Dear PBS,
PBS will never get another penny from me unless and until
they fix this:
http://www.counterpunch.org/mokhiber04022009.html
This is the most important issue we face now as a country
and we've got
to get it right. You folks just sabotaged the American
people and betrayed
our trust. I don't know if you can ever win it back.
-----------------------
I only posted the short message above,
but to explain further, the reason that this is the most
important issue is that we are under threat of economic
collapse. Many people have lost their homes, their livelihood,
and their faith in America. At the same time, our government
is bailing out the people who put us in this position, looking
after their interests, when we should be looking after the
interests of all Americans as a people. We are spending
trillions of dollars on plans that will not fix our systemic
problems. With that amount of money we could have offered the
American people a real and sustainable safety net that could
sustain them even in hard times. If you have your health care
covered; if you have protection against homelessness and
hunger; if your children, who are properly prepared and
qualified, have access to free higher education... then a
family can weather just about any storm.
We had enough money to secure those
benefits for all Americans. Instead we are choosing to do
everything possible to keep the same failed economic system in
place, run by the same people, who live in the same state of
consciousness. An opportunity lost. Doing what I suggest, as
well as other purposeful programs, could put just as much
money into the economy to reverse the recession as the
government is now putting into the economy, but with my
approach that money would be spent to benefit all Americans,
not just a few. Citibank, a failed entity, can now borrow
money more cheaply than AAA rated companies that were properly
run and managed. Why? Because the government is guaranteeing
Citibank's loans. Which is to say, we are guaranteeing
Citibank's loans. It is outrageous. Our failures all relate to
one thing: we fail to teach our children and one another the
meaning and importance of intellectual integrity.
It seems to me that we should be able to
construct a thought experiment that can demonstrate quite
clearly that no political system, no economic system, no value
system is sustainable if the great majority of participants in
that system do not participate with an intention to maintain
their intellectual integrity. When most are operating with
integrity, it always occurs to some that it might be to their
own personal advantage to lie or to cheat to shortcut their
way to success, fame and fortune. If enough people do the same
thing, the political or economic system will eventually be
destroyed.
In fact, we don’t have to construct a
thought experiment. We can already see the experiment coming
to its logical conclusion in front of our own eyes. We have
now seen the destruction of our democracy and also our
capitalist system. We thought communism was bad; we thought socialism was bad, but now
we see that it is not the system per se that is bad, it is the
lack of understanding and the lack of personal integrity on
the part of participants that can eventually bring any system
to its knees.
Our government does not represent us,
our corporations do not produce goods and services that
promote the common good, our educational system is failing our
children. And now this PBS documentary is the latest example
of this systemic betrayal. http://www.gpln.com/godandudhr.htm