pkarnig’s posthaven

Wall Street bankers hiring a dwarf for an over-the-top bachelor party in Miami. Nieman Marcus selling out its 100 limited-edition $75,000 Camaros in three minutes. Socialites dropping $40,000 on a custom cellphone at a jewelry store in Chicago. An investment analyst at Goldman Sachs who hired hip-hop queen Lil' Kim to perform for 1,000 guests at his annual Halloween party last month.

What is this -- 2006?

Though the unemployment rate remains near 10 percent with millions of Americans about to run out of their jobless benefits, one in five Americans are using food stamps to buy groceries and small businesses are being forced to slash their work forces to stay alive, Wall Street's top bankers and wealthy investors are spending to excess, indulging their every whim.

Thank all your friends that voted for the Tea Party candidates and the GOP. This is the kind of country we have become. A Country for the Rich and by the Rich.

But financial burdens for big banks are not all that’s at stake here. Perhaps even more significant are the social costs associated with mortgage paperwork improprieties and any attempt to brush them under the rug.

“If the public gains the impression that the government is providing concessions to large banks in order to ensure the smooth processing of foreclosures,” the report contends, “the people’s fundamental faith in due process could suffer.”

And along with it, their faith in the government.

This is really what this issue is all about: Is our government in place to support the people or big business. It certainly looks to me like the latter. What do you think?