Is he serious?

Oh, yes, he is. He's very serious. I'm very serious.

Yeah, yeah, yeah ... I hear all you whiners, too: nobody made him take the loan; he didn't have to sign the contract ... but, is that really the case? No car, no job. Where's the choice? There are many times in life when we simply have no choice and we end up in a situation that we wish were otherwise. My question is, why don't any of us count so much that our situation can be considered? Why are we treated like human beings? Why are we simply contracts, and agreements, and obligations, and, well, just things. When you strip a human of his/her humanity, you do violence. And that's what we do, and that's what we think is right these days. Yes, we've stooped this low.

For all the touting that conservatives do about the worth and necessity of the individual, I find it somehow surprising that as soon as money is involved, the individual isn't worth anything at all. Any individual can suffer a twist of fate, a set-back, an unexpected and temporary change of fortune. Why can't that all be calculated in? Why is this so difficult?

Well, it isn't difficult if you owe enough, or if you appear to be rich enough, or you have the proper gift of persuasion. Rupert Murdoch can be on the verge of bankruptcy, but if he calls in his creditors and tells them they are going to negotiate new terms, new terms get negotiated. If you're not of Rupert's "stature", you're nothing more than free game. The fact that another can consider you so unimportant, so insignificant, so not worth dealing with, is another piece of evidence for my violence hypothesis. Since I can bully you, I will; since I cannot bully Rupert, I won't. How phony can you get? And these are the folks we like to praise as "captains of industry", "gurus of high finance", "business leaders" ... right.

Truth be told, they are little more than braggarts, bullies and cowards. They hide behind their rules and laws when it suits them and when they can get away with it, but otherwise, they bow, scrape and kow-tow before anyone upon whom they can place a monetary value greater than their own (in that moment). Isn't that just grand? How proud we must be? How satisfied we must be with our own humanity.

Well, not really. You may think they are business or finance geniuses, but they're simply crappy human beings. They're hypocrites and purveyors and multiple standards. They're inconsistent, arbitrary, and in the end, cruel, and simply violent. If you admire them, or support them, or simply don't care, well, you're just as bad.

Funny, I can't remember the last time I was this serious.