[ back ]
Pitching to the public: low, fast underhanded
(by Nancy Rubenstein - October 29, 2008)
Campaign pitching from politicians seeking our votes next week is a lot like the pitching we get from manufacturers urging us to buy their products or use their services. They all remind us of the old adage, “Caveat Emptor - let the buyer beware.”
Going to the polls as our world reels in economic upheaval and with presidential candidates doing less explaining than attacking one another, we face difficult decisions.
While it’s nearly impossible to comprehend the how and why our country is where it is - with a national surplus eight years ago having vanished, replaced by a trillion dollar deficit and having already endured a war longer than Viet Nam - we need to grapple with thoughts of things like toxic mortgages, bank bailouts, sliding 401k accounts and higher fuel costs to heat our homes and power our cars. Grocery prices are way up. Department store sales are way down.
As we settle into a decision about which candidates will carry our votes, we might find irony in two other contests vying for our support.
First involves major, full-page advertisements by popular soup producers, Campbells and Progresso, battling about which has MSG and which doesn’t. It’s another turf war in which attacks have influenced people more than explanations. In the soup saga, one brand tars the other, just as the candidates do. Each fails to explain or detail why the other, or they themselves, could harm or help us. Campbell vs. Progresso is a lot like McCain vs. Obama. Lots of ingredients, some meaty, some condensed, some need a bit of watering down. It’s just not easy.
The third irony is in the banking industry, which is also vying for our business in full-page advertisements. We all know about banks; they’re the ones being bailed out of a horrendous bind they’ve incurred by freely dealing out easy credit to unqualified borrowers while outfitting their retiring top officers with giant golden parachutes and continuing to pay obscene salary-bonus packages to those who brought their institutions to the edge, teetering on insolvency.
The CDs and money market accounts we saw drop in annual yield a few months ago are suddenly being touted as offering four times the interest rate of a couple of months ago, oddly, as we all swivel down toward that awful R word - recession. These banks tell us we can “trust” them. Isn’t that when the wool over our eyes begins to unravel?
Choices? We all need to make them. As for me, I’m sticking with my local bank, going with Campbells cream of mushroom, Progresso’s minestrone. MSG? Sounds like more sorry government to me.
We DO have choices to make … way beyond our soup bowl.
[ back ]
