Squeersy

you say:

//The spectre of Marx looms large again at the reality of gross and indefensible disparities that are increasingly unprotected by the crumbs and leavings of welfare. Indeed, obscene wealth is increasingly thrown into stark relief by the "austerity measures" inflicted upon the masses to defend it--the monumental effrontery!//

Amazing stuff indeed.

I suggest this.

The "obscene wealth" which is truly obscene is that for which people have not WORKED for it or used their innovative skills to create it.

i.e. UNION LEADERSHIP squillions. They feed of the capitalist free market system which creates the wealth..and undermine it by promising ever increasingly unsustainable 'crumbs' to gullible workers who swallow the tripe and when the company is destroyed and they lose the jobs.. (to Communist China of course) they just wander around glazed eyed and furrowed browed... but hey..'VIVA LA REVOLUTION'

The only people who will be the obscene mega rich after any such "revolution" are those pulling the financial leavers of the Left..

-George Soros (FINANCIER OF LEFT WING THINK TANKS and MEDIA)
-Andy Stern (SEIU)
-Richard Trumpka (AFLCIO)
-Al Gore (GLOBAL WARMING)
-Kathy Zoi (GREEN ENERGY FRAUD)
-Bob Carr (BENEFICIARY OF GORE/ZOI GLOBAL WARMING PROPOGANDA)
-Maurice Strong (MAIN DRIVING FORCE BEHIND GORE and CO)
-Innumerable other parasites connected with them.

But what about 'you' ? aah.. they will consign you to some insignificant ideological 'think tank' or some other out of the way place to make you feel 'important' while they wallow in their newfound post capitalist Socialist wealth.

You are useful to them for now... but only for now.

The striking feature of the commentators who attack the evidence of the global maldistribution of wealth and poverty is that fundamentally, this situation is acceptable. No matter that billions live on less than $4 per day, and what that means for human potentiality. After all, that's the way it's aways been and that's as good as it gets or, it's their fault anyway. How pathetic that world view is.

Surely there is something wrong with the world when those individuals and corporations which took part in one of the largest global financial scams in history, get off scot free (including ratings agencies who were supposed to be keeping them honest). And not only that, many got public money to protect them and us from the terrible repercussions of their amoral behaviour. But it's the ordinary people who have the least protection from the negative effets of the GFC who end up paying the bill with fewer working rights and government benefits. Where is the justice in that? It sounds like a clear cut case of class warfare to me.

We live in a society - we all have rights and responsibilities towards each other. These need to be in balance if we wish to live in a harmonious society. I'd rather pay taxes and live in a country that provides the basics for everyone, than pay little/no tax and live in a dog-eat-dog world of extreme capitalism.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that the super-rich and powerful have more rights and less responsibility than the rest of us. We have a right to call them to account for their actions - but I won't be holding my breath. The system is broken/corrupt and it needs fixing.

*Surely there is something wrong with the world when those individuals and corporations which took part in one of the largest global financial scams in history, get off scot free (including ratings agencies who were supposed to be keeping them honest)*

That's not quite correct, the way I understand it, Bjelly.

Those people who had shares and investements in investment banks,
like Lehman and others, lost their shirts. They were commonly
employees and traders in those very banks.

The Govt did bankroll other banks who were not part of the scams,
like Wells Fargo and others, to buy the scraps of those investment
banks. The way I understand it, most of that money has now been
repaid, with interest and profit to the US treasury.

AIG, an insurance company was baled out, but once again investors
in AIG lost a fortune. The reason they were baled out, was to avoid
a complete collapse of the global financial system, which would
have wiped out the assets of small people above all.

I fully agree about the ratings agencies, but I gather its not all
over yet. Investigations take years and those people who broke
the law, could still find themselves charged.

The real problem was that the Bush regime did not believe in
regulating anything, so it became a free for all, with virtually
no enforcement of laws which existed.

But then the American people were silly enough to vote for the
Bush regine not once but twice, so its the price which they pay,
for their bad judgement. That is democracy for you, imperfect, but
still all that we really have.

Hi Yabby, You might be right about investment bankers who lost their jobs falling on hard times - but I haven't heard any hard luck stories about them. Have many former millionaires or billionaires become destitute due to the GFC?

However, I have heard a lot about hard working lower and middle class people who have lost jobs, lost their homes, marriages have broken down, and are now living with relatives or in their cars. And they are the ones being asked to accept austerity measures and more "flexible" work conditions in the US and Europe.

If I could see those at the top leading by example and pledging to cut their salaries, bonuses and work conditions I might think we were all in this together - but it's obvious that we are not. Surely nothing exemplifies class warfare better than that.

We are lucky here in Australia that at least ordinary people got to get some of the cash with our stimulus package. We seem to have avoided the worst of the economic "reform" that is happening in other parts of the world.

Regarding GW Bush's 2000 election - it really was a bit dodgey - we'll never know if he really won the election - Gore won the popuar vote, it was the electoral votes that cost him the Presidency. There were so many voting irregularities, especially in Florida - many black voters were not allowed to vote, or had their votes rejected due to "spoilage" - the state Jeb Bush, GW's brother happened to be Governor at the time. Could just be coincidence I suppose.

Bjelly, alot of very wealthy people certainly became destitute due
to the Madoff saga. There is virtually nothing left of those
50 billion or so.

As to staff and traders of investment banks, I gather that many
had their life savings invested in those banks, but I could not
tell you if they are destitute now.

The GFC really brought alot of things to a head at the same time.
GM and Chrysler had been on the verge of bankrupcy for a while.
Greece had been overborrowing for years, fiddling the books.
A great deal of American people had been overspending for years,
borrowing against houses they thought could never drop in price.
Few put anything away for a rainy day.

The situation with hedge funds and investment banks is really a
straightforward one. They are only as good as the people whom they
employ. Some do have the ability and record to have earned their
employers alot of money over time. Those employees go where they
are paid the most. When Obama tried to limit some of those salaries,
many of those people simply moved offshore, to another company.

As to Bush and his election, right now its interesting. Sarah Palin
is being cheered on as the new saviour, as Obama tries to undo the
wreckage of the last administration. People expected a magic wand
it seems. It ain't that simple. We'll see with the elections
tomorrow, how intelligent the US public really are.