A thoughtful reader shared this with me, from TIME magazine:
How We Became the United States of France
By Bill Saporito Sunday, Sep. 21, 2008
This is the state of our great republic: We’ve nationalized the financial system, taking control from Wall Street bankers we no longer trust. We’re about to quasi-nationalize the Detroit auto companies via massive loans because they’re a source of American pride, and too many jobs — and votes — are at stake. Our Social Security system is going broke as we head for a future in which too many retirees will be supported by too few workers. How long before we have national health care? Put it all together, and the America that emerges is a cartoonish version of the country most despised by red-meat red-state patriots: France. Only with worse food.
Note the piece that the phrase "We’ve nationalized the financial system" links to. That one photo of Henry Paulson is rapidly becoming ubiquitous. I used it for the Daddy Warbucks thing, and I also put it on tomorrow’s op-ed page with a column by Robert Samuelson headlined "Paulson’s panic."
Hey, that’s the United States of Freedom to you, mon ami.
Unfortunately, it seems to be pretty accurate.
The big two-and-a-half in the auto industry got in line last month, auto finance companies are looking for some help, most of us could use a cash infusion.
Maybe bringing video poker back would make things easier for us all…
Personally, I feel like this financial crisis started when Barbra Streisand tickets became expensive enough to allow her to finance the Democratic Party in most states.
A Democrat with a pocketful of someone else’s money is a dangerous thing.