These days it is hard to watch the news because of the dire economic situation that continues to pile up daily. Not only the grim reality of bailing out one industry after another but the realization that this all occurred due to votes taken by our 'representatives' makes it very difficult to tune in to. There is also our own complicity in the collapse based on ignorance, laziness, and self-absorption. It doesn't add up to programming that is pleasant viewing.
While taking all of the above into consideration it is understandable why many people, me included, decided to take in the NCAA basketball tournament. This year was made even more interesting for us locals because the Washington Huskies were a 4th seed. We also had our across state perennial NCAA Tournamenters, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, to watch. The Huskies made it to the 2nd round before falling a little short against Purdue. The Bulldogs battled there way into the Sweet Sixteen before falling to the clearly superior North Carolina team.
The departure of Gonzaga ended my enjoyment of the tournament and not because I'm a homey. The reason was because the entire time that I watched I was forced to endure commercial messages from some of the biggest robber barons of the 21st century! More importantly, as a taxpayer, I was paying for it! Talk about having the bad news shoved down your throat.
Let's examine some of the tournaments big sponsors and why I find them so galling. Number one robber baron, Exxon. These incredibly long, expensive, and self-serving appeals by Exxon is enough to make me throw the remote at the television. Exxon made record breaking profits during the Bush years while enjoying generous tax breaks from the American people. The American taxpayer also assured Exxon of as much oil it needs in the future by occupying another country on their behalf. Aren't we nice?
For Exxon to use some of the money accumulated during their record breaking profit years to spin the American people into thinking that they are thoughtful, concerned for the environment, and the welfare of the everyone on the planet, takes remarkable balls. That is because out of all the oil companies they are the least of all of those things. They haven't spent any of their profits on forward thinking or in seeking or developing other energy sources. They have spent their money telling us lies about themselves. Are we that stupid?
Next on the list of American Robber Barons with annoying commercials is GMAC. Howie Long can pound sand up his behind for all I care about his opinion. Talk about a company with no shame. They take billions of tax payer dollars so they can continue doing exactly what got them into this mess in the first place and then they run expensive commercials. The most appalling of them all is the commercial where they mention the stimulus money that will be spent on our infrastructure. Apparently they think that in order to rebuild our infrastructure correctly we all need a big, gas guzzling, GMAC truck to do the job with. That way they get money from us both coming and going!
Other annoyances were the Charles Schwab animated whiners. I never liked the format before and now that they're all crying about their 401K it's even less attractive. Besides the fact that taking advice from any "money" expert anymore sounds like seeking medical advice from Dr. Death.
The bottom line is any corporation that seems remotely involved in swindling the American people I have a problem with. The food advertisers for the tournament like Sonic, Applebee's, and Taco Bell are only trying to make us fat not steal our money. The gamers, beer sellers, and deodorant folks just want to sell us their product. But oil companies, financial institutions, and failing auto manufactures should keep a very low profile with outraged Americans.
For Exxon to use some of the money accumulated during their record breaking profit years to spin the American people into thinking that they are thoughtful, concerned for the environment, and the welfare of the everyone on the planet, takes remarkable balls. That is because out of all the oil companies they are the least of all of those things. They haven't spent any of their profits on forward thinking or in seeking or developing other energy sources. They have spent their money telling us lies about themselves. Are we that stupid?
Next on the list of American Robber Barons with annoying commercials is GMAC. Howie Long can pound sand up his behind for all I care about his opinion. Talk about a company with no shame. They take billions of tax payer dollars so they can continue doing exactly what got them into this mess in the first place and then they run expensive commercials. The most appalling of them all is the commercial where they mention the stimulus money that will be spent on our infrastructure. Apparently they think that in order to rebuild our infrastructure correctly we all need a big, gas guzzling, GMAC truck to do the job with. That way they get money from us both coming and going!
Other annoyances were the Charles Schwab animated whiners. I never liked the format before and now that they're all crying about their 401K it's even less attractive. Besides the fact that taking advice from any "money" expert anymore sounds like seeking medical advice from Dr. Death.
The bottom line is any corporation that seems remotely involved in swindling the American people I have a problem with. The food advertisers for the tournament like Sonic, Applebee's, and Taco Bell are only trying to make us fat not steal our money. The gamers, beer sellers, and deodorant folks just want to sell us their product. But oil companies, financial institutions, and failing auto manufactures should keep a very low profile with outraged Americans.
No comments:
Post a Comment