Mad as Hell

Dear Time Magazine,

Your article in Time online, today, by Amanda Ripley entitled Why Aren’t Americans Buying the Bailout? holds some key reasons we’re not hearing the need for panic, but they’re hidden in the subtext. The advice the writer gives sounds like it could be credible in a highfalutin psychoanalytical fashion, but it misses the main point, which is what Washington and Wall Street have been doing for years and, now, they wonder why it’s not working.

The article condescends to the American public as though we’re not intelligent enough to understand this manipulation by our masters. The writer states that if only the so-called leaders, movers and shakers would re-brand the message or sex it up – hitting the appropriate panic buttons – then maybe the sheeple might act, appropriately. Tell your Ms. Ripley that I recall an intriguing weekly newspaper insert called “Ripley’s Believe it or Not.” Perhaps she’s related.

I don’t believe the BS that Wall Street and Washington are slinging. Of course, I didn’t believe there were WMDs in Iraq, that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9-11 and a thousand other things that Bush Co. and his Petro Posse have been pushing these past eight long years as they suck on the Big Oil teat.

Frankly, I’d rather be begging for a bowl of beans in Omaha than give one dollar to a Wall Street banker or Warren Buffet. They can jump from the highest building in Manhattan for all I care about their need for more money. I believe in the old adage, “You break it, you bought it.” Now, that’s a catchy marketing slogan. Perhaps Ms. Ripley and Time should sling that one around, instead of adding more gasoline to Wall Street’s little fire sale. At the price of gas, these days, Paulson’s solution only seems like tossing good money after bad. Hmm, another nice branding statement, don’t you think?

You’ve found a face – mine – and it’s angry. Re-branding your piece of crap, last-minute, knee-jerk, panic-driven legislation because idiots were minding the store (or foxes were guarding the hen house) as they try to force the consumer to pay for the pleasure of having the till robbed by mismanagement – is only adding insult to injury.

I and many others, if you don’t read your own news, are extremely fed up with getting hit in the face by the flecks of sputum that get flung from the rabid and frothing mouths of the Demander in Chief and his ilk whenever they think the American public should jump, again and again, to their perceptions of a threat. Enough with the Homeland Security, already. I’d rather face the threat. It would be cheaper, easier and far more pleasant. At least I would know my enemy. With a government like this, who needs Islamic fanatacism?

I’m not worried about another Great Depression. Hell, since Bush took office, I’ve been in the worst funk one could imagine. More money won’t help. Like Ike swinging through Galveston, I’m just riding this one out. Trust me, we have found the evil-doers. They’re the same ones that said, “Mission Accomplished,” “Stay the Course,” and “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” Washington’s last bail-out attempt in New Orleans after Katrina is what I am reminded of when I think of bailing anything. How’s that for branding?

Here’s news for you: Once again, Washington’s idea of a threat and how to deal with it is horribly antiquated, when not just plain stupid. Their biggest threat, these days, is pissing off the American public ad infinitum. It’s best to let sleeping dogs lie, but we’re awake, now. Get us riled and we can win world wars. Do your brains understand? Is that specific enough for you?

Sincerely,

The Kat