tank of gas? I need gas to drive to the movies, get away for the weekend, or patronize my favorite restaurant.
Without a full tank of gas I'm less of a man; I'm a prisoner restricted to amusements that are within walking distance.
It's unnerving to drive by gas stations with signs indicating that they are out of gas. I know that this is a temporary situation, but it's scary because I realize I may be getting a taste of the near future. If there's a gas shortage in some states because a few refineries shut down due to Hurricane Ike, what in God's name will happen if terrorists destroy the Saudi oil installations or if the Arab states stop selling us gas if Israel attacks Iran?
The best is the clear admission this is a preventative strike. That they are supporting companies that haven't failed yet. And they will not require salary adjustments for the executives that made the bad bets because we don't want to be punitive?
It looks to me like a final, massive wealth transfer under the assumption that it will take hella long to get back in power to dream up the next one.
Our corporate economy declares its goal to be infinite growth. The growth we seek is an increase in the number of transactions, not necessarily the creation of new wealth. We graze on those transactions, skimming a little off the top to divert to our personal wealth building (if we are smarter than I was...). And the venture WILL have unpaid debt to discharge at the end of its days. That's why cash flow is so important, more important than the actual outcome of the business venture itself.These Wonderful Captains of Industry and Capitalist Geniuses at Corporate HQ and Wall Street have created sophisticated engines whose sole purpose is to siphon off the value created by the resources they exploit. Those of us who actually create real value get stuck holding the crap that's left over.
It's rarely said this directly, but we not only want the corporate economy to grow every year, we want the rate at which it grows to increase every year. Everything that actually exhibits that pattern of behavior kills its host.
We have not been the victim of unfettered capitalism. Capitalism in the USofA is fettered as hell, bent to benefit the collective entities known as legal persons. All of you are just fuel for the machine.