Cracked Window

The most provocative, over the top, and disturbing take on what has befallen us appears in the latest Rolling Stone. Sometimes the truth is so close we can’t recognize it, and a writer like Matt Taibbi comes along to piece everything together into sharp focus:

The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d’état. They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations.

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In the midst of economic despair, my Visa card company sends me a promotion to see a Formula I car race in Monaco (copied in full below). The cost, not including airfare, is $13,600 for two people — the required minimum.

Receiving the offer must portend a pending windfall. Either that or someone believes I work for A.I.G.

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How can the $165 million that AGI is paying employees be considered bonuses if awarded for failure and not success? And that’s just the start. The bonuses are part of $450 million to be doled out.

Some of my vanished retirement money came from annual bonuses while working at two Fortune 500 companies. Every manager knew never to count on anything extra until the checks were in hand. Why? The bonuses were tied directly to performance: performance of the company, performance of the business unit, and performance of the individual.

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Rarely do I find commentary as incisive and articulate as that of Scott Horton. His “No Comment” blog for Harper’s Magazine illuminates current affairs not with polemics but cohesive facts and analysis. Reading his work I see the fog of he-said-she-said media coverage lift to reveal what looks like truth.

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“Socialism is apparently what is created when a president you do not like spends money on things of which you do not approve,” writes Mark Schone of Salon. He zings the Rush Limbaugh crowd of Stimulus Bill opponents by pointing to the infrastructure projects the federal government financed during the Great Depression.

But as he notes, words in this maddening debate are more than plentiful.

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How many people are paying attention to President Obama now that the hoopla over his election and inauguration has died down? Not enough. Listen to this video clip (requires a scroll down) of what he said today about our stricken economy. Better yet, read the transcript of his speech after the clip. He understands what needs to be done as painful and distasteful as it is.

Republicans apparently find taxes so detestable they’d rather see millions suffer and the country grind to a halt to get their way. Such is their boundless ideological arrogance. But as the president said today:

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