October 7, 2008
by Steve Osborn

How many times have you seen ads concerning gambling addiction? They caution you about gambling beyond your limits, gambling away your family's future, their home, food and medical. These notices can be found near, or in, casinos, lottery sales points, and sometimes churches.

There is an organization called Gamblers Anonymous that is similar to Alcoholics Anonymous and yet another for drug addiction. Gambling is another recognized addiction which can be treated, and if not can result in the impoverishment of families, loss of employment, and failure of businesses. Old cartoons often showed "Joe Loser" walking out of a casino, race track  or card parlor wearing noting but a barrel held up by suspenders.

The one place where you will never see any of the above is in the greatest gambling casino in the world, occupied by the most dedicated, addicted, gamblers in the world; Wall Street.

Wall Street is a place where enormous sums can be won by betting on the right "horse." The addicts gather to watch the race each day and place their bets. The place is full of "touts" with information on who will win and who will lose. They learn how to influence the outcome by putting out information that will enhance or degrade a company. They learn the tricks that will depress a stock so it can be purchased for little or nothing, then inflate it like a balloon, the insiders knowing when it is approaching the bursting point, to sell and take their profits. The less informed buyers may "wind up wearing their barrel."

So, the fortunes won and lost at this world controlling casino are not made by the labor of mechanics, artists and writers, farmers and factory workers. They are made by those wealthy enough and with the connections to feed their addictions and enjoy the rush of really high stakes gambling.

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There was a time, long ago, when a series of losses would put these people in the street, give them their "barrel," and send them on their way, but no more, for now they have a "Sugar Daddy" that will cover their losses and give them a stake to start again. That Sugar Daddy's name is Uncle Sam.

Now, when a company or holding company's fraud or ineptness has resulted in the loss of thousands of homes, livelihoods and life savings, when they have manipulated a nation's currency into worthlessness, instead of a barrel, they are given a bailout. Their bad bets are covered and they are given a new stake to go back into the casino.

Where does this new stake come from? It comes from the labor of mechanics, artists and writers, farmers and factory workers. The people that are supposed to represent them, the Senate and Congress, who are also addicted gamblers, along with the lobbyists who represent the non-governmental gamblers get together and vote to give the gamblers a new stake from the labor of We the People, who are becoming rapidly becoming We the Serfs.

Then, the game can continue unabated, for the homeless, the hungry, the sick and the uneducated have no power and need not be feared. The mob has always responded to "bread and circuses" since the time of Imperial Rome. The Roman Oligarchy spent a lot of money in providing them with entertainment and made sure the people knew who the providers were, and the people were compliant, giving their votes to those that gave them the most exciting games.

Nothing much seems to have changed in the last two millennia. Rome, too, started as a Republic and degenerated into an Empire that caused grief throughout the known world, and finally collapsed by rot from within and attacks from without.

The gambling addicts and their sugar daddy have smeared so much lipstick on the new pig that she looks like a cheap street hooker.

Come to think of it...

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Stephen M. Osborn [send him email] is a freelance writer living on Camano Island in the Pacific Northwest. He is an "Atomic Vet." (Operation Redwing, Bikini Atoll 1956, ) who has been very active working and writing for nuclear disarmament and world peace. He is a retired Fire Battalion Chief, lifelong sailor, writer, poet, philosopher, historian and former newspaper columnist.

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