Happy New Year! (We hope): Louis Mascolo

Happy New Year! (We hope)

By Louis Mascolo

Happy New Year! (We hope) I feel like a fighter coming out in the first round when the bell rings and see the opponent is 150 pounds heavier than him, with biceps like logs and fists the size of boulders and a face that would scare Satan. Good luck to us! 2009 was a year the oligarchs revealed their naked power in America. If anyone was entertaining the illusion that America’s capitalistic democracy is benign with the greater good in mind, they got a real slap in the face this year. The rich and super powerful having befouled the economy and lost their cash, reached out and snatched our paltry share. It’s like a fat pig at a dinner table who overeats to the point that he pukes on his massive plate of food and then reaches out and grabs our little bread plate of crumbs.

The super rich and powerful have always run the country, whether to make a profit on war manipulate the Congress with bribes and graft (read campaign contributions), or to steal our jobs and shop them overseas,  but they’ve always worked behind the scenes. To see them emerge in all their ugly nakedness to bash us is a shock none of us expected.

We of middle age and older have lived through a period of time that is unique in human history. Since the end of World War II, we’ve experienced the rise of the middle class. Never has that happened before. Before that social structure was based on inherited wealth and social position. We have come to think that this is the norm and an entitlement.  But it has only happened over the last sixty or seventy years. Before that America was a pretty nasty place. Either you were a rural farmer on your own or an Immigrant living in ghettos with no social safety net working for pennies, being exploited by the super rich. Are we now going backwards toward that economic and social model. Never say never.

Well…isn’t that cheery. Sorry! There are glimmers of hope, let’s make a human sacrifice to the gods that it will turn into a ray. I can think of a few people to use.

On a positive note, I want to welcome “Big Rick” Cahall to the list of guest columnists. He’s a very funny and entertaining guy, and for the purposes of this paper will concentrate on entertainment in general. Movies, music, comedy, et. al. Welcome Rick.

And honestly, the best to all of you for 2020. Live well & prosper.