Next big business opportunity: Start a pitchfork sharpener service.

Hey, Griffiths! Does the name Bernie Madoff mean anything to you? He would sure like some company for the next 150 years!

"YOU have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for ME."

"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats

"We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all."

This is the Ayn Rand siren song of old that is being erased from the society's conscience today, though the Randites are struggling mightily to preserve it. The simplistic and immoral idea is that given one go-getter and nine lazy bums, you give the one a bundle of funny munny and he'll create jobs for the other nine, and put them to work creating surplus that provides everyone prosperity beyond subsistence.

In the past the highly destructive social/environmental fallout from the madding pace of US surplus-generation was largely ignored as it served the people's wants, not needs. They were easily addicted to the luxuries/conveniences and supported the surplus-generation. But today the Randites are feverishly hoarding ever more of the surplus for themselves, and the public agitation is growing, for a mish-mash of reasons - greed, insult, shame.

Today the people are fully capable of meeting their own needs, given the various civic and technical advances, rendering anything more than a very modest surplus unnecessary. To help end the madness, the people should individually disengage the Randite monster and re-engage their local communities, to bring the economic/political power back home where it belongs.

Brian Griffiths said: "We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all."

I hope this quote serves as the 'let them eat cake' quote of 2009.

Cuz, we all know what followed that...

"We have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieve greater prosperity and opportunity for all."

George Orwell would be proud.

I think everybody's missing the point here:

The Banksters aren't dishing out 'bonuses' - they're paying hush money to the rest of the crime team.

Near total destruction of the economy, trillions stolen, tens of millions of Americans' lives ruined - with the thousands employed in the 'financial industry,' you'd think there would be at least a few dozen or so whose conscience finally pushed them to blow the whistle/leak the papers/name the names...

And yet - nothing and no one. Amazing how much 'loyalty' a few mil-a-year can buy...

The finance sector is to the economy what the bloodstream is to the human body. The American bloodstream is saying to the rest of the body 'pay me a bunch of money, or I'll cut off your blood supply (credit market), killing you and me together'. It has its hand on our jugular vein, because it IS our jugular vein.

But does not a human body constitute more than a blood supply? Much of its purpose could be suggested to be wrapped up in its bones, sinew, brains, heart, lungs, skin, and digestive tract. Even its reproductive organs have a role. CAN the human body give one-third of its calories to its blood supply, without starving the rest of what constitutes a human being?

The American 'being' has a blood supply that's infected with a cancer. This Leukemia is saying 'feed me, or I'll kill you'. And because it controls your jugular vein, it thinks it is 'worth' what it is asking in pay.

But, if you feed the Leukemia, it surely WILL kill you. That's what cancers do.

A rising tide lifts all boats

Profits for the wealthy will trickle down to the poor

I'm sure I've heard this before.

It was bullshit then. It's bullshit now.

In defense of the bonuses given, a spokesman warned, that the CEO's that will be denied their bonuses will leave for other jobs. That is the best reason I can think of for denying them the bonuses. They are the leaders of the corporations that caused the failure of the establishments that led to the near collapse of our economy. Evidently these greedy or incompetent executives believe they are indispensable on the job. They give capitalism a bad name and cause people to wonder if socialism may be a better way of government. You would think that all capitalist would want to replace them with people with integrity.

I am reminded of Anastasio Somoza, the dictator of (I believe... so many small countries, so many dictators) El Salvador back in the 70's, who was being interviewed on 60 Minutes by Mike Wallace. Wallace pointed out that he and his family owned 98% of EVERYTHING in El Salvador and asked if he didn't think that he should allow someone else to own something, too. And Somoza, straight faced as could be, said that no, he thought that he should own more, so that he could "serve his people better".

He was kicked out of El Salvador, fled to Miami, and was shortly thereafter assassinated on the streets there along with his driver. While I wasn't wild about people coming here to kill him, I wasn't particularly upset that they had shot him. It was a small level of justice for the death and misery that he had caused.

This guy reminds me of him. A lot.