Reader Feedback on As I See It: Insult to Injury

Published: October 6, 2008

You got peanut butter in my chocolate; you got chocolate in my peanut butter. As you might imagine, any time Victor Rozek gets a burr under his saddle about something political or economical, we get a range of positive and negative feedback about why we even put such content into the newsletters. Well, to put it bluntly, last time I looked, my business card said president and editor in chief, and the buck starts and stops here. These matters impinge on our IT lives, and sometimes, you just have to speak your mind.

As many of you did last week in response to Victor's As I See It: Insult to Injury rant about the sorry state of the American economy. Helps clear the pipes, don't it? Don't be shy. Speak your mind. And we will do the same--of that, I can assure you.

Anyway, here's a sample. The views from readers were all over the map, and sometimes off the wall. That's people for ya, as Sarah Palin might say with that long wink.

Oh brother!!!!

I understand that The Daily Kos is looking for a political editorial writer. I think their politic is right up your ultraliberal, far left alley. Anybody that quotes Dennis Kucinich as an authority on anything will always be suspect in my book. Yeah, this situation is bad but, frankly, I don't want to read about it in my IT Jungle email and I especially don't want to be exposed to the drivel coming from you. I've had my fill of your left-leaning political rants in my inbox.

Do all of us a favor in the IT world that get the IT Jungle yet don't subscribe to your political flavor of the world: scram, take a powder, beat it. Fulfill your life long dream of saving the world and go write for The Daily Kos. Monday's are bad enough but to come in and have to read your crap is depressing.

Love, Pat

Wall Street of Mass Destruction--of value, that is. . . .

My fear is that they leave the bonuses in place for those responsible for this mess for them to shut up: $700 billion might not be enough to fill the hole. Sincerely hope I am wrong about this.

Why am I so pessimistic? After Fortis in Belgium, and Dexia, who is the main customer for Dexia Technology Services (which is my employer), took a hit today. Down 31.1 percent. More of a decapitation than a haircut.

Thanks for your newsletters, Take care.

--Michiel

Bailout--Way Out

I loved your article about adding insult to injury. Thank you for your insight and clarity, Victor. As usual, I found them very refreshing. I send this in hopes that it gives you some comfort and not a little respite.

There's this little thing, karma. It needs no funding. It just operates. Karma actually means "action," and action contains within it the seeds of reaction. The show is unfolding and our interest is growing. Lies that have had a long life may live only a short time more--or may have yet another long time.

So. . . on what do we really depend? Obviously it is not the gubamint--that pitiful shambles. It is not even something as intimate as our own bodies, though we cannot enjoy our current so-called life without them. What then, pray tell? It is nothing. It is this moment NOW, which cannot be threatened. This is your essence and mine. Don't try to understand it with your mind, because there is nothing to understand. Your apparent survival and mine depend upon whether or not we can appreciate it. Our real survival, however, does not depend. We are. I am. That doesn't change as forms come and go. Thanks to Eckhart Tolle--I can share this with you now. That is the Power of Now. Love and peace and joy beyond description await us now. Come on in--the water's fine! If we fail to go within, we go without. No worries, though, because you're coming this way anyway. . . only apparently later.

Best wishes for your continued success!

--G

Excellent article on the Wall Street Bailout.

I was hoping to see something from you on this subject. Thanks for the insight on a complicated issue.

--DFS

Victor,

Why did it take you to almost the end of the article to mention Congress? But the mention should have included the following: Congress passed legislation in the late 1970s and mid-1990s to increase lending opportunities to the "poor and underserved" without regard for the basics of good lending practices, i.e., the ability to make payments on a loan. And indeed, pressure was put on lenders, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, by Congress to make more of these loans with negative consequences if they didn't. That is also one of the significant factors that got us into this mess and should be mentioned as well.

Thanks for listening.

--Carole

Victor,

You wrote that tax payers have no lobby. You're right, but what happened to the good old tradition of revolution? Everybody in the finance industry who made more than $5 million a year should be hanged.

To be serious. I'm more afraid that the $700 billion is just the tip of the iceberg and will not cover more than just the most rich of people's asses. As I see it, thanks to the American finance industry, the USA is definitely going down the drain and the worldwide impact will be huge. It will be even bigger for the U.S. citizens. They've got to wake up. Required investments into the American industrial sector has not been done, due to the money that went into quick money fantasies.

--Chris

"The capitalists-turned-opportunistic-socialists not only want the money, they want it without any oversight whatsoever."

Pointing out irony is fine, as long as it's true. When talking about self-aggrandizing politicians, then it's both sides of the aisle and more specifically in this case the Democrats led the charge to loosen the purse strings for mortgages. However, as for capitalists you're blaming the dogs for eating the droppings that you threw on the floor.

You want irony? It really doesn't get much better than this, some of the very people in charge of the financial debacle, such as Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, and Harry Reid, are all smiles and I mean ****-eating grins in front of cameras announcing how they have now solved the crisis by bailing out Wall Street. Of course, Pelosi couldn't resist finger pointing at the Reps for being "un-patriotic" for not coming to "her" table. The creation of a third-world nation requires those actually believing that there is two opposing sides, either one of which can be held to blame at anytime, but none of which as a whole can be held accountable. It doesn't matter the subject in the last decade--drugs, war, famine, financial, terrorists, etc.--does any of it seem logical to you?

"I dream of solutions that address causes, not symptoms; solutions reached on the basis of merit, fairness, and respect for the working people of this nation."

Dream on, you cannot inject logic into an illogical situation, when talking to the very entity that has only one goal in mind, and that is not your self-interest.

God bless and good luck to us all.

P.S. There was a secret meeting on Capital Hill about two months ago regarding the coming financial crisis. As in, they already knew it.

--TS

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As I See It: Insult to Injury

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