C-note

Where’s the money, honey? That seems to be the question of the hour as Obama chokes American auto makers while keeping Wall Street and the banks on a nice long leash.

“The president is telling Detroit to shape up or die while at the same time politely asking Wall Street, whose recklessness and greed caused this economic crisis, if it would be so kind as to accept another heaping helping of taxpayer funds,” Eugene Robinson observes.

And, of course, he’s not alone in this chorus.

“Wall Street executives were hosted at the White House for a cheery photo op and reassurance that they will be getting hundreds of billions more in no-strings-attached bailout cash,” writes Daivd Sirota. “Then this week, Obama demanded the firing of GM's CEO, and said he may withhold the mere $30 billion or so that the automakers are requesting.”

What’s with this double standard? The answer may be as simple as one makes cars, an actual product, while the other makes money. And, after all, you need one to drive the other. But which one drives the other? People are getting confused about which C-note they're hearing – capitalism, communism, corporatism or cronyism. In the end, though, it’s a crotch for a cash crunch, which leads to cynicism.