Wall Street Woefully Wacked

I had the pleasure of seeing Capitalism: A Love Story over the weekend. I love Michael Moore's documentaries. Always have. Say what you will about the guy or the accuracy of the information he presents, at least he says something. He has the courage to ask those uncomfortable, thorny questions mainstream American media shies away from. He will dig up and expose America's soft underbelly.

As always with Moore's films, there was some gasping in the movie theatre at regular intervals as astonishing statistics and shameful actions on the part of those in power, and I don't just mean the government, were laid bare for all to see. What kills me is this deep-seated fear of socialism that pervades the US psyche. In an ultimate, ironic turn of events, 70 BILLION dollars were handed over to Wall Street financial institutions who would have gone bankrupt without the free handout. The same institutions preaching the benefits of capitalism. Taking taxpayers' hard-earned cash to bail their asses out of debt. You know what that's called when the government funds an institution? SOCIALISM.

And now the American people need to realize they have the power to call the shots, and make these Wall Street criminals accountable for how they are spending their money. If the US was truly a capitalist empire, it would have let AIG, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, etc... fail. Market forces dictate who wins and who loses. They lost. If they played by their own rules, they would have acknowledged this and swallowed defeat. That's how capitalism works. But oh no, they had to run to Washington, whining and threatening financial armageddon if the government didn't help them. 

The American people also now own GM - what should have been another casualty of capitalism. If you can't compete, too bad. Suck it up princess. Now GM is government-owned, and you know what that spells? SOCIALISM.  

I am by no means a proponent of a purely capitalist system. But if you're going to advocate on its behalf and set up an empire based on its tenets, if you have any integrity at all, you're going to stick by its rules and prove its efficacy. All those Wall Street schmucks have proven is that they will employ whatever means necessary to ensure the wealthy stay that way, the middle class disappears, and the poor get poorer. You know what that spells? REVOLUTION. Remember the French one? Yeah, those rich folks weren't so lucky.

Note to Wall Street white collar criminals: I'd watch my neck if I were you. Because once you awaken the giant (the American people), heads will roll. And you can rest assured they're gonna start at the top. Extreme wealth couldn't save Louis XVI and it sure as hell ain't gonna save you.