America: the unemployed and Wall Street bonuses

“Safety Nets for the Rich” was the title of the column Bob Herbert wrote on Monday in the New York Times. I have to say that I agreed with him totally and not only because he commented in the passivity of the American population, something that has always puzzled me. I have many times talked about that with friends and family both in the US and abroad. Many of us thought that American patience does not go with the so much talked about American violence. It is as if we became violent because we were unable to rebel under the provocations politicians and plutocrats inflicted on us. We are a democracy unable to tell our leaders enough is enough most of times and therefore we resort to attack and hurt other people like us. A friend called me simplistic in my interpretation and maybe he was right, though I am not sure and even less these days when we see as Bob Herbert wrote “how passive the population has remained in the face of this sustained outrage.” An outraged inflicted on the population by Wall Street to which we don’t see much reaction from the government. And that is dangerous. When working Americans are struggling to keep their jobs or are loosing them as well as their homes and the Wall Street CEO’s are again receiving multibillion-dollar bonuses thanks to the help the government gave them it is hard to remain calm. A comment to the column of Mr Herbert from a Seattle reader says it all: “I have completely lost faith in our, so called, Democracy. It is a Plutocracy or Oligarchy or something; but it’s damn sure not a government of the people by the people. We have been conned!”