An old saw about deceit and chicanery: “Don’t piss on my boots and tell me it’s raining.”  The phrase has even made it into at least one song (with the great John Prine singing a verse)…

In other words, don’t do something unpleasant or harmful to me while pretending that it’s actually pleasant or harmless.  I actually can’t think of a better phrase to sum up the bill of goods we’ve been sold [pun intended] about Murka’s favorite shibboleth: capitalism. Don’t rig my markets, manipulate my prices, create my money out of thin air, rig interest rates, steal through high frequency trading, rig the stock market and tell me it’s capitalism.  Indeed, our “make it rain” culture is instead being given a golden shower…

It’s actually quite distressing that such a large segment of regular people in this country cling to the market-fundamentalist, invisible-hand, temporarily-embarrassed millionaire myth of capitalism like so many Overly Attached Girlfriends—they can’t let go of the idea that “free market capitalism” exists in America despite all evidence to the contrary and despite all indications that the supposed free-market capitalism actually doesn’t want or need to have anything to do with them, and in spite of the fact that capitalism is, well cheating on us.

Unfortunately, we’re not just being cheated on in our dreams by capital.  It’s very real, as detailed in this Zero Hedge article:

Big Banks Busted Massively Manipulating Foreign Exchange, Precious Metals … And Every Other Market

The sheer volume of boot-pissing detailed in the article is depressing and exhausting.  Sample just the headings of the sections, all with numerous links to drive the points home:

“Currency Markets Are Rigged

Gold and Silver Are Manipulated

Derivatives Are Manipulated

Interest Rates Are Manipulated

Energy Prices Manipulated

Oil Prices Are Manipulated

Commodities Are Manipulated

Everything Can Be Manipulated Through High-Frequency Trading”

And so on…despite this, we’re being told all of this piss is, in fact, just natural rain, as pointed out here at Naked Capitalism:

Last Thursday President Obama took time out from his main job as cheerleader for the Forever War to carry out his official duties as cheerleader for Big-C capitalism. He spoke at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, and did a rousing job in front of a group trained in the intricacies of neoliberal economics and business management, and ready to take their part in the corporate power structure. The speech was full of statistics, all showing a great recovery from economic disaster, thanks in no small part to what Obama called “sound decisions made by my administration.” He restated the ritual utterances demanded from the High Priest of Capitalism:

“I actually believe that capitalism is the greatest force for prosperity and opportunity the world has ever known. And I believe in private enterprise — not government, but innovators and risk-takers and makers and doers — driving job creation.”

And here’s the thing. If you only read the national business press, you wouldn’t be able to contest Obama’s facts, or to understand the massive and utterly unnecessary damage he and his administration inflicted on millions of people for the benefit of the financial sector. The national media, like the President, sees its role as cheerleading for capitalism, where every crime is ignored, every rich person is a genius, and every poor person is a moocher, and there is nothing wrong with free markets that more freedom for markets can’t cure.

Here is an actual online rant from someone who thinks that hard times are just so much rain, instead of a piss deluge:

“Screw you whinny liberal bitches who want to punish the rich folk in this country. Yeah, they are the people who make your life so friggin miserable. YOU have NOTHING to do with it right? It’s the corporations who fucked your life up, they don’t pay taxes, or their fair share. (they do, more than enough). Yet when asked of you what is fair, you look about as dumb as Barney Fifthe of Mayberry RFD. Daily all you do is complain, complain, complain and yet you have no answers to your whiny issues. You take NO responsibility or actions by example for your problems, you just yell them from the highiest mountain top and get pissed because NOBODY gives a shit!

Then you say if we don’t agree with you, we are dumb, ignorant, or “just don’t get it”. Ya ever look in the mirror? Maybe it’s YOU who has the problem and fail to see the forest through the trees. You complain every single day, looking for what’s wrong and never spend one friggin minute looking for what’s right! Every things a conspiracy designed to keep you down and disenfranchised, as if! You’re your own worst enemy and you prey on the weak and ignorant. People who don’t know any better, ANYONE who will buy your lame ass theories that you get off the internet. WAKE UP ASSHOLES! Start looking inward and STOP blaming people who are “well to do” for your problems. They didn’t get there by being stupid or blaming others like you do. And it sure wasn’t handed down to them, and if it was, it’s a daily challenge to keep it. THE WORLD OWES YOU NOTHING… Learn that and the rest will fall into place…Libtards sicken me and now they all deny they were or are! ASHAMED? I should say so…YOU ALL SHOULD BE!

Oh and FUCK Minimum wage! Stop being a minimum human!”

Yes, the rich capitalists who rig everything should be the heroes of our national narrative and if we don’t become rich ourselves, it is our own fault, not the fault of the riggers.  Classic example of thinking that piss is rain…