Big Money for President

Does Big Money want Giuliani to win? I can't see how. When they supported Bush, they couldn't have imagined that Cheney and the Neo-cons would so totally fuck things up. Sure, they thought things would get a little fucked up. They thought they'd see some government deregulation and that tax revenues would take a small dump, but continue to go up as they almost always do. That's just to be expected.

And most of all, they must have imagined that Bush would get the budget trimmed a little at the expense of the country's parasites and deadbeats. You know, to be compassionate to them. History had already shown that Republicans only want to trim the budget when it's a Democrat spending the money, but perhaps they imagined things would be different this time. But they couldn't have predicted the total freefall these fools put us into.

Hell, even I couldn't have predicted things could have gone this badly and I disliked the guy from the moment I heard he was running for governor of my fine state. I knew he was just using us as a springboard for the Whitehouse and that he was going to be bad news. But nobody could have predicted it'd get this bad.

Too Much

But as usual, the world hasn't ended so things really could have been a lot worse. And that's where a President Giuliani would take us. Not the end of the world (I hope!), but to a worse place than we are already. The man was already a bit of an ego freak before 9/11 and now that the looniest of the neo-cons are advising him on foreign policy, he's really gone off the deep end. It's not just the uber-macho foreign policy stances; he's entirely adopted their toughguy posturing on all issues. Sure, he'll never really drink the neo-con koolaid, but he sure does like their twelve-year-old worldview.

And Big Money has surely noticed that. They're not dumb; just a bit greedy. And one thing is for certain: Bush is bad for greed. It's too much. It's like having a free-for-all with your Halloween candy. It's nice at first, but soon you feel like you're swallowing sugary vomit and maybe you really are. And before you finish off the dregs, you vow "Never again." You get the same thing from excessive drinking. As it turns out, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

And that's how things have been since Bush took office. Many people got stunningly rich during the nineties, but this is a whole new ball game. This wasn't furnished by an economic boom fed by a great new technology. This was the "Haves" just grabbing a bigger piece of a pie that didn't really get any bigger. And there's only so much of that people can take before they start wanting to do something about it. When they look at Exxon's pornographic quarterly profits while paying record amounts at the gas pumps. People can take a lot, but if you give them too much, you don't know what you'll get.

Government Racketeering

And Big Money knows that. Not all of them, but enough. They've had their fun and now they're ready for the adults to grab the reins again. Not just because they suffered from Greed Overload, but because the Republican politicians were really only doing it for themselves. Because the whole thing was an extortion racket. Those weren't fundraising rallies. Those were shakedowns. The Bushies were willing to sell you the shirts off our backs, but first you had to pony up some cash.

And if you didn't give them the money, you were locked out of the deal. Instead, you'd see your competitors getting the no-bid contract that you were better qualified for. It's like the horses took off the saddle and started riding us around for a change. And sure, that's how most politicians do it. But this was different. They took all the fun out of it by asking for the dough upfront. Cash didn't just grease the wheels; it was the only way to get on the train. And you get to the point when you realize that this is no different than how the mafia does things. If you want protection, you've got to pay for it. And the best corporate whores were the ones who essentially turned their corporations into payola factories.

But as I said before, these guys never knew when to say when. If they can get an inch, they'll take fifty miles. Nothing's so good that you shouldn't get more of it. But life just doesn't work that way and the more you ignore consequences, the harder those consequences will hit you. And Big Money knows that. That's why Obama and Clinton are so flush with cash. So will any Democrat who looks like they'll get the nomination. Assuming, of course, that they're better for business than Bush was. But after the mess Bush caused, that'd be pretty hard to do.

There really weren't that many people who got rich during Bush's tenure, but many of the ones who aren't going to jail have realized that Republicans are too much of a bad thing. And Giuliani is the worst of the lot. His foreign policy advisers continue to advocate policies which have clearly shown themselves to be disastrous, yet Rudy's such a megalomaniac that he really wants more of it. But Big Money has learned its lesson and is now willing to take its medicine. They won't play nice about it, but they'll take what they have to.

Oh, and I'd now like to give a big shoutout to Ron Paul, because posting about him is always good for blog traffic. Ron Paul is a prophet of great magnitude and the only man left in Congress not addicted to Viagra. Of course, I would never vote for a man with two first names, so it looks like I'll be stuck voting for Mike Gravel next November. Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron Paul.