Its a Wonderful Life was a movie made by Frank Capra just following WWII. It was set in Bedford Falls and the whole plot revolved around Jimmie Stewart's character named George. George ran a bank. Through happenstance, a large deposit was lost and fell into the hands of the evil financial competitor, Mr. Potter. There was a run on the bank when Potter let the word out that the bank was short of funds. Bank auditors were called. Late in the movie the bank and George and his family are saved because the whole town, hearing of the problem, goes straight to George's home on Christmas Eve to contribute money to save the bank. That uplifting act, of the community coming together to individually pay into the general fund in order save the whole unit, at the expense of each individual, made (and makes) the movie one of the most loved films of all time.
Note that the movie failed financially when it was first issued and all the investors lost their money. Note also that, although it appears that we are in this same situation (where there is not enough money to back all the financial instruments that have been issued), individuals are not going to come forward to contribute to save the whole unit. That is why the movie is so loved. We want it to be that way. But it is not. We do not act this way as a culture. We hoard what we own, generally, and then blame others for the trouble or the disaster. Lying about the money we have is one of the most acceptable lies throughout the culture. We even assign fault when people lose their homes to natural disasters, like from Katrina. They built in an area that could be flooded, after all, the dummies. They built too close to the ocean, the dummies. Therefore, without really saying it (although Bush was more honest than most with his intentful neglect to provide help) we blame the victims, even though sixty percent of our entire population lives in exactly the same situation. The Republicans of today are really the Republicans of today because, by and large, they are the people who have a good bit of money, or more, and they do not want to put any of it into the general fund for the welfare of all. That is the most simple and easiest definition of a Republican as he or she exists today. Potter was a Republican. George was a democrat. Is there any question?
The bailout package has, as its first two points (and there are just three), hope statements. We are going to put money into the banks so the we hope they will lend it out. We are putting money into the banks so that people will come to believe and hope that the worst is past. The banks will not lend the money. They do not care what we want or hope for. They care about themselves. Banking is not about George. It is all about Potter. If it was about George then the money would not have been stolen in the first place! And it was stolen. Where did the money go when it was put in these derivative investments? It was creamed right off the top by the very executives entrusted to manage and take care of it. The cared a bit too much. And yet, the millionaire talking heads on CNN and Fox, et al, keep telling us not to get into the 'blame game' and go after these people. Like all we want or need is some sort of vague punishing vengeance. They, at the behest of these financial robber barons (who also own that same media), know that they still have all the money! They are Potter. They are not giving it back. Have you heard of one executive giving his bonus back? That creep from Lehman Brothers who testified, did he mention that he might be willing to part with even an iota of his billions? Nope. Not a farthing. Not a shilling. Not a dime. None of it. That is why the bailout is going to fail. And that is why we have to, as a country, go get our money back. CNN's top ten hit list is a good place to start. All we need is a new law, like the one we put in place to go after drug dealing money. It is called forfeiture. We simply start doing minor research, en masse, of these millions of people, and then we make them forfeit their stuff according to what a panel feels is just. The Lehman guy can keep ten or twelve miilion, which will make him miserable because his G-5 business jet will have to go, and his over 100 foot boat will have to be sold. He will be reduced to only one multi-million dollar home. He will not be able to afford to take care of all the rest. Then we redistribute that money. You think the tens of people that guy employed, at about minimum wage, will be hurt? Well, I do believe that the two billion, or so, he has stashed away will help alleviate that suffering, and that of about five thousand other people! And Voila! only months after going after this money we would have a trillion dollars or more. Within a year we would have ten trillion, and we would have set a precedent for the world. We would have tempered capitalism with real justice and obedience to the democratic social condition. And oh yes, if the executives have their money stashed abroad, that is easy. We just send a telegram for it, cruise missiles to follow! We are, indeed, the penultimate warrior nation on this planet. Let's go get our money. The mortgage crisis would be over in a year. The derivative mess just a bad memory. We don't even have to put the executives in jail! They will suffer more being just one of us again than they ever would if they were incarcerated. Maybe we could actually go back to that old French thing, if we were really mad, and brand them on the cheek with a fleur de les. But that would be up to the panel.
That scenario, of us standing up and going after our money, is what George's Medal of Honor winning brother would do, if he came home to Bedford Falls and found this situation having happened (in the movie). What are we going to do? We will very probably continue to attempt to print more money until inflation is terrible, our future is mortgaged for two generations ahead, and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch becomes each day in the rest of our lives. We are no longer a revolutionary force. We are sedentary and docile. We have a few warriors we send out, but we stay in our bunker. We even admire and elect those same kind of docile people. Did Dole even come close to winning against the admitted draft dodger Clinton? No. Did Gore beat the ridiculously lying National Guardian Avoider and chickenhawk Bush? No. Did war hero Kerry beat the same, even more proven National Guardian Avoider, Bush? No. Why? Because we have lost that loving feeling. We no longer see problems as challenges. We no longer seek adventure. We no longer look up. We have begun to look down at our trudging toes, each foot replacing the other as we go to work in the dark to our minimum wage job.
Remember the I Love Lucy show? Lucy and Ricky revived an old vaudeville act. A guy named Johnson would whack out every time he was called Johnson. He would carefully explain, in detail, all the other names he did not mind being called. Then, if he was called Johnson again, his eyes would fix and glaze over and he would intone menacingly..."Slowly I turn....Step by step....inch by inch...." While speaking he would fix his slitted eyes upon the person who had called him Johnson, and begin to advance evilly toward that person. It was hilarious. Well, this is not funny. But how about it America, those thieving executives are calling us stupid! How about...."Slowly we turn....step by step....inch by inch....?"
Comments are closed for this post.
