Money in politics - addiction as a metaphor for corruption

all in all, a useful metaphor...

william b. daniels in truthout...

Addiction and recovery metaphors are helpful for framing the private money crisis facing American democracy. The funders and the lobbyists are the dealers. Private money is the drug of choice. Members of Congress are the addicted consumers. Cynical and apathetic voters and the Citizens United Supreme Court justices are the codependents who enable the corruption machine to continue functioning. There can be no sobriety unless there is complete abstinence. This dynamic is what makes Congressional reform so daunting and cynicism such a facile response.

yes, and...?

Can we afford to be cynical? Do we give up on electoral politics and accept that our democracy is a corrupt, private-money machine? Or do we stop being codependent? Do we intervene and take steps to stop the new bosses in 2012? Do we confront the elephant in the room and show the addicts, the dealers and the codependents that we, the people, are the higher power of the Constitution?

We have all the tools. We can register voters and counter voter suppression laws. We can cultivate and support local and state candidates committed to the public interest. We can contribute. We can seek out every eligible voter who believes in the public interest and persuade them to vote. We can vote and participate in get-out-the-vote drives in our own communities.

[...]

Every time a hit piece attacks a candidate committed to public-interest policies, we strike back with the truth and the facts. We explain the manipulation to our friends and acquaintances. When we see an ad promoting an evidence-free ideological candidate, we expose it as the machine talking. When we see candidates thriving without a campaign organization, we check for their boss connections. By striking back in these and similar ways, we will help to knock out the candidates the new bosses purchased with private money.

So power up, cynics. We are America’s higher power. We need your help to change our dysfunctional republic and restore the American social contract.

mr. daniels has considerably more faith in our profoundly and - dare i say - terminally broken system than i do... i have been belaboring what to do for a number of years and have come to the conclusion that incremental fixes simply ain't gonna cut it... i believe the only thing that can save us now is a constitutional convention and what's the likelihood we're going to see one of those any time soon...? the other option is a deus ex machina which i give about the same odds of happening...

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The continuing stages of financial collapse and the denial that goes along with it

they're trying desperately to make it look like things are under control but they sure as hell aren't... even the stock market rally looks to me like grasping at straws...

a few of the latest stories, all of them no less than stunning, none of them comforting...

first this...

S.E.C. Temporarily Blocks Short Sales of Financial Stocks

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday issued a temporary ban on short sales of 799 financial stocks, a move against traders who have sought to profit from the financial crisis by betting against bank shares.

The temporary ban, intended to bring calm to the markets, follows similar action by Britain on Thursday.

The S.E.C. said the “temporary emergency action” would “protect the integrity and quality of the securities market and strengthen investor confidence.”

The commission said it was also considering measures to address short selling in other publicly traded companies.

then this...

Treasury to Guarantee Money Market Funds

The federal government took two actions on Friday to shore up money market funds, which have long been considered as safe and risk-free as a bank savings account, but which have come under stress in the current market turmoil.

The Federal Reserve said that it would expand its emergency lending program to help support the $2 trillion in assets of the funds.

And the Treasury Department said that it would guarantee, at least temporarily, money market funds up to an amount of $50 billion in order to ensure their solvency.

“For the next year, the U.S. Treasury will insure the holdings of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund — both retail and institutional — that pays a fee to participate in the program,” the Treasury said in a statement.

The department said concerns about the value of money market funds falling below the standard net asset value of $1 — or “breaking the buck” — had heightened the financial turmoil and caused severe liquidity strains in world markets.

followed in short order by this...

Stocks Surge as U.S. Acts to Shore Up Money Funds and Limits Short Selling

Stocks shot wildly upward Friday morning after the federal government moved to try and restore confidence in the financial markets.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 400 points only moments after the opening. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 4 percent. Markets in Europe and Asia also traded higher.

our fearless leaders know that there are gazillions of people out there who simply MUST, for their own sanity, find a way to continue to believe in our utterly failed financial system and will hang on to their denial until the last thread is ripped away by the sheer force of reality... i can't say as i blame them... when your entire worldview and belief system is based on power, money and the power of money, letting go of those beliefs is going to be at least as hard as kicking a long-standing drug addiction and, in fact, probably considerably harder...

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