Return To The
View From The Meadow
Home Page
The View From The Meadow
Observations On The Passing Scene

Political and Social Commentary by Dave Satre

How To Rob a Bank and Get Away With It

A true democracy requires honesty in banking and investing. Our financial services and investment industries have deteriorated into a pack of Liars Loans and Ponzi Schemes, and our government and its legal system are apparently ignoring the situation. The theory that "The best way to rob a bank is to own one" has been substantially proven.

The Guilty and the Guiltier on Wall Street are given a slap on the wrist and rewarded with million-dollar bonuses. We send Martha Stewart to prison for almost nothing and these criminals are running free. William Black, a senior regulator during the investigations of the Savings and Loan crisis in the 1980s, says Bernie Madoff is a piker compared with what's really going on. Fraud is the major cause of the financial collapse.

This is a crucial point in the decline of democracy. The practice seems to be morphing into anti-intellectual ravings and false accusations instead of an informed electorate. The real crisis is the decline of morality in this country. Greed and corruption have become the norm, and not just in the financial, insurance and petroleum industries.

For example, in the industrial countries that provide healthcare to their people, the first step was to make a moral choice: People deserve to live. Nobody should die because they can't afford healthcare. After that decision was made they went about finding ways to fund the system. Their governments are for the people. Not Big Business, as in the United States. Are real Americans actually unable to make this moral choice?

The major failure of a democracy might be the right for an uninformed public to vote. The system doesn't work if the voters are illiterate and uninformed. Propaganda works too well with them. Especially when you have a 24-hour media that is desperate for news and feeds on the sensational, instead of the facts. The Republicans have certainly embraced this technique.

In a Democracy, it should be about US. What's good for US is good for everybody. Too many Americans are focused on themselves, not the good of the country and its people. Again, this is a lack of morality. We, as a country, and especially the religious right, need to return to The Golden Rule and practice what we preach.

Real Americans need to get out and support Obama's efforts to fix this country. And to combat the continuing lies and false accusations of the vocal, but uninformed Republican right wing. Bush, Cheney, et. Al, deserve to be in prison, not in the media. Hard-working Americans deserve better than they're getting.

Links to Related Information:

Book: The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One
William Black

Video: Bill Moyers: CSI BAILOUT

 

 

 

 

The Meadow's
JOKE LIST

CLICK HERE
A Collection of Internet Jokes By Category

CLICK HERE
for our
CARTOON PAGE

 
Throw the Bums Out!  Vote Against Incumbent Politicians