It’s not very often that I simply lift and reproduce someone elses article, but trying to say everything that needs to be said about this one would probably end up being sheer plagiarism anyway, and rather than go that route I think it’s better to just repost it in full with accreditation and backlink. If you thought you were pissed off for last few years, that was nothing compared to how you’ll feel come January.
From Naomi Klein writing yesterday in the Guardian comes a warning of the final outrage about to be perpetrated as the Bush Gang backs out the door, guns drawn and laughing, stealing every last dollar they can from you, after eight years of pillaging America.
You, your families, your children, your friends, and everyone you know are about to be robbed blind.
The US bail-out amounts to a strings-free, public-funded windfall for big business. Welcome to no-risk capitalism
Naomi Klein
The Guardian
Friday, October 31 2008
In the final days of the election many Republicans seem to have given up the fight for power. But don’t be fooled: that doesn’t mean they are relaxing. If you want to see real Republican elbow grease, check out the energy going into chucking great chunks of the $700bn bail-out out the door. At a recent Senate banking committee hearing, the Republican Bob Corker was fixated on this task, and with a clear deadline in mind: inauguration. “How much of it do you think may be actually spent by January 20 or so?” Corker asked Neel Kashkari, the 35-year-old former banker in charge of the bail-out.
When European colonialists realised that they had no choice but to hand over power to the indigenous citizens, they would often turn their attention to stripping the local treasury of its gold and grabbing valuable livestock. If they were really nasty, like the Portuguese in Mozambique in the mid-1970s, they poured concrete down the elevator shafts.
Nothing so barbaric for the Bush gang. Rather than open plunder, it prefers bureaucratic instruments, such as “distressed asset” auctions and the “equity purchase program”. But make no mistake: the goal is the same as it was for the defeated Portuguese – a final, frantic looting of the public wealth before they hand over the keys to the safe.
