Answer to American Economy's SOS?  Of course, SOS!

By Ben Tanosborn

ccun.org, January 31, 2009
 
 
During this past month I had expected – hoped for would be more precise – a miracle that would show America a path to rehabilitation of this economically, politically and socially devastated land of ours; resolutions which were not about to happen in this class-divided America in which we live.
 
George W. Bush exited his presidency totally lacking contrition, unrepentant of either malfeasance or criminality throughout his presidency, knowing full well that he would not have to stand trial before his peers: the powerful Ubber-class America.  Arrogant and cocky he came to power in 2001, yet eight years later one of the greatest annihilators in the history of mankind left with the same smirk in his face and the very same cold heart.  Instead of being manacled for a trip to The Hague, Marine One offered him a first leg on a trip to his new residence in Texas.
 
Quite a month, indeed!  Much of that time was spent by Bush, still president, washing his hands off on all domestic and foreign policy affairs, although quietly giving the green light to Israel to squash Gaza’s population at will, whether Hamas’ supporters or infants caught in the fray.  And while Gaza was burning, Bush’s would-be successor was playing “his lyre”… lyrically stating that the US can only have a president at a time, as well as one foreign policy.  Well, Obama’s Zionist advisers are lobbying well for Israel… something one would expect regardless who ended up being president-elect.  
 
To make amends, shortly after the pomp and circumstance of the imperial inaugural ceremony had subsided, Obama dispatched George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East.  Who better than an Irish-Lebanese, former senator, a successful mediator and most importantly, a truly honorable man!  Even the EU’s Javier Solana received this trusted peacemaker with open arms.  And to solidify this sentiment of understanding towards the Moslem World, just three days past the Mitchell appointment, here is US president Barack Hussein Obama giving Hisham Melhem, on al-Arabiya, his first television interview as president.  Here was the spanking new president of the US setting the tenor for US foreign policy as a nation ready to listen to the world… starting with the followers of Prophet Mohammed in a region where the United States  has exerted an unduly level of abuse.
 
Not that Obama’s tone of respect can undue or make up for Bush’s criminality in world affairs, particularly in the Middle East; but it is a starting point that augurs possibilities in a planet crying for peace, social justice and brotherhood.  Hopefully, the ignominious era of bullyism is fast disappearing… and with it, one hopes that terror will be relegated to its proper place, where it has always been: as miniscule, largely contained behavior.
 
But just as Obama was giving America an inkling of hope in the international arena, he was setting a much more different tone in domestic affairs, particularly in matters which affect America’s economy, something which now rules the minds of most Americans… at least those at the bottom 80 percent of the economic ladder.  As bright and well-intentioned as this president might be, he has surrounded himself with a cadre of true losers in the areas that have defined our economy up to now… the same people who led us to the abyss are now being asked to lead us away from it.
 
The movers and shakers in the economic realm that served Papa Bush, Clinton and Bush Son… the same globalizers that allowed and/or helped create bubble-land after bubble-land, giving free rein to predatory capitalism and incredible lies – such as the retraining of workers who would lose their jobs under economic globalization – are now being asked to fix the economy, in a politically expedient way, by enslaving our progeny.
 
One can easily tell that progressivism in the Senate can only count to two: Feingold and Sanders; with 18 members in some state of liberal anachronism, and the other 80 senators simply acting as self-serving dudes, whether Republicans or Democrats.  At least Bernie and Russ saw that confirming Timothy Geithner as the US 75th Secretary of the Treasury was a cruel joke.
 
We’ll see if Obama follows his rhetoric in foreign diplomacy with brave acts; or if he gives in to a perverse continuity that has existed for decades in the State Department, now being ran by Hilary Clinton.
 
As for Obama’s answer to America’s economic SOS… it is beginning to look as if he is going to give us a return SOS… spelled out as: Same Old Shit!  The best stimulus package this nation can get is a dosage of truth, and not another trillion of debt.  Why? Because unregulated capitalism as practiced in our shores simply does not work.

Ben Tanosborn
 
tanosborn@yahoo.com
www.tanosborn.com 

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