"Who's the Big Winner?" The always Prescient Digby on the Power Brokers

[KoKo]

Who's the big winner? (45 Million with the Exit Card?)

by digby

At least we can cling to the fact that the big winners in our economic lottery aren't decent people of good conscience: Intrigue Behind Ouster at Duke Energy
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577510573797464712.html

The former top director at Progress Energy Inc. blasted merger partner Duke Energy Corp.'s quick change of CEOs after the deal closed, calling it "an incredible act of bad faith."

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This reminds me once again of a talk I had with a lawyer friend after the Bush vs Gore decision, in which I was bemoaning the destruction of the court and the very idea of our democracy. He replied to me quite sanguinely that "Americans love winners and they admire those who figure out a way to win. It doesn't matter how they did it, only that they did."

I was appalled. Still clinging to some semblance of idealism, I simply thought this was over-the-top. I don't think so anymore.. The old Vince Lombardi quote, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" is a very American sentiment. Taken to its natural conclusion, we have these vastly wealthy players recklessly spending vast sums of money not their own as if they're just. (Sound familiar?) And the man at the center of all this --- whether a player himself or a pawn --- wins big too. (He signed a self-serving contract and that makes him savvy --- and thus, deserving.)

And yet there remains this requirement for a puritanical work ethic for the poor. Indeed, many people seem to believe it is they who are the culprits in this breakdown of decency and conscience.(Nothing new there, of course.)But it's funny how it works. Poor people are losers if they even accept a government subsidy, while rich people are winners if they openly defy every norm of decent behavior and rig the system for themselves. Must be the money.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/whos-big-winner-you-know-who-ones-who.html

[xchrom]

1. this...

'Poor people are losers if they even accept a government subsidy, while rich people are winners if they openly defy every norm of decent behavior and rig the system for themselves.'

[RainDog]

2. k&r n/t