Socrates & Rock Stars

The trial of Socrates in 399 B.C. began with this posted indictment:

" Socrates is guilty of refusing to recognize the gods recognized by the state and introducing other new divinities. He is also guilty of corrupting the youth. The penalty demanded is death".

The "new divinties" that were the alledged corrupter of youth was his philosophy of questions. This included the questioning of authority which made the powers-that- be in Athens nervous. And so the indictment, the trial and the death of Socrates by drinking the poison hemlock. Now some 2500 years later, the present questioners of all authority take the form of members of all branches of our government, Wall Street manipulators and "rock stars".

No they are not going to drink hemlock as their punishment. But instead they will be bribed, well bonused or sell out stadiums. Somewhere in between the fates of noble Socrates and our present day trash should be the proper reward for questioning authority.

"Driver Carries No Money"

A very few delivery trucks still carry the warning, " Driver Carries No Money". Maybe it's because the illegal immigrant criminals can't read or speak English. Or maybe the hoodlums went through the public school system and didn't bother to learn to read. But because there was no money available there were no losses.

Can we learn a lesson that applies to our politicians and their Congress? It's their Congress because they as a group get more out of government than we outside of government do. The latest legal crime that our politicians are facilitating is the Wall Street bailout. Here we have Wall Street jackals making money on the way up and keeping what they made as their broken schemes and maipulations are transferred to the tax payers on the way down.

The lesson is this. First character is fate. And since our politicians start with little or no admirable character traits we are facing certain disappointment. But add the bad character to the oppotunities presented for self advancement by handling and being part of a $ 3 trillion budget process and one can see how we keep digging deeper holes as government gets larger. There is a direct ratio. And so the app. $ 1 trillion bailout will be handled by printing more money. Money represents the collective character of the issuing nation. Our falling dollar signals what our trading partners think of our character.

What's to be done? How about printing this sign on the halls of Congress, " Politician Carries No Money Only Opinions. All Money Matters Are Left To Individuals"?

What Are We Going To Do About The Wall Street Gangsters?

Starting with Clinton and through the Bush Administration , the Wall Street gangsters got all they wanted. The "For Sale" administrations repealed Depression-era security and banking laws and appointed Wall Street pirate captains to cabinet positions.

But Bear Stearns stock went from $170 to $10. And there are many other brokers and banking stocks on the same trajectory. So criminals with unbridled greed given free roaming access to other peoples money brings self-destruction faster than anyone could have imagined.

No one knows how all this chaos will play out. We all could end up in the streets fighting for our lives and property. If that happens I know who I will be looking for : members of Congress, lawyers and Wall Street operators.