[IWE] 'This American Life' + er, Derivatives...

[Ashton Brown]

Today, Ira Glass does the 'pledge pitch' for his program, but also an 
eloquent Pitch about just what (non-corporate not-profit-oriented) 
'radio' can do, that nobody else can, could (or in any case -- 
rarely-ever Does.) He read RFK's speech on the day MLK was assassinated, 
and several other sterling examples of Virtue.

THEN he went on to diagram the present.. continuing.. 
virtually-insoluble Pyramid of Greed + intentional insouciance -- via 
interviews with Real People, limning the stages of the Mega-Scam --

{{No..No! I Don't >Want< to *Think* about where these are coming from 
and who 'vetted' these 'Stated Income / Stated Assets', later ... 'NO 
Income / NO assets' bundles! All the others are doing this and we must 
COMPETE cha. cha. cha. cha.}}

As he was doing this, interviewing some of the early cancer cells -- 
before they all metastasized into the Cancer That Ate All Trust in 
anyone peddling money, for a generation or so..

It struck me >where< I had caught a meme of the Same Type of Tawdry 
Persona of "The Financial 'Community'" / legions of exact same con-man 
mindset, deeply ingrained:

* Tin Men
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094155/

The movie about Aluminum Siding Salesmen!! Danny DeVito and Richard 
Dreyfuss, 1987


Yes, folks -- those who cannot make it in eyeball-sucker-eyeball Direct 
Scam; those who prefer the anonymity of a backroom with certificate 
printing press, ie. those sans the guts to stare down the poor bastard 
you are about to fleece -- these pussies go into Finance (with or 
without that MBA badge of clan-membership, though the latter may 
eventually grease promotion  to Armanied manager of a Boiler Room: you 
prove that you know Exactly the Rulez you are cheerfully macerating; 
surely good for a giggle?)

<Pogo> We have met the enemy and ...

But then, What To 'Do'; no Time to do anything rilly-Smart, just best 
crap shoot you can bundle.
Love. It. but only a little ... <Lady Macb>/Yet who /would have thought/ 
the old man to /have/ had /so much blood/ in him?/