by Joe Bageant
Deer Hunting with Jesus
August 10, 2009
This essay was originally published on AlterNet.
Cognitive capitalism — just when we thought there were no new ways to get screwed
A few years ago, compliments of the George W. Bush administration, I got an education in political reality. The kind of education that makes you get drunk at night and scream and bitch at every shred of national news:
“Do you see how these capitalist bastards have made so much money killing babies in Iraq? And how they are have brainwashed us and gouged us for every human need, from health care to drinking water?” I’d rage to my wife.
“It’s just the way things are,” she said. “It’s only a system.”
My good wife often thinks I have slipped my moorings. But she never says right out loud that I’m crazy because, let’s face it, honesty in marriage only goes so far. Furthermore, I’d be the first to proclaim that she’s right.
I have indeed slipped my moorings, and am downright ecstatic about it, given what the collective American consciousness is moored to these days. Anyway, I am, as I said, ecstatic. When I am not utterly depressed. Which is often. And always, always, always, it is because of the latest outrage pulled off by government/corporations — the terms have been interchangeable for at least 50 years in this country, maybe longer.
[…]
see
Nader Was Right: Liberals are Going Nowhere With Obama by Chris Hedges
Dandelion Salad 
Here’s something to note. Check out the oil company execs…..
Blackstone’s Schwarzman tops U.S. CEO payroll: study
Thu Aug 13, 2009 6:33pm EDT
By Scott Malone
BOSTON (Reuters) – Taking his private equity firm public paid off big for Blackstone Group LP’s Stephen Schwarzman, who became the top-paid chief executive in the United States last year, a title he is likely to retain for some time, according to an analysis released on Thursday.
But the surest route to big bucks was running an oil or natural gas company. Their CEOs represented seven of the 10 highest-paid U.S. CEOs in 2008, according to a report by independent research group The Corporate Library.
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