Dow's Gilded Age Shows Tarnish

It's been a wild ride on the Dow Jones wheel of fortune, and right now I wouldn't want to be a Wall Street worker--if such an occupation can be termed "work"-- for all the yuan in China. For years this indicator of our economy has flown high on the sweat equity of honest working men and women. For years we've lived with uncertainty, insecurity, many of us one missed paycheck, one health crisis, one layoff away from living under a bridge. Squeezed to the max, paychecks stagnant or falling behind, too many working families have had to resort to credit cards to buy groceries, pay utility bills, and then to filing bankruptcy to escape the collection sharks. How does it feel, Dow? The uncertainty, the insecurity, the economic terror? How does it feel, that knot in your stomach late at night as you add up your assets and add up your losses, and the losses are more? Do you know what it feels like to come home from work and find your teenager sitting in a dark apartment because you chose to pay your credit card bill and let the electric bill slide one week. Did you roll the dice and lose-- like the worker who gambled that taking his insulin every other day instead of daily would be all right because it would cut his prescription drug costs in half. Or another one who takes her blood pressure med every other day because she can't afford the full dosage?

How does it feel, Titans of Wall Street; to helplessly watch your kingdom tumble down? That's what it was like for Nancy, a 74 year old New Yorker with multiple health problems, when someone bought her apartment building and decided she could not live there anymore because they wanted it all. Her kingdom came crashing down around her, out of her control, and she wound up in a shelter where she knew no one. She worked all her life contributing her labor to the economy that enriched the Dow so generously, and when her world came crashing down, she was invisible to you.

So if I have no sympathy for the Wall Street hucksters--yeah, the same ones who conspired with "W" to try to steal our social security trust (?) fund, and the future benefits of our children--you'll just have to understand. I'm a compassionate person, but not for the likes of you.

And on that note, I'll end with a shout out for a mother I do have sympathy for--read her statement on "Dishonorable Chickenhawks" protesting the upcoming September 15 march against the disgusting war spectacle that's ripping off taxpayers and cheating our troops. Cindy Sheehan's statement is here.