The point is, there is something loose in America -- something predatory and ruthless -- that snickers cynically at all this good-hearted rhetoric and, then, turns good-sounding American policy into a rapacious, single-minded and self-serving instrument for those entrenched with power. As is the case with the TARP funds, the interests of wealth and power always seem to find a way to trump efforts to advance the dignity and well-being of the ordinary working American.
This predatory beast is killing us from the bottom up.
As Mr. Barofsky makes clear, ordinary, hard-working poor to middle-class citizen-families were intended to gain from the TARP provisions. But they have not. The incredible part of it is, even Geithner acknowledges this -- as he indicates there are no plans to alter course.
If you are one of the working American families now homeless that might have been kept from foreclosure by TARP money, what Geithner and the rest are telling you is: "I know, and you know, you're being screwed. We're sorry, but our lives are more important than yours."
The fact the financial tsunami that led to all this lower class misery was created by the hotshot econo-psychopaths who went to Harvard and cozied or clawed their way up into those spacious offices atop those skyscrapers doesn't seem to matter any more. All that matters is that the feeding not be interrupted.
Tragically, you can see the same terrible and dishonest arc of reality at work in the Libya intervention.
First, it was a "no-fly zone." Well, gee, maybe that's not so bad. I would feel really good if we could stop a massacre of innocent people. And, gee, since I don't read newspapers or books and just watch TV and don't have a real clue what's going on -- and, plus, I don't want to seem like a wimp -- well, sure, create a "no fly zone" and keep me posted how it goes.
Then, someone floats the idea that "no-fly" also means a "no-drive zone" that allows our forces to blast tanks. OK, that sounds fine too, since you say the UN thing says that's allowed. Then we're told our jet bombings have stopped the bloody Qaddafi juggernaut headed for Benghazi and -- praise the lord! -- has even given the rebels (who still remain a mystery, except they may include al Qaeda) what they needed to turn from pathetic, frightened victims about to be slaughtered into a confident militia now screaming west toward the Qaddafi stronghold of Tripoli.
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