Profits can kill. Profits can destroy. Profits can corrupt.

Regular readers know that Mr. Blunt and Cranky has had long careers in business and the arts, and is therefore not at all opposed to making money. Indeed, Adam Smith is frequently cited here: the man was a firm believer in a WELL-REGULATED free market. Because he was smart enough to see the harm that unchecked profits can cause.

Profits are not inherently bad: in the right measure, they can do a lot of good. But anything can be overdone: and the Teapublican “greed is good” mantra is an object lesson. Here, then, are three examples of the horrors that can be wrought by profits:

Number A: America’s profit-centered “health care” system kills lots of people. Including this writer’s only son. Yes, Aetna has death panels: people are denied care based on profit margins. That is why my son was kicked out of the hospital just a few hours after awakening from a coma. PROFITS CAN AND DO KILL. PROFITS KILLED MY KID.

Letter 2: American industry is constantly pushing for less (or no) regulation, in order to increase profit. Thence came disasters such as massive oil spills, poisoned rivers and aquifers, and destructive, deadly industrial accidents. Profits can and do destroy.

Thirdly: American politicos are taking bribes in record quantities to enhance the profitability of private businesses with taxpayer dollars. Yes, they call them “contributions”, but c’mon: these are bribes. Bribes that result in the theft of our hard-earned. Profits can and do corrupt.

Once again, Gentle Reader: your humble correspondent is not, repeat NOT opposed to profits. But not everything has a free-market solution. Some things are better divorced from a financial profit motive. Some things must be non-profit in order to succeed: things like health, education, public safety, and so on.

It’s long past time we put the final nail in the coffin of Reagan/Bush voodoo economics and its resulting death, destruction and corruption.

Reality is calling, America: better pick up the phone while we still can.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

The Teapublican Endgame has Already Begun.

So the budget bill passed the House and is heading to the Senate. It avoids a government shutdown, yay. It also:

* Makes it legal for retirees to have the benefits they paid for taken away by their erstwhile employers,
* Makes it legal for Wall Street to crash the world economy once again,
* Makes it even easier for rich motherf***ers to buy and sell elections.

The Prexy and most Dems are going along because in a few weeks, with more “republicans” in DC, any legislation passed will be even worse for us. Thus we approach the Randian Teapubbie Paradise: in which right-wing extremists call all the shots.

We are about to be robbed, abused, surveilled, and mocked by the 1% bastards for two years. To an even greater extent than hitherto. And as to anyone could have voted Dem in the last election but chose not to, it is at least partly their f***ing fault. Fuck them all with a sandy lubricant, the f***ing f***wits.

It’s gonna get even worse, peeps. America is going to get what we voted for. God help us, every one.

Mr. Blunt and Cranky

What the H*** is Wall Street Smoking?

Mr. Blunt and Cranky is far beyond befuddlement; consternation rules the roost this day. Why, you ask? Because Wall Street is once again loading up on “Republicans” this election cycle.  This makes NO effing sense at all, because over the past few decades, Dems have actually been the party that adds  huge numbers to the stock indices:

Clinton more than tripled the value of all three exchanges. Dubya cost them dearly. Obama has pumped them back up to Clintonesque-or-Better numbers. Anybody who do basic mathematics can see that modern Dems are better for the stock market than modern Reps. Just look up there and try to prove otherwise.

So, when Wall Street makes more money under the Donkeys, why are their heads up the arses of the Elephants?

Mr. B  & C

If You are Anti-Labor, Get Your A** to Work Today

http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm   is a good history of the roots of labor day: and guess what? “Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

Everybody got that? It was not about the rich folk of the country, it was not about the business owners, it was created to honor the working schmucks who actually built and made things.

That being understood, Mister Blunt and Cranky would like to make a few suggestions:

Number A, if you feel the minimum wage should be abolished, then you have no business taking today off, and should be at work. Go on. Off with you now. Don’t come home until Tuesday night, and work the entire time, every single minute. No overtime, either, you whining slacker.

Letter 2, if you think unions are some sort of job-destroying anti-Christ organization, then you have no business taking today off, and should be at work. Go on. Off with you  now. Don’t come home until Tuesday night, and don’t let us find you malingering the while (you know, meal or bathroom breaks, or any of that lazy behavior).

Thirdly, if you are opposed to any sort of health, safety, or life-saving regulations that save workers’ health or lives, see the remedies in Number A and Letter 2.

In a day and age in which the  Wall Street Crook is lionized and the Main Street worker is demonized, this writer hopes this brief history lesson will help some Americans remember what Labor Day is about: ordinary working people. They, my friends, are the real American Majority.

Seeing Wall Street tycoons, anti-labor lobbyists, and wingnuts like Michelle Bachman celebrate Labor Day is like watching Atheists take Communion.  Except, of course, one never sees an Atheist behaving in such a hypocritical fashion.

Mr. B & C