Gambling with Life
Historians looking back on this time won’t have any trouble finding a mountain of evidence that this was a truly nutso era. Reality was on hiatus. And among the clues was how the Nevada politicians – federal, state, and local – jumped all over President Obama for remarks he made about personal financial responsibility. Said the sinner, in their eyes, "You don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices."
The justification for piling on the president for those words is that The Silver State has an unemployment rate of 13%, but that certainly misses the point. Choosing to gamble in Sin City instead of preserving the family nest egg is irresponsible. For that matter, any manner of risking money needed for a child’s college education is irresponsible. Gambling more than you can afford to lose is, how do you say, demented.
But that’s what the economy of Nevada is all about. That’s what the Indian casinos are about. And it would be tough to argue that much of Wall Street isn’t similarly a risk. Isn’t that why people are "earning" nine-figure bonuses for their "work"?
The attack on Obama for declaring that gambling can be irresponsible is beyond reason. It’s politicking. Democrats and Republicans alike waving a banner that says to their constituents that the immorality and degradation that is their livelihood is more important than people destroying their lives at the blackjack tables. It’s the same mentality as coal miners and oil drillers and nuclear weapons producers.
There is such a din of polemics that rational thought has been reduced to an anachronism in the public forum. That’s what the historians will note in discussing this time. Of course the critical issue will be, from what kind of world will they be looking, and how will we get there from here?
©2010 SetonnoteS
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