Good Ground Blog


Friday, March 13, 2009

The Pound of Flesh


The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it.
If you deny me, fie upon your law!
There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?
- Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Thanks to an intensive period of blame-storming, we now know who is responsible for the global economic crisis. And, like Shakespeare’s Shylock, we are hungry for our just revenge.

Who is the guilty party?

Why, the Republicans, of course. And the Democrats, Congress, the Presidents, the regulators, the Federal Reserve Board, Wall Street, speculators, hedge funds, greedy investors, mortgage lenders, big banks, small banks, insurance companies, home buyers and sellers, student loan deadbeats, CEOs of all types, the auto industry, the energy industry, the Pentagon, welfare mothers, voters in Red States, voters in Blue States, the Chinese, the Europeans, the Russians, illegal immigrants, the Japanese, liberals, conservatives, libertarians, the school system, SUV drivers, Mexicans, health care providers, trade negotiators, union members, the press, African Americans, whites, city dwellers, suburbanites, farmers, coal miners, Baby Boomers, the elderly, youth, manufacturers of white flour and high-fructose corn syrup, pornographers, Catholics, fundamentalists, terrorists, bicycle riders, tattoo parlor owners, tree-huggers, ipod wearers, texters, government contractors, tax attorneys, everyone who lives in the Middle East, South Africans, and Google.

In fact, it’s pretty much everybody but you and me. And we deserve our pound of flesh. Yes, we do. What are you going to do with yours?