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With all the bad news lately about abusive corporations, I keep having a thought pass through my mind. Ever since the financial sector almost collapsed in 2008, we've heard news reports of powerful executives making bad decisions for their own personal gain. As long as they personally profited, they didn't care about anything else.
We all know how the government had to step in with taxpayer money to bail these financial institutions out, to prevent them from going under. At the same time, millions of hard-working Americans began to lose their jobs because of the bad economy, made much worse by the Wall Streeters. Small businesses didn't have the credit to keep the doors open, so they were forced to close. The lack of credit was due to the big banks, many of which had just themselves been bailed out. They promised to loosen up their lending in return for bail out money, but they didn't. So, lots of people lost their jobs due to the big financial corporations.
Then we got into the health care reform debate. We learned how that industry controls prices, snuffs out competition in some areas of the country, makes decisions based on profit instead of health care or patient needs, and raises premiums and cuts coverage just because they want to. Pretty abusive.
We're still hearing about people losing their homes to foreclosure. They pack up their belongings, and leave the house behind. Sometimes they leave their pets behind because they can't take them with them and are too selfish to tend to their pet, who depends on them. The fact people do this shows just how much this tragedy has effected them.
But it occurred to me that in many instances, these people who are abandoning their homes would not be forced to do so were it not for the negligence, irresponsibility, and greed of others. In fact, the very same people responsible for the collapse of Wall Street are also responsible for many of the jobs lost.
Were it not for the actions of the top executives in the Wall Street firms, many businesses would have still had access to credit, and might have been able to use it to weather the storm a few months, keep the doors open, keep their employees paid, and not be forced to lay people off or shut their doors forever.
THEN I GOT REALLY ANGRY. People in government were so concerned that top executives would leave if they weren't paid well. The banks had to have those big bonuses to retain employees. The fact that these employees oversaw the worst financial disaster since the Great Depression was apparently lost on most. And the fact that they were arguing over multi-million dollar salaries while other innocent victims were being forced out of their homes because of the actions of these abusive executives, was apparently lost on members of Congress, as well as those in the Obama Administration.
And here we are today. The auto makers are still in business, doing much better, some making a profit now. The big banks responsible for the Wall Street crisis are making profits again, and their executives are living in the lap of luxury. We now know the oil companies have been lying to us, sacrificing safety to save money, another example of abuse at the expense of the American people.
But what's really bothering me is this: the very same financial institutions that are responsible for the crisis, and because of that responsibility are also responsible for the loss of jobs of millions of Americans, either because the bank wouldn't loan money, raised interest rates on those already having a difficult time paying their bills, or through refusing to keep interest rates and house payments low.
These very same banks are now forcing the victims of the financial crisis the banks caused out of their homes! This is like running over someone with your car, then just about the time they're going to be released from the hospital, you go in and beat the hell out of them, putting them in a coma!
It's outrageous that this is being allowed. And the fact that it is being allowed says volumes about our members of Congress. All of them, regardless of party. I've not heard anything from the Obama Administration about addressing this. It's almost as if it just doesn't matter to them.
Where else in the world would a bully be allowed to go back and terrorize their victims again? And that's exactly what it is: terrorism. People forced out of jobs and homes through no fault of their own by the very same people who put them in that situation. Where is the humanity? Where is the compassion? Where is the outrage? Where is the action to put a stop to it?
The American people are being raped by big business in this country. And our elected officials are allowing it to happen. The American people are the ones being taken advantage of, victimized, terrorized, and the consideration all seems to be in what's best for the industry.
Don't want those "too big to fail" banks to fail. We're not going to break them apart, but we aren't going to bail them out again. Perhaps a sternly-worded letter will do it.
We can't allow the oil companies to be penalized 10 percent of their annual profits if they cause a major environmental disaster. We'll just give an angry speech, and they'll get the message.
No one wants the health care industry to be harmed by having to be competitive or provide better service to attract and retain customers. We'll just pretend to be harsh with them, then send them millions of new customers under penalty of a fine if they don't buy health insurance.
Americans are stupid. Americans are idiots. Americans are sheep that we keep allowing this abuse--this terrorism--to continue.
When is America going to wake up and see reality for what it really is? This isn't a right or left issue, it's a right or wrong issue. And what is happening in America today is just WRONG.
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