Zombies

Most of us have probably already seen the recent news regarding zombie warnings. For example:

On Tuesday during the morning rush hour near Collinsville, Ill., hackers changed a sign along the interstate to read, “Daily lane closures due to zombies.” And signs in Austin, Texas, recently flashed: “Zombies in area! Run.”

The press hoopla proceeds as if this were a prank or a joke. What if the real joke is that its not a joke? From David Sirota, an account of zombies in the Obama administration:

Now, this pinstriped band of brothers is proposing a "cash for trash" scheme that would force the public to guarantee the financial industry's bad loans. It's another ploy "to hand taxpayer dollars to the banks through a variety of complex mechanisms," says economist Dean Baker - and noticeably absent is anything even resembling a "rival" voice inside the White House.

That's not an oversight. From former federal officials like Robert Reich and Brooksley Born, to Nobel prize-winning economists like Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, to business leaders like Leo Hindery Jr., there's no shortage of qualified experts who have challenged market fundamentalism. But they have been barred from an administration focused on ideological purity. In Hindery's case, the blacklisting was explicit. Despite this venture capitalist establishing a well-respected think tank and serving as a top economic adviser to Obama's campaign, Politico.com reports that "Obama's aides appear never to have taken his bid (for an administration post) seriously." Why? Because he "set himself up in opposition" to Wall Street's agenda.

The anecdote highlights how, regardless of election hoopla, Washington is the same one-party town it always has been - controlled not by Democrats or Republicans, but by Kleptocrats (i.e., thieves). Their ties to money make them the undead zombies in the slash-and-burn horror flick that is American politics: No matter how many times their discredited theologies are stabbed, torched and shot down by verifiable failure, their careers cannot be killed. Somehow, these political immortals are allowed to mindlessly lunge forward, never answering to rivals - even if that rival is the president himself.

and, from someone trying to prepare for the worst:

Comments

[Orson]

So what do we do about these Zombies? We're going to have to realize that it will take getting intot he streets by the millions and physically threatening the bastards.

[Jodi]

Zombies don't respond to threats. You have to shoot them in the head.

[voyou]

Isn't Sirota's objection to the "bad bank" an example of left-wing state phobia? The role of the state under capitalism is to stabilize the capitalist system; of course, that's going to benefit the capitalists more than anyone else. So, to object to state intervention in the economy because it transfers money to banks is simply to object to state action tout court.

[Jodi]

you mean to say that there are words besides 'zombies' in that post? to be frank, I didn't read Sirota's objection as an example to state intervention per se, but as an objection to a particular plan