Perverted priorities

(Oh I thought they were talking about this country not the middle east... carry on)

We hear about a local getting robbed at gun point with the robber getting away with maybe $20 50 or $100. It's a shock and we say "How can that happen in our neighborhood?" But when it's someone 2000 miles away who with a stroke of a pen takes away an old couples life savings we never hear anything about it. It's quietly hidden from the watchful eyes of main stream media. And not one of the perpetrators seems to see the inside of a jail cell. A financial slap on the wrist and it's back to business as usual. Change the company name and come up with a new scheme to bilk the suckers. And there are usually a lot of suckers to be fleeced. But we rarely see the aftermath.

There's the tragic deaths at a movie theater or school and we mourn for weeks on end about the loss, forgetful of the hundreds being killed on a daily basis in another country and not even reported. They're just numbers on a page as we distance ourselves from the reality. When we do see it have we reverted back to the days of gladiators where blood sport is now on a global level neatly packaged for your perverted viewing pleasure? 

Maybe that's a kinder ending when you stop to see what governments are doing to us of late. There's the slow and steady squeeze of austerity cuts all in the name of eliminating the debt, but we know better. The entire world system runs on debt. They have no more intention of paying it down to zero because to do so would mean a loss for them in our perverted system. For what is capitalism other than shifting debt from one place to another? A company borrows money for start up. It borrows money to stay running and when things get bad it borrows to stay open. If it ever does hit the magic pay off number another company will take it over, sell off the assets and leave it's workers holding the bag. A bag of debt and broken promises.

We think of people such as Helen Thomas the White House reporter as trailblazers. She actually did nothing out of the ordinary other than speak the truth. But now the truth tellers are looked upon as criminals like Manning and Snowden. What does this say to our children? That if you attain enough high standing you can lie to your hearts content and never be punished, but tell the truth and whoa be to you. You'll be locked up, possibly tortured and not see the light of day for years to come. Yes our priorities have become perverted.