The Capitalist Religion

Capitalism has done a lot to rid the world of superstitious beliefs
and behaviours. But the rational paradigm is far from solid. If we
look at the irrational responses to the financial crisis we can see
that capitalism itself has replaced religion to a large extent as a
faith based belief system.

Part of this is cowardice on the part of the working/middle classes
believing that we need a powerful master in charge of things in spite
of the fact that the masters themselves are nothing better than
parasites and criminals.

But the knee jerk irrationality on the part of media, politicians, and
the general public is baffling in its acceptance of the worship of the
rich and powerful. The faith people have in a system that is
fundamentally flawed and on its last legs is something for social
psychologists to study for years to come.

Irrational cowards are in no short supply.

So far, the American taxpayer has handed over 300 billion to the rich
under the TARP program. Much more is coming. The belief is that if the
rich and powerful are well fed, they will feed the rest of us. Logic
that comes from the rich and powerful and filtered through CNN, CTV,
Fox etc.

Now Obama, a seemingly well meaning and intelligent man, is going to
continue to shovel massive amounts of tax dollars to the rich. In
other words, he is shoveling tax dollars into a black hole, never to
be seen again.

How can this all be explained?

Part of it has to do with the fact that it those very same rich and
powerful welfare recipients that are receiving the money are the ones
that are really at the helm of the American state. Obama might know
better but he also knows he'll wind up another dead Kennedy if he acts
as if he is the boss. Obama assures his betters that they have nothing
to worry about; that he believes that nationalization, if needed,
would only be a short term measure so the taxpayers can absorb the
losses. But when the season of profits mass profits returns, the very
wealthy can again collect the money. The rich collect, the workers
pay. Nothing new there.

In case you didn't notice, while this disaster is playing out, the
culprits are protected. The middle class and poor are not.

The upshot is, nothing has changed. The irrational and stupid neo
liberal thinking that has brought America and the rest of the world to
the brink and over the abyss is still entrenched against all logic and
rational thinking.

The middle classes in America, Canada, and the rest of the world will
bail out the rich. And what will the middle classes get in return?

There is no logic here. This is, as Deets coined it, the religion that
is America.