Besides the war, there are other issues that should be concerning the American people. Let’s take the notion of right-left, good-bad, republican-democrat or rich-poor out of the equation and look around us to see just how things have changed since Congress has been taken over by the corporate special interest groups that have financed most of the Congressional political races in the House and Senate; Republican and Democrat. Let’s look into what corporations have done now that they have effectively “bought” their own Congress. If you don’t believe that I’m telling you the absolute truth here, go to the Center for Responsive Politics and check out their website at www.opensecrets.org. You will find out who gives and who gets. I’ll tell you this, your $50.00 check is not enough to get you invited to any victory dinner. Maybe if you were the Chairman of Exxon-Mobil or Halliburton you might get a seat at the table.
Let’s look at one area that everyone has a stake in...the oil companies. Let’s call a spade a spade when we talk about the price of gasoline at the pump. I don’t care whether you talk about CITGO that gets it’s oil from Venezuela, or BP that gets a lot of it’s oil from the North Sea, or Royal Dutch Shell that is operated out of the Netherlands under a different tax structure than American companies, or Exxon-Mobile or any other company. Don’t you consider it odd that they all sell oil in a hundred mile radius at exactly the same price give or take a few cents? How can that be? Who oversees this travesty? Do we have an FTC anymore., and if we still fund it, just what the hell are they doing with their time? Do we still have laws against price-fixing, because in my estimation, there is something stinking to high heaven at the gasoline pump. Are these companies exempt from government interference or is it that they really in effect own the government? We all know the answer to this question. Why everyone buries their heads in the sand, and why consumers let themselves get poked over and over by the oil companies is anyone’s guess.
How about the cable companies? How can you get an introductory rate of say $100.00 for telephone, TV and internet, and see the price jump to $300.00 the next year? How does cable manage to cut 25-40% rate hikes year after year? Where is the FCC, or are they hanging out with the pack from the FTC playing poker at the club? Just where is the regulations on price fixing and gouging the public? Still don’t believe that corporate ownership of our government doesn’t affect you?
The list goes on and on. You don’t need me to tell you what the score is. While this war rages and takes the focus off all of the backstabbing and throat-slitting that goes on in the marketplace, this Congress and the President and all of the Federal watchdog agencies we invented to keep the citizen from getting screwed all lie dormant. Governmental oversight is a thing of the past. Next time your credit card bill comes in, take a look at what your APR du jour is. They bring it up when you are late with a payment, bring it up if you go over the limit, bring it up if you are over 70 years of age, bring it up if you don’t use it. What a scam. Who watches over the credit card industry? I want a job there. Apparently they don’t go home with a headache from being overworked.
Who is looking after Joe Blue-collar? Nobody, that’s who. We don’t have a middle class that is even marginally represented in Congress. We have a Federal government that taxes the sh*t out of us and gives us nothing in return. Business in the United States has become like the old Wild West where anything, I mean anything goes. People are literally (in the case of the medical establishment) getting away with murder! Meanwhile we all sit in front of the TV or our computers screens with out thumbs up our ass bitching about the war while everyone and their brother has their hands in our wallets. It’s about time we woke up and asked the people we elected to do something for a change instead of doing photo Ops and sound bites. Get these watchdog agencies to get out there and start doing something to justify their existence. Not only that, we must alsomust start asking why. Why is every gas station in my part of the state selling gas for $2.79 a gallon for regular unleaded is a good question to start with. The people that don’t pay attention are the people getting screwed. In this case, it’s most of the country. I don’t make this stuff up.