For a moment forget the shattered lives
The maimed and wounded bodies and souls
Forget the white crosses in the sand at Arlington West
Think of the money wasted in Iraq
$296,000,000,000,000
Billion!
Billion!
Billion!
To “liberate” a population of 27 million
The math boggles
And the waste inspires crushing hopelessness
We are less safe today
Than on September 11, 2001
More distrusted in the world
More despised
Bin Laden, where are you?
An eye for an eye leads to blindness for all
War leads to more war
Resentment to bitterness
Bitterness to hatred
Hatred to rage
$296,000,000,000,000
Would have bought a lot of health care
for our desperately ill;
A lot of education for our children;
Prescription drugs for our elderly;
Relief for our poor
When it comes to organized violence,
This is the land of the generous;
When it comes to human needs,
This is the land of the stingy
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
On the Bubble
It had to happen sooner or later…some poor (figuratively speaking) soul lamenting the fact that she cannot sell her home for the price she wants, the price her real estate professional swore it was worth. (The same real estate professional who boasted to clients that the California market was a one-way, non-stop ticket to the stratosphere.) No, she must lower the price by $35K and cross her fingers…meanwhile, the local media is on scene with a breathless reporter informing us that the housing “slump” is here, and it’s real.
Sweet Jesus, we are dumb and getting dumber by the day. Where was the local media when housing prices were soaring by 20% or more per year, and the ownership class, new and old, was raking in equity and storing the take in silver-plated wheelbarrows, and average folks by the score were being driven out like rats? When apartment owners were jacking up rents – not necessarily because their upkeep or mortgage costs were rising – but because the Market gave them a green light to gouge?
The woman on the TV news, poor soul, probably made three or four or five times as much as she’s had to lower the asking price, so, really, what in the hell is she wanking about? Easy come, easy go, right?
Hell no! Not for the Ownership class. The gains they raked in were due to hard work and smart planning, thrift, frugality and clean living, and by God they deserved every nickel in equity. (Pure blind luck had nothing to do with it!) The American Way, Democratic Capitalism in all its sanctified glory, every person participating in the Almighty Market, doing and getting whatever his or her talents can bring. Gains are American, losses are, well, for poor saps in Mexico and Argentina.
The housing market was never irrational, you understand; by market standards it’s perfectly rational for buyers to bid the price of a dilapidated tract home over a million bucks. Hell yes! We’re a nation of poker enthusiasts and Lotto junkies, we like to lay our money down in hope of reaping a big payday.
The day a house turned into an investment vehicle instead of a place to live was the day the bubble burst.
Sweet Jesus, we are dumb and getting dumber by the day. Where was the local media when housing prices were soaring by 20% or more per year, and the ownership class, new and old, was raking in equity and storing the take in silver-plated wheelbarrows, and average folks by the score were being driven out like rats? When apartment owners were jacking up rents – not necessarily because their upkeep or mortgage costs were rising – but because the Market gave them a green light to gouge?
The woman on the TV news, poor soul, probably made three or four or five times as much as she’s had to lower the asking price, so, really, what in the hell is she wanking about? Easy come, easy go, right?
Hell no! Not for the Ownership class. The gains they raked in were due to hard work and smart planning, thrift, frugality and clean living, and by God they deserved every nickel in equity. (Pure blind luck had nothing to do with it!) The American Way, Democratic Capitalism in all its sanctified glory, every person participating in the Almighty Market, doing and getting whatever his or her talents can bring. Gains are American, losses are, well, for poor saps in Mexico and Argentina.
The housing market was never irrational, you understand; by market standards it’s perfectly rational for buyers to bid the price of a dilapidated tract home over a million bucks. Hell yes! We’re a nation of poker enthusiasts and Lotto junkies, we like to lay our money down in hope of reaping a big payday.
The day a house turned into an investment vehicle instead of a place to live was the day the bubble burst.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)