There is perhaps
nothing more pathetic than those who know they are being
conned but refuse to stop and expose the con artist for fear of
offending him.
In recent days, there has been
somewhat muted outcry, begrudgingly and limited, made by the corporate
media concerning the $165 million in bonuses that the AIG
insurance corporation giant is attempting to pay its executives,
even after having been “bailed-out” (for a second time) of
its financial melt down (with the people’s money) by none
other than the U.S. Government, and with the enthusiastic support
of the Obama administration.
With his usual opportunistic,
chameleon flare, Obama has feigned a blistering attack upon
AIG for its “recklessness and greed” in the matter of the above
mentioned executive bonuses, while conveniently neglecting to mention
that AIG is in fact over 79% owned by the U.S. Government. Truly,
Barack Obama continues to demonstrate that he is the consummate
con artist.
The fact is that Obama, contrary
to his misleading assertion that he would simply “try” to “block”
these bonuses, knows full well that he already has the executive
/ governmental mandate to make these AIG blood bonuses null and
void. It must be reiterated that the AIG corporation is over
79% owned by the U.S. Government. In other words, the very fact
that AIG would even dare to pay at least 165 million dollars
of the people’s money to its executives indicates a callous arrogance
towards the everyday suffering of Black, White, Brown, Red and Yellow
peoples of this nation and/or that this is a trial balloon for Barack
Obama to take opportunistic advantage of claiming an underserved
and fake concern for the struggling peoples of this nation.
Think about it. The very fact that AIG boldly took such an openly
despicable action in the first place, says it all.
Yet again, the people of this
nation are being politically hustled by the cynical actions and
opportunism of Barack Obama and his de facto corporate backers.
These bait and switch tactics can and should be expected
to continue, in view of the fact that said tactics have served the
Obama regime well thus far with regard to both domestic and foreign
affairs.
This is not merely about AIG.
This is about the cynical opportunism of the Obama regime. This
is about the fact that the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan are still raging with no real
end in sight. This is about the smoke and mirror tactics and ongoing
misleading rhetoric of a morally and politically bankrupt government
whose leaders seek to play the people of this nation and world like
emperor Nero is said to have played the fiddle as Rome
burned and its peoples died.
We
must break this cycle of cynical opportunism and corporate
blood-sucking of the everyday people, unending war, and empire.
This must be done by the day-to-day organizing from the bottom
up for systemic, not mere cosmetic change. The bait and switch
tactics of Obama and his elite avaricious corporate / military supporters
must be made to boomerang upon its authors. The name of the current
emperor is irrelevant. It is the empire itself that must be changed.
This remains our task and responsibility.
This remains our best hope for humanity in these times of increasing
national and global economic and social insecurity and instability.
Onward then. Forward ever…
BlackCommentator.com
Editorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black
Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the Republic of
New Africa, a former political prisoner and the only American to
have successfully self-authored his civil/political rights case
to the United Nations under the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights. In connection with
his political organizing activities in opposition to voter suppression,
etc., Pinkney was interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised
PBS NewsHour, formerly known as The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. For
more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and
Thinker, by William Mandel
[Introduction by Howard Zinn]. (Click here
to read excerpts from the book). Click here
to contact Mr. Pinkney. |