Wall Street & Other Bulls: A New Proposal From Old Rome!

There have been many comparisons of late between the present Crisis in Karl Rove’s Beloved "American Empire,” and that which impacted Rome starting some two millennia ago.

One of the great theatrical aspects of the Roman Circuses, along with Chariot Races, Gladiators, and other spectacles, was the killing of various animals, especially Bulls. In various and ongoing financial crises that repeatedly afflicted the Empire, the Emperors, ever acutely aware of Roman Populism, placed Circuses over even food as a priority in the Welfare programs for the masses.

In the records of such Circuses, it appears in one year, in one such Circus alone in one province, they managed to kill 6,000 Bulls. Such prime meat did not go to waste! Raffles were held beforehand so that after the Bull was slaughtered, he could be roasted for one of those famous extended Chariot Tail-gate Parties held outside of a coliseum. It has even been rumored that a famous rancher from Western Rome, one Dubyius Bushius, had the secret recipe to the barbeque sauce monopoly for the barrels of sauce necessary for such orgies!

Today, in the person and testimony before the Congress of Corporate Executives such as Edward Liddy, CEO of AIG, we have a modern version of one of those Roman Bulls, until recently extolling the virtues of Wall Street, even in the face of insider evidence of a virtual collapse of a system said to be, “too big to be allowed to fail.” Can’t we, in true Roman style, auction off the opportunities to the populace to be among the first to slaughter one of these pompous Bulls (not from Pamplona), but rather Washington DC bureaucrats and politicians, and/or Wall St. moguls, who are among those responsible for this mess, and further hyped to us by the Corporate Media?

After all, what this country really needs is a really Good Circus, on the Roman Model! Many Americans are already tiring of President Obama’s continued apologies and explanations.