Cockroach Joe Rises Again

Those who question whether our government is run by corporations, who doubt that K Street is the true center of power in our nation, may be interested to know that insurance company stocks are the political wind that moves Washington.

Do you imagine it’s the other way around, that the plunge and rise of stock prices are a reaction to the public option and Cockroach Joe’s attempt to destroy it? That would be the sort of carelessness that Bob Herbert exposes in his latest column.

It is the singular activity of ego and its noise machine to reverse cause and effect, figure and ground, in such a way as to embolden the likes of Cockroach Joe, whose thought-formula runs thus: if it’s for war, damn the national debt and open the vaults; if it’s for the health of the citizenry — or, to be perfectly accurate, against the profit-health of Joe’s corporate owners — it’s dreadfully dear and must be stopped, whether or not three-quarters of the electorate favors it.

No matter what else you might say about the conservative mindset, it sure is simple to read.