Ummm no - we really don't take care of our own . . .

From Bruce Springsteen's last album "Wrecking Ball."

Where're the eyes, the eyes with the will to see
Where're the hearts that run over with mercy
Where's the love that has not forsaken me
Where's the work that set my hands, my soul free
Where's the spirit that'll reign, reign over me
Where's the promise from sea to the shining sea
Where's the promise from sea to the shining sea
Wherever this flag is flown
Wherever this flag is flown
Wherever this flag is flown

We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
We take care of our own
Wherever this flag's flown
We take care of our own

By the looks of this story (of which The Gadfly has read too many similar ones lately) The Boss's words are falling on the deaf ears of our political leaders, our corporate leaders, our religious leaders and, even more glaringly, our Tea Bagger friends:

“I got cheated out of the American dream,” states Don Jablonski, a 53-year old former vice president of a manufacturing company who has been homeless for more than a year. The company where he worked was acquired by a leveraged buyout firm in 2007 which proceeded to load it up with debt before stripping assets that forced the company into bankruptcy.

“I went to university, got a job, worked my way up and kept taking classes all the years I worked,” he says. “What’d I do wrong?”

At the time he was fired, Jablonski owned a house, a row boat he used when he would go fishing, and was considering buying a lake cottage. “Within two years, everything was gone. I couldn’t find a new job, the recession hit, my mortgage rate went through the roof and I was left with nothing” after his house was repossessed.

“What happened to my piece of America?” he wonders. Jablonski has been homeless for nearly three years now. “I don’t want to be rich like that asshole Romney. Guys like him got rich off guys like me. I just want to live in my own house, save a little money and go fishing once in a while.”

http://www.laprogressive.com/downwardly-mobile-americans/


There but for the grace of god go thee.


----TFG