Not too many people are aware of the background of the auction section of Pirates of the Caribbean. In this scene, the captain of the ship has gathered the women of the town together and is selling them off to the crew of the pirate ship.
This is based on what actually used to happen with clever sea captains. Back then, the captain would get an equal share of the loot stolen from the city as just another member of the crew. In this manner all would seem fair to the crew who only followed the captain so long as the captain did right by them.
However, the captain did get other spoils, such as the town’s women while the crew may have gotten the town's liquor. A wily sea captain would then be able to get back much of the loot shared between himself and the crew by selling these desired items back to the drunken crew. In this part of the ride, the captain has handed the treasure to the crew with one hand, and is now taking it back with another.
All through the wacky hijinks of white slavery. What fun it is to watch this scene with the fat woman excited about being sold, and the redhead trying to make herself look as good as possible. Fewer people notice the weeping women standing in line and them trying to comfort each other before the upcoming rape scene. But, hey, it’s still a fun ride.
Fast forward a few hundred years to today and our government.
Right now, the stimulus checks are going out to those of you who qualify. What are you going to do with your $600 or so? Regardless of what you want to do, the intent is for you to spend it.
This falls in line with everything else the government has done for several years now. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not just our military going in and fighting. It is more about the contractors such as Blackwater and Halliburton being paid exorbitant amounts of money to do things that used to be done by the military in a much less expensive manner. Around eight million contractors are now employed by the government to do. It has been reported that Blackwater alone has made one trillion dollars in the last seven years. The war in Iraq is little other than a way to funnel money into corporate coffers in a manner that is simply unprecedented in its scope and depth. Sure we hear babble from the Administration about how we are fighting terrorists and whatever, but the real consequence of this war to this nation is the funneling of money from the government to private corporations.
So what has this to do with the stimulus checks? As mentioned, they want you to spend your money. What does that mean? It means you are going to cash the check, take the money, and go to a store and buy things. The money will be going to corporations such as Exxon who will take that cash and make themselves richer for it. It certainly is not going to be lining the pockets of individual members of the public. With gasoline prices going to four bucks a gallon and rising, this stimulus money will very nicely help people fill their tanks a few times. This money is not going to the people; it is going to Exxon, Walmart, and other similar giga-corporations at the expense of our nation. This behavior is something that the federal government seems absolutely manic in doing.
The people of the United States are unwittingly playing a shell game with their own dollars and their own government. While this money has to eventually come from somewhere, in the meantime, it has been moved from our nation to corporate benefactors. The public will eventually have to pay for this. There really is no such thing as free money.
So much like the pirates who drunkenly gave their money over to the captain for a few moments of fun, we’re now doing the exact same thing again with these stimulus checks and maybe a new DVD player made in China. Pirates were easily fooled into giving up their money then, and we are easily fooled into doing it now. Only this time it won’t be the invaded town that burns to the ground, it will be the United States, as all our wealth is sent overseas and to a few select corporations while the public is being played for suckers.
Human nature doesn’t change much.
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3 comments:
Fabulous analogy, Jon. I am always intrigued by your great insights.
When a government cries loud and long about how there is not enough money to fix enormous financial burdens like Social Security, and then turns around and gives away money to anyone who files an income tax return, there is obviously something else at work here.
Our best bet is to just cash the check, put it under our matresses, or a Roth IRA, and forget about it. Just don't spend it.
Better convert that money to Euros before you put it under that mattress.
In the background of WALL-E, a sign:
"Do Your Part, Fill Your Cart"
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