David Sirota: Faces of Economic Death

[marmar]

from truthdig:



Faces of Economic Death

Posted on Dec 24, 2010
By David Sirota


If you’ve turned on the tube these last few weeks, you’ve probably been a collateral casualty of the biggest televisual war of attrition in recent memory. No, I’m not talking about the scripted skirmishes between cable channels, nor am I referring to the Battle of Zombie Talking Points that ate most of our brains during the election. I’m talking about the now never-ending throwdown between two of the most in-your-face salespeople our mediascape has ever manufactured: Geico’s unnamed gecko and Progressive Insurance’s chipper saleswoman, Flo.

No doubt, you know them both—the green lizard’s smile and cockney accent feign earnestness while the aproned Flo goes for the same effect through the saccharine enthusiasm of an “Office Space” character. It’s mildly cute, but don’t be fooled: As the best-known avatars of the insurance industry, these two are aggressively competing for our cash through re-education-camp levels of repetition, hoping to harass us into buying their product.

Certainly, there’s nothing new about hard sells from TV charlatans. But these two represent something different, something apocalyptic—and I say that not merely because their maddening ubiquity has driven me to the brink of insanity. I say it because they are peddling the kind of commodity that offers little tangible worth, waging a fight that promises no valuable innovation, and representing a larger insurance and finance sector that’s hollowing out our economy.

Think about it: The gecko and Flo do not embody the capitalist vision of private competition fostering innovations that serve the greater good. They are not, say, two private manufacturers grabbing for customers in an entrepreneurial competition that will result in major technological advances. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/faces_of_economic_death_20101224/

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[KoKo]

2. Interesting read....something we might not know revealed. K&R!

:kick:

[soryang]

3. Insurance really is a dirty business, especially claims

Take a look at these Geico reviews:

http://www.insuranceusa.com/Geico.php

Some older Progressive reviews:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/insurance/progressive_insurance.htm

Ever met a "good" insurance adjustor?

Many states moved to so called "no fault" auto insurance to clean up and expedite the notoriously abusive treatment of claimants by insurance companies. Now, the busiest area of litigation in local courts is "no fault" litigation as companies continue their practices of refusing to pay. Similar problems exist with workers compensation insurance carriers and health insurance carriers, they generally follow a scorched earth policy grinding claimaints into the ground to take advantage of their overwhelming financial power and the laws their lobbyists have written in the bought and paid for legislatures.