Letter: Getting set up for the next swindle

Dear Editor:

The industrial revolution and the reign of capitalism have propelled mankind forward on an amazing trajectory, but I’m afraid the ills of capitalism in its mature form are now poised to destroy what it has built.

Capitalism has allowed the concentration of power and wealth on a scale unprecedented in the history of the world. With that power and wealth has come corruption so pervasive that democratic government apparently cannot control it.

I was taught to believe that in our country if the upper class overreached and began to exploit the middle and lower classes, our Constitution contained the machinery to stop this exploitation.

Well, guess what? Wall Street over the past two years with the cooperation of our government has pulled off the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world and gotten away with it. The world’s largest financial institutions have orchestrated this heist without a single banker going to jail. These thieves are so arrogant they display their stolen riches with obscene ostentation that makes robber barons of yesteryear look like paupers by comparison.

When I first observed these bankers paying themselves huge unprecedented bonuses out of the money the taxpayers put up for their rescue, I expected an outraged public reaction. This rescue of the very institutions that caused the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression was touted by our government and the corporate controlled media as essential to avoid a depression.

Instead, I believe it has to qualify as the greatest swindle ever foisted on the American people. We still don’t know the full extent of the robbery. Oh sure, we’re a little angry that we lost our jobs, homes and retirement, but I will not be surprised if our anger is soon subdued and we allow ourselves to be set up for the next swindle.

The people of the United States have shown time and again they are the most gullible of all time.

Bill Payne

Libby