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If there is an overarching ideology at work in
America today, it's the ubiquity of the market. On TV, stars shred
every last fig leaf of privacy to sell alleged "reality."
Everyday folks join the shows in a realm of entertainment that might
best be called "Indignity for Dollars."
Politicians and press people are virtually
for hire to the biggest corporate bidder. Thus politics and media news
outlets become multi-billion-dollar industries. Moreover, they become
industries that feed on each other, as politicians buy millions of dollars
worth of commercials, and of course, TV and cable outlets make big
bucks by selling ads.
Meanwhile, the everyday economy—of food,
fuel, housing and education—goes from bad to worse. To the average
network anchor who pulls in millions per year in fees, this is
decidedly under the radar. His (or her) job is to protect the status
quo.
From this convergence we get the present
political structure, where accepted political debate is that which
doesn't ruffle the feathers of Wall Street or the corporate elite.
When's the last time you've seen or read (in
the corporate media) about the sub-prime lending debacle as a crime—as
truly the most premeditated of crimes designed to steal the wealth of
millions? Not lately, I'd bet.
It's a straight news story, no "B" roll
(or background video). It's usually an anchor reading a script, dry as
day-old bread. Because it happens primarily to people who are Black and
Latino, it's not a news leader nor headliner, even though it represents
the biggest loss of Black wealth in history.
According to the group United for a Fair
Economy, such people lost between $164 and $213 billion dollars. If it
weren't so tragic, it would remind one of the silly character
popularized by comedian Mike Myers in his Austin Powers movies—the
nefarious Dr. Evil (y'know, "213 billion dollars!").
But this is no joke. It is the root of the
current foreclosure crisis, which in turn has sent the Fannie Mae
(Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home
Loan Mortgage Corporation), the federally insured mortgage assistance
agencies, to the brink of bankruptcy.
How does the government respond to this
crisis? It has thrown a life preserver to the agencies (and through
them the banks and traders who hustled the sub-primes), and turned its
back on the people who got swindled. Typical.
What
we are seeing is the perverse logic of the market, or in a tighter
phrase, "business sense." Anything goes to get money, and if
you fail, don't worry, for the fake free traders in government will bail
you out, but only if you're big enough.
© COPYRIGHT 2008
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
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