New Yorker Cover Midterm

   It is no big shock that we, as a nation united, are in major trouble. The recession of 2007 is still taking it's horrible toil on our economy, our position as a global superpower, and perhaps most importantly this financial catastrophe has shaken the common man's trust in the government/stock market to his/her core. The stock market is at the forefront of every major finacial decision we now have to make, like a Old Testament prophet commanding the common man to embrace a new deity for the sake of salvation. But when the prophet can't deliver the promises made, the people become furious that they have been taken advantage of in such a way and seek revenge; it's no different today, except that it's alittle harder to stone corporate to death.

   In this New Yorker cover art, we can see that the artist is most definatly trying to show the evils of the corporate side to New York. The smoke and haze gives a feeling of ominous malice, while the smooth, sleek sides with little color gives a cold, unfeeling look to the tall skyscrapers. Poking up through the smog below are exhaust towers and in my opinion, they represent the little power that the common laborer has among the wealthy and powerful. The proud CEOs and businessmen sit above in the choking, confusing fog the common man stumbles around in simply trying to make sense of what is happening in the world above their heads and paygrade. Sitting atop the second highest building is a structure made to represent the US treasury department and it is feeding fuel to the factories below. It shows that money is tied in directly to the final skyscraper. It is the massive, looming centerpiece in the cover; a mighty bull sitting atop a the largest building staring almost proudly above his kingdom of the corrupt and corporate. Much like the Golden Calf built by the Israelites, this idol (coincidentally the bull is also a logo for one of the major banks in business today "Bank of America") is shown to have complete control over the lifes of the wealthy even to the point that a massive temple is built to prove it's power over them; effectively we have done this by worshipping the modern market so and effectively declaring it a god in the process.

   When the common man lost his money in the financial collapse, they were in a panic and begged the government for help in securing their jobs and money. And so, putting the people's best interest at mind the government began to bailout the large companies to hopefully stabilize the rapidly growing black hole of our national debt. But after weeks turned to months and months turned to years, the economy was still in the tank and the people wondered where had all their money gone? The answer was financial corruption and misuse in the mess that was corporate America; as more facts of large bonuses and payoffs surfaced, many grew from a furious standpoint to one of action. Recently, the occupy Wall Street Movement has been growing in strength and support as more and more people see now the evils that worshiping a god of money can have. This is mostly associated with Wall Street because of New Yorks longstanding connection to both greed and the growing wealth of industries.

   We as a nation are at a crossroads in this country, our economy can no long function as it has served us in the past. Without proper reform, our debts will continue to pile up until the even the hope of paying them off will seem like a distant dream and the people will continue to rant and protest in the streets as fat cat corperations will continue to suck any remaining capital out of our pockets. The time to act and change is now; a future of social anarchy does not have to become the outcome of this financial crisis, but if we continue listening to these false prophets of Wall Street then our faith is sealed and damnation will awaits us all.