Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Pigeons Have Landed

This rant du jour is about crony capitalism. I can think of no better example of crony capitalism than General Electric and their flock of pigeons- often and euphemistically labeled as media.

I believe in conspiracies in the same sense that I believe like minded individuals are motivated by  common fears. Think of a school of fish avoiding a predator or better yet, a flock of pigeons all trained in some Pavlovian experiment conducted by old people in parks each day. Waiting for their handouts. Fluttering about as some new and unknown walker enters their field of view.

Suckers in the gambling world are called "pigeons." Pigeons are an excellent metaphor for so many predictable and cowardly things.

Today's piece took a little work. It was spawned by a ridiculous story I read yesterday- a type of story that the Obama minions generate. Unfortunately, or fortunately as the case may be, I forgot to book mark it. It was a mainstream media account that concluded that the "recovery" is in full swing and that Obama will likely be re-elected.

The recovery, you see, is now a foregone conclusion. No argument, no dissent. It's a fact because the pigeons have said so. Thus the standard modus operandi emerges.

First, you must have an agenda. Then take some fudged government numbers, add spin, and offer an "opinion" as though it is a matter of fact. This type of garbage writing has been going on since the rise of Obama in 2008. This then- is what the pigeons call news. Just a handful of media empires have a virtual monopoly on all of the news that you will ever read, see, or hear.

The media conglomerates feed you garbage. So today I thought I would focus on GE. General Electric owns 49% of CNBC (51% Comcast) among other things. The quintessential corporate conglomerate which is completely in bed with Obama and government. Crony capitalism.

Gone are the days of independent reporting where reporters asked "hardball" questions and the answers found their way into print. In today's world, if you want to keep your job obedient workers, you will write what we tell you to write. That's the garbage you see on your homepage. On CNBC. On your nightly news. Here's a decent link that talks about the recognized media conglomerates and how they came into being. It includes GE.

Is it any wonder that Obama virtually bought a network when he appointed Jeffrey Immelt of GE/CNBC as his "Jobs" czar right before the election?

Here is how GE cashed in on TARP and the bank bailouts.

GE by the way, is one of  the dirty thirty businesses that does not pay income tax.

This will frost your ass.

Like Steve Jobs said when looking back, "Are you starting to connect the dots?"

Nothing like an example to illustrate my point. The first link is actually an editorial about the big "recovery" and the improving jobs picture found oddly enough at Jeffrey Immelt's, CNBC homepage.

The next story, based on actual math and supported by a 9 billion year over year tax shortfall asks the question, did we just lose 1.8 million jobs in the last 15 months?

The President, Congress, and the crony capitalists have an absolute stranglehold on our country. Not only do they spin news in ways that benefit them, but they get government handouts, avoid taxes, bribe legislators with re-election donations or retirement gigs as consultants and board members. Then they stand behind old facades of credibility, telling the pigeons what to write and how to write it. Of course it's a conspiracy. A conspiracy of the status quo to retain power, wealth, and their super sized egos.

Pigeons have been flocking around them for a very long time. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

American in the majority are clueless. It must be the flouride in the water. Read on ZH that the majority of the jobs created are junk jobs. Not the manufacturing high paying jobs of old. More spin from MSN on the so called recovery. I am fortunate. Have a job that keeps on ticking with no end in sight. In the food industry and should be the last to go unless total collapse then everyone is punked. Kids are doing good too. Daughter a nurse and boy at a welding trade school. Just finished his one inch, going for the x ray cert then on to pipeline cert. Maybe he gets a job on the 1/2 pipeline Ibomba is so enthusiastic about. Crazy world. What will the headlines in Drude be in the morning. AE