Tuesday, March 17, 2009

AIG On Our Faces


Much as I find it disturbing that AIG execs will get $165 million in bonuses after helping to screw the planet, I find the reaction much more worrisome. It goes to the point of a recent post, about how our brains work: given complexities, we reach for the simple. And simple, permuted through Congress and perverted by the right-wing screamers, can be dangerous.

Should those crooks get boni? No. Is it a big deal, percentage-wise? Not really. Can it be made to imply the Obama plan is faulty, even though the money in question came before his election? You betcha. Will it? Does a bear sh*t on the Pope?

On 60 Minutes Ben Bernanke said his only worry is whether we have the political will to do what's necessary to fix the economy. Mine, too. Given the commitment to fomenting failure we see from all quarters on the right, and given their willingness to say anything, including lying and distorting, quitting before the finish line is a real possibility.

For example: seizing on a couple of phrases, ignoring context in one case, and outright lying in another, it's being hyped that Obama people are saying, McCain-like, that the fundamentals of our economy are strong. It's hypocrisy, they suggest. He's a political hack, they imply.

So we have our simple little brains, which crave simple little answers, and we have simple little people in Congress and self-interested simple-minded screamers behind them only too happy to provide. In a sea of scary, the AIG bonuses represent an island of idiocy, perfect substrate on which to grow reactionary resentment. Populist rage, cynically manipulated by right-wingers desperate for power, might well lead to the failure of the thing the populace most needs. What's a good word for that?

Limbecked.

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7 comments:

  1. I SEEN A REPORT ON CNN, ON HOW LIKE 30% OF AMERICANS ARE NOW ON ANTIANXIETY MEDS, AND ANTIDEPRESSANTS D/T THE ECONOMY. SEEMS AMERICAS SIMPLE BRAINS ARE MAXED OUT, JUST LIKE THEIR CREDIT CARDS.

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  2. Obama was outraged over this! And yet...

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/18/dodd-treasury-officials-i_n_176609.html

    You like the HuffPo, right?

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  3. So...did Geithner know and lie? Or is he just stupid? Can he be fired, since he has no deputy or other help at Treasury?

    I don't blame Obama for this though--since he has no executive experience, he can't be expected to know how to run a large organization. I wish he could hire some people to help him, though.

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  4. Limbecked? That's funny Dr S! :)

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  5. I do like the Beck show. You know...he has been hard on republicans too.

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  6. I don't usually see his show because I watch later but I have never heard him say that Dr S. I have liked the shows I have seen though but would think that must've been him being facetious. ?

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