November 28, 2008

Atlas begged


Image courtesy of wikipedia.

BB&T, a large multi-state bank, has given away millions of dollars through its "charitable" fund to promote the ideology of Ayn Rand. You know, unfettered capitalism, keep the government out of everything, and all that.

This was the subject of an earlier op-ed of mine in the Charleston Gazette and this story by NPR.

Well, the latest:

BB&T, the largest bank in West Virginia, announced on Oct. 27 it would receive $3.1 billion in federal rescue plan money.


Uhhhh...do you think they'll issue a clarifying statement to the effect that government intervention is OK if it goes to big corporations but not to anybody else?

WHILE WE'RE AT IT, here's a glimpse into the worldview of Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.

FOR THE RECORD, I didn't make any of this stuff up.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr. Allison has spoken out against the "bailout" on numerous occasions. Do your research.

And if you think any bank is functioning in a free market without the threat of force, you're living in a pipe dream.

Bob said...

Blankenship is right about one thing - Coal needs to stand up for itself. It also needs to get rid of him if it ever wants to get past its dark-age reputation. Besides, he's too smart to communicate with us "lessers" anyway. Just ask him if you don't believe me.

Bob said...

From Mark:
"Mr. Allison has spoken out against the "bailout" on numerous occasions. Do your research."

A swing and a miss - the point is that he's more than willing to take the money and run, despite any face-saving stance he's taken against the bailout.

I hope the economic problems end up being to CEOs as Katrina was to GWB and awakens people to just how wrong things are.

BTW, is the bull-headed determination needed to stick with and finish that long horrible book the same trait that leads them to believe they're always right?