The Economic Populist's excellent response to the bullshit "Main Street Is Wall Street" meme

[whatchamacallit]

It starts with a link to a NYT article about the cozy AIG/Goldman connection and deal.

Get that? Goldman Sachs is the only private company in a meeting to decide the fate of AIG. The CEO of Goldman Sachs in a meeting with the Treasury Secretary, an Goldman Sachs Ex-CEO and Goldman Sachs stood to lose $20 Billion Bucks. Magically AIG is saved. Lehman Brothers is left to die.

So, now that that cat is out of the bag.....let's answer the screaming Pundits on T.V.

Every talking head is screaming, SCREAMING on how Main Street Is Wall Street!

I've got news fer ya, Main street is not Wall Street and these people cannot even grasp why the average Joe is so royally pissed.

Let's go through the hysterical whines and screams one by one.

Threat: You'll Lose Your Job!
Answer: Main Street Already Lost Their Jobs! You outsourced them, brought in cheap labor, committed age discrimination, denied work to single mothers, and even insulted people claiming somehow they didn't have what it takes anymore to compete! (no, nothing about cheap labor here, on no, Americans now plain sucked)
Threat: You Can't Get a Loan to Send Your Kid to College!
Answer: We already cannot afford to send our kids to college! So what if we get a loan, you outsourced our jobs so we cannot pay the loan off!
Threat: You Can't Get a Car Loan
Answer: So? They are repossessing my current car as it is!
Threat: You Can't Buy a Home!
Answer: Uh, bone heads, we were already foreclosed on!
Threat: You'll Lose Your 401k and Retirement!
Answer: We already lost our retirement when you offshore outsourced the jobs and allowed things like the Tech bubble and Enron. We also used it to pay our health care bills and house payments.
Wall Street, feel our pain. Fun, isn't it?

More here
http://www.economicpopulist.org/?q=content/if-you-want-bail-out-main-street-thenbail-out-main-street

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. That's it all right

Middle America feels screwed over and angry, and for once they're blaming the right people, the fat cats who manipulated the economy to their own advantage while selling Average Joe and Average Joan a fantasy of "buy now, pay later, and pretend you're rich."

[whatchamacallit]

2. Admittedly oversimplified, but it begs the question what are we saving and is it worth it? n/t