That’s Rich

Frank Rich is worth reading this morning, before tomorrow’s election.

The Grand Old Plot Against the Tea Party

”Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and Wall Street Journal have been arduous in promoting and inflating Tea Party events and celebrities to this propagandistic end. The more the Tea Party looks as if it’s calling the shots in the G.O.P., the easier it is to distract attention from those who are actually calling them — namely, those who’ve cashed in and cashed out as ordinary Americans lost their jobs, homes and 401(k)’s. ”

I was listening to Marketplace Morning Report while waiting for the sun to come up and Allan Sloan (from Fortune Magazine) believes that the “Fraudclosure” mess is “a threat to capitalism”.

”SLOAN: No, absolutely. People are catching on that there's a double standard. There's one standard for you, and you're supposed to meet all of your obligations. And then there's another standard for the banks which is they're supposed to meet their obligations, but if they don't, well, that doesn't matter because we'll give them a do-over.”

While I agree with that part, I disagree with this.

”SLOAN: What you see in the election campaigns through the elections tomorrow is you see all of these demands for ending the Fed or ending all bailouts or ending this or ending that, which is never going to happen. The idea that you have to change the rules and break up some of the big institutions that are too big to fail, or change the incentives -- this is a little subtle, and it doesn't fit into a three second sound byte, which is why you're not hearing it now.”

A good sound bite isn’t a problem. “If they’re too big to fail they’re too big period”. There. Now you have a sound bite. No, I’m not that good with making up a sound bite. I stole it from Robert Reich. He’s been saying it since this mess started back in 2008.

Don’t you find it amazing that there isn’t any talk about antitrust enforcement?

Six months from now, when the truth comes out about who was funding this election, it will all be too late. We will have slipped a few feet further down the slope to chaos.

Vote.

Don Brown
November 1, 2010