The radio ad offered the services of a company based in Dallas with a soothing name: Financial Freedom of America. It cast itself as an antidote to the breakdown of middle-class life.
“We negotiate the past while you navigate the future,” read a caption on its Web site, next to a photo of a young woman nose-kissing an adorable boy. “The American Dream. It was never about bailouts or foreclosures. It was always about American values like hard work, ingenuity and looking out for your neighbor.”(N.Y. Times)
Here again we have the private sector taking advantage of people in financial distress. Observe the language in use: "Freedom," "America," "Hard work," "Looking out for your neighbor."
It's not about bailouts and foreclosures, or those things that get pinned on Obama despite the reality that the very people crawling to the debt recovery industry, and some in the industry, played a part in the mortgage collapse that derailed the country.
Notice the marketing here, appealing to and affirming people's sense of being a true American, and noble, and not at all part of the problem. These same people seeking relief will also, in their votes, turn on politicians who support bailouts or stimulus plans, often oblivious to the true scope of government action and how much that action (whether via aid or regulation) protects them from themselves, and from private sector crooks run amok.
No comments:
Post a Comment