A misunderstanding
One day my brother-in-law Bill turned to my friend Paul and said, "I need a job." Paul, apparently having his mind on other matters, said "What do you mean?" Bill, counting the words on his fingers, repeated "I…need…a…job! No job, no money--no money, no go beer store. Which word didn't you understand?" This is how Main Street understands money. It's the paper you pull out of your pocket at the convenience store; it's the gas in the debit card. It's the ruinous bill from the contractor, the little bone you're thrown in the pay envelope. It's the ready, the moolah, the wherewithall, the long green.
Somehow, in migrating from the leather of the wallet to the glass and steel of Wall Street, it undergoes a transformation, becoming instead financial products, liquidity, leverage, underperforming assets. (Who knew money could dance, even badly?) And lately, we hear of "toxic, radioactive assets." Green Kryptonite, one supposes, deadly to Masters of the Universe. Everybody understands a thousand dollars, but nobody understands a trillion dollars. CNN tried to humanize the proposed Wall Street bailout number by comparing it to 2000 MacDonald's apple pies for each man, woman and child in the country. Ewwww! However you slice it, Main Street is angry, and you can bet they're gonna want fries with that. It's just a question of who to drop in the fryer.Labels: economy, perception, work
posted by Dale Hobson @ 9/25/2008
4 comments
4 Comments:
Right on! Those who initated this practice, approved of this practice, continued this practice and lived in accordance with their "moulah" have no idea how the majority live, nor do they care.
Mikey says: Good one Dale, back up to speed in the word game. Meanwhile Public Radio is, as usual, missing the argument. On and On and Pointless. This curent stage of the show is a great example of what's wrong with our Democracy. Everbody in Liberal circles accepts the idea that big money libertarians are runninbg the Republican party, but they seem blind to Democrats doing the same. This populist backlash is simply saying who cares what happens to wall street? If we can't have any pie then we will dump the whole thing in the trash. Fine with me. Bring it. How does anyone support a system where success is marked by the destruction of the air land and water? All so I can drive a new pickup.
Right on, Dale!
Re the so called: debate??
All smoke and mirrors as far as I'm concerned.
Why did Obama 'dumb down'? All those 'gotta's' just about drove me nuts...and I'm not all that well-educated myself!
I want some concrete statements from our candidates...don't you?
Claudia MacDonald
I've been thinking, over the past few weeks, about all of this money that's being thrown at the financial problems of the US. With a population of just over 300 million people, each one billion dollars that the federal government spends represents $3/person. So - a $700 billion bailout package represents $2100 for each man, woman and child in the country. For a family of four, this would be a bill of $8400 - over and above the "normal" cost of governing the country. At the same time, I hear the candidates advocating lower taxes as economic stimulus. So where's the money gonna come from?
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