Economic Situation Painfully Funny

A friend sent me this little goodie today.



As yet another of my friends' husbands loses his job, I'm trying to laugh, but it's sort of feeling like gallows humour. When do we storm the castles of the executive's mansions, people? Now before you haul me off to jail, I'm not advocating violence against the corporate and investment top dogs who have preserved their gazillions while the middle class is struggling to retain their homes. But I think some careful scrutiny of who's made out while others have been damaged is in order. And I think - GASP! - maybe the fatcats need to give back some of their money to the businesses that are endangered so that they can pay workers and suppliers and not just keep going to the government asking for a bailout.

Last month, the NYT ran an article which began:

In announcing executive pay limits on Wednesday, President Obama is trying to hold the financial industry accountable to taxpayers while aiming to change an entrenched corporate culture that endorses outsize bonuses and perks that often bear little relationship to corporate performance.

I like what this guy has to say about it all:

“There is absolutely no reason why hard-working American taxpayers should be financing, directly or indirectly, excessive compensation for corporate executives whose decisions, in many cases, have crippled their firms and weakened the broader economy,” said Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who heads the Senate banking committee.

Government stepping up to the plate like this make me feel better. I'm not sure what's happening right now on it all, but if you agree with me, please talk to your representative and senators to show support. If you don't agree with me, please tell me why on earth you don't. Unless you're a corporate executive with a nice fat bank account. In which case, I understand. But I sure don't sympathize.

Thoughtful Thursday: What's YOUR American Dream?

The economy is in trouble. I know they've been saying this for a while, but I actually believe it now.

A friend's husband is getting laid off.

Another friend's husband has lost a third of his business contracts, and she is scrambling to make sure that the family can still get needed medical and dental services.

Others are afraid of losing their jobs, driving unreliable cars, and dreading a whole variety of unexpected expenses and income loss.

I received an action alert today from Moveon.org about the greed of Wall Street bankers taking big bonuses whilst expecting the federal government to spend taxpayers' dollars on bank bailouts.

Big bonuses.

The alert said "Sen. McCaskill was reacting to the $18.4 billion in bonuses that Wall Street bankers took home in 2008."

That's a whole lotta dough. It would pay for a lot of dental checkups or brake jobs.

What it comes down to, for me anyway, is nothing less than defining the American dream. Is it that anyone can grab as much as they can? That government should not get in the way of profit-making endeavors? That there should be no regulation of business? That this is a great country because a person can rise to a level where they make an obscene amount of money while others go hungry?

Um.....I don't think so.

I believe in the idea of one's fair share. And not the insane excess that some people have been taking and spending.

One of my friends recently sent me a picture of her taken at the FDR Memorial in DC. I totally love that place. It's full of beautiful natural stone and water and great bronze sculptures. I'm inspired by his quotes, chiseled into the stone. The one I've shared above encapsulates one of the reasons I'm a Democrat, and what I hope fellow Democrats believe. I'd love it if my fellow Americans all believed it.

What do you believe?