I blame the Quakers. My Friends-owned alma mater’s motto is “For the Honor of Truth.” What the Hell does that mean? What for the honor of truth? And, as my father liked to say, that and 50 cents will get you downtown. From my admittedly skewed perspective, finding and disseminating truth is about more than just personal honor. It’s about providing a service that’s fundamental to society’s survival. A society that lies to itself will always be in danger of self-destruction (e.g. GM). Hence the reason why Mother Nature creates mutant truth-tellers, who love honesty so much they’re wiling to risk everything to share it. OK, maybe “share” is the wrong word. Bit too touchy-feely. “Confront liars” is more appropriate. Again, ultimately, it’s for their own good. Convincing people of that fact is a life’s work. Even so, when it comes to the public purse, the desire for the truth has a wider resonance that gives me hope. Now, let’s get out those coals and that rake…
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Emil Faber said it best.
“Knowledge Is Good”
“A society that lies to itself will always be in danger of self-destruction(e.g. GM)”…
Bob, the first thing that came to my mind after reading that statement was not GM but Gubment. Living in the Peoples Republic of NJ, I have witnessed for the last 20 years a voting society and government that is lying to itself by thinking that you can keep increasing taxes, fees, tolls even though you are billions in debt and losing businesses and population.
I often wonder if there are any “truth-tellers” willing to “confront liars” in our society. If there are, where is their soapbox? In the main stream media…I think not.
TARP was the biggest train robbery in the history of the world and it happened right out in the open — eyes wide shut.
We the people were driven into fear of fear — the markets are collapsing, your job will be gone soon, your bank accounts will be worthless, inflation will skyrocket. We need to free up the market by giving the financial institutions billions, er, trillions.
Proper questions were not asked. Accountability was not called for. Transparency disappeared in the murk.
Yeah, sure! Whatever…give ’em the money. I don’t want to be homeless!
And the masters of the universe smiled as paid-off croneys in government slid over bags and bags of cash. Even now, we don’t know who got what, or what for. Or even, how much.
So why would Cerberus — the smartest guys in the room et al — let the world’s biggest train robbery commence and not don their own masks and ride into the fray for som’a that?
Answer? The won’t. Didn’t.
In fact, as RF points out, with Snow leading their snowjob, why should they?
They’re perfectly positioned to take the money and run.
We’ll never get the answers. We’ll never see accountability. The public will just be moved on to the next thing designed to put them in the next state of fear.
Will it be war? Another terrorist attack? A new disease?
Pardon the tin foil hat, but one can’t help but wonder.
I fear the money “Chrysler” received is part one of a three part play. Part two will be another payday for Cerberus. Part three will be Chrysler’s shuttering despite Bailout 1.0 and 2.0.
For a few years after that, bigshot law firms will argue the details of what transpired, and more wealth will flow upwards. But by then, nobody will be paying attention.
We’ll be too busy being told to be afraid of the Next Big Thing.
With a public more interested in celebrities than the economy (other than this absurd fascination in the three major indices), it’s no surprise that the “jobs jobs jobs” and bailout for bailout’s sake went through. Sure there’s a grumble, but yeah, that’s about it. Sad.
Testify!
I wish there were more outrage, and I wish there were more I could do. I took all of my money out of Countrywide, which is part of Bank of America who took 20 billion from TARP. I can also refuse to buy a GM or Chrysler vehicle, but I was already doing that before the bailout.
Excellent rant. However, you seem far too serene in the broadcast to call it a rant. I think of Sean Hannity as one who rants, but you? I dunno. But don’t take me wrong, I’m not asking for more raised voices and twisted logic.
On a more serious note, now that Csaba Csere is out of the picture, you need to become the go-to guy for the MSM’s auto industry coverage. But perhaps they’re not too interested in truth-tellers. (I say that without casting any aspersions on Mr. Csere’s character.) As long as we have a free internet, though, you can continue to spread the good word. But you really do have a perfect voice for radio.