USA betrayed itself and all its friends

Joe,

Hi from Australia. I've just read your essay, "The Bailout in Plain English". It's all too true. Of late, Henry Paulson, your Treasury guy, was quoted as saying that he finds the recent US government move to buy shares in Wall Street banks is necessary but as objectionable to those bankers as it is to him.

Joe, as a retiree in Australia who worked his ass off for 44 years to get enough money on which to live and now finds 40% of his retirement fund is gone, will you please tell Hank Paulson what's fuckin' objectionable. It goes like this, "Hank, you and your Wall Street hyenas with your unregulated, unfettered free market Greenspan baloney allowed this voodoo money to be AAA rated by the world's most trusted ratings agency, that icon Standard and Poor's, so that the multi-trillion dollar load of dog shit could be exported to banks around the rest of the world.

We, the believing innocents, are now paying for this stinking mess on the sidewalk. We, the rest of the world are now paying your bills. Remember that, Mr Paulson. Mexico, Australia, China, Germany, Britain, India, etc., are paying for the USA. Mr Paulson, I find that most objectionable. Tell him. I wish I could, face to face.

But what's worse, Joe, is that finally the USA has run out friends. Joe, the USA has betrayed not only itself but also those who believed in it. The USA crapped all over us after we trusted it. Joe, your nation is now reviled as it never has been before. You were our saviours in two world wars. We, the rest of the world, worshipped the ground on which you, America, walked. We now wish that America wasn't around anymore. We'll be glad when you've stopped embarrassing yourself and us and have left the room.

America is the old guy at the street party, in the corner, who's become incontinent, talks rubbish about past glory days and bores the crap out of us with monotonous tales of how good he used to be -- and the USA was the best, Joe, the very best -- but now, just go home, old friend. Just go home and die. This is sad, very sad. So, Joe, say "goodbye" to an old mate. I loved him dearly when he was a young man. It's a great pity that he passed away the way he did. He deserved a far better send-off.

Try to stay safe, Joe, because I really believe that the USA will become a very dangerous place to live within the next few years. Meanwhile, we here Australia will be learning Chinese as a second language.

Take care,

Les
Australia