Hip Hop Congress

The President Who Cried Wolf: Shamako Noble

The President Who Cried Wolf:

We’ve all heard the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you haven’t it’s the story of a little boy that’s supposed to be watching sheep, and he always cries wolf even when there’s no wolf to cry about, thereby summoning the services of sheepland security. At one point there’s really a wolf and the boy yells and nobody believes him because he’s done it so many times already while there was no wolf anywhere in securities line of sight. So the wolf eats all the sheep like a greedy finance capitalist and the people lose all their sheep related opportunity.

Our president pleaded with the American people last week, begging for folks to support his plan to bail out the economy to the tune of 700 billion dollars; the single largest financial intervention in the history of mankind. Sweet. Congress, in what will undoubtedly go down as one of the sorriest moments in American history, Congress dropped the vote that shocked the world, and rejected the President’s request. Even sweeter.

Some felt it was due to partisanship. Some felt it was due to poor outreach on behalf of the president and all his men (he didn’t even go directly to Congress to plead his case). Whatever the situation, one thing was certain. The market was not happy. Market centers in Europe, South American and Asia all felt the response of the rejection instantaneously and simultaneously with drops in numbers that could only signify one thing: shit is f&$($p up. You started to hear a lot of phrases like “panic seizes market” and “investors are struck with terror” and “credit freeze” and “fear drags market to the back alley and kicks the shit out it” and the numbers are there to prove its not all hyperbole. Asian stocks opened four percent lower than normal today and two of china’s biggest banks were down by eight points. European banks that were putting up a front like it was nothing are asking for bailouts from their government and falling one by one. France, Germany and the UK all profoundly impacted by the fall out and subsequent earthquake that has stuck at the heart of this global economy. South American markets, particularly Brazil is feeling the impact, although it reports that it is confident iron ore manufacturing, agriculture and other markets will allow it to ride out the coming recession.

But not of that is the worst of it. No, No, what’s something to behold is how the rest of the world is referring this meteor like coming recession that seems to now be considered inevitable. What’s worse is how everyone on earth not from the United States is framing it-as a “U.S.-led recession”

Immediately following, Citigroup swallowed Wachovia and there are a reported two to three other banks coming down the pipeline. All of this while the market is still reeling from AIG and WaMu on top of a general housing and financial crash that has birthed tent cities all across the greater USA.

Reflecting upon this phenomenon, I think about our current lame duck presidents’ corporate socialism request and I realize that much to my dismay, “Holy shit, I think Bush was right.” Words I never thought I would utter. Ever. About anything.

The world is not in a happy place right now. And not to point the finger, but it is so our fault. I mean, not ours, but yeah I guess ours. In fact, some of the more die hard free market purists out there still hold a great percentage of the American public responsible for taking loans they knew they couldn’t pay to begin with. To state it simply, it takes two to tango. It almost equates to referring to “seizing’” your chance at the American Dream as opportunistic and greedy at the level of Wall Street. You and I may think that’s inaccurate, but folks in China, Brazil, Germany, France and South Africa may think that’s right on the money, yo.

You see, if there’s any group of people on America who knows how much the world hates us, it’s the current Administration. With the assistance of Clinton (the coolest de-regulator ever), Reagan and his loving father George, Junior has worked diligently to ensure the economic dominance of America, even if it was on false terms. Who cares who you have to lie to every single living entity on planet Earth? Just get it done.

Well, it looks like that may have all just caught up with them. And in catching up with them, it has caught up with us. George Bush may not have been using the dynamics of fear to frighten us into saving just his frat boy homies as many suspect. At least not entirely. I’m no economic expert, but it’s looking to me like we’ve vomited on the priceless and bountiful carpet during the cracking ass party that is the global market and the rest of the party is pissed. The president tried to warn us that we should replace the carpet, because he knows this person’s parents. It’s his parents. And when they find out about their carpet, there will be hell to pay for every person who was at that party. Okay, this metaphor doesn’t work, but you get my point.

For once in his tenure as our president, he might have been telling us truth. But it was too little, too late because neither the American People, nor the body of Congress believed him enough to make it real. Because bush has cried wolf, the market is eating and will continue to eat itself alive.