Because I long for the wit and comic insight of the recently deceased  George Carlin or even the quick mind of the rarely seen  Janeane  Garofalo I found  myself still watching  “The Daily Show” (Jon Stewart).  Stewart’s manufactured “centrist” (Yuppish)  political style is nothing like the  the edgy,  provocative utterances of Carlin or Garofalo, but times being what they are I take my chuckles where I can.

Jon Steward started his first segment in his normal middle of the road fashion poking fun at the situation in Greece.  During this segment he stated that the Greek public workers received 83%  of their  base  pay when they retire.  Under Social Security Americans only get about 30 to 33%. Even more the Greeks can retire at age 53 and still get full  83% payment; compared to our retirement age of 68 (which might be raised to 70).

Upon hearing this my first thoughts were, cool!  More power to the citizens of Greece.

My next thought was “I want some of that!”

Back during the  Detroit Auto Company bail-out when GM and what might still be called Chrysler used the circumstances to milk even more concessions out of the all ready beaten down unions Obama’s attitude concerning the sanctity of contracts (collective bargaining agreements)  seemed incredible flexible as compared to his steadfast orthodoxy when honoring  pre-TARP bonus  contracts of guys who ran their companies out of business on Wall Street.

More than once I heard the phrase  “Cadillac health plan” come out of Obama’s  pie-hole  during the health care debate and the US Auto bail-out.

Will we ever get beyond being just “crabs in a barrel?”

We shrug our shoulders when the military industrial complex sucks billions out of our tax paying pockets each and ever month, yet we insist on counting every food stamp given to the poor. Our media personalities call the Greeks uppity for retiring at 53 with 83% of their pay while our wall street gods soar with golden parachutes! What our not so fearless leader refers to as “Cadillac health care” is in reality real health care without the high deductibles and co-pays that has driven so many to bankruptcy.

The constant corporate propaganda has done it’s job well: