The Ghoul In The Governor's Office

I have posted many times about Texas governor Rick Perry and his many faults (and they are numerous). He has sold out to the corporations, letting them avoid taxes and poison the air and water (which extends far beyond the border of Texas). When his incompetence resulted in a $27 billion shortfall for the state government, he made up for it by cutting education funds and slashing programs to help children, the elderly, and the poor.

But this story shows just how low the Republican governor is willing to go. It seems that the governor is a ghoul. That may sound like an overstatement to you, but Webster's defines a ghoul as "one who preys upon the dead", and that is just what Perry wanted to do -- in this case the dead were Texas teachers.

An investigation by the Huffington Post has uncovered an agreement Perry had reached with the giant Swiss Bank UBS. It seems that Perry, with the help of his mentor Phil Gramm (a former senator and well-known ultra right-wing nut-job), had conspired with UBS Bank to purchase life insurance policies of older Texas teachers and teacher retirees, then bundle these policies together and sell them as "securities". Texas and UBS would then split the profits, and it was estimated that the state's share could be upwards of $700 million.

Only two things stood in the way of the ghoulish scheme. It is against the law for unrelated third-parties to buy life insurance on someone, and no policy would be issued without the permission of the person being insured. The first issue wasn't really a problem. The state's Insurance Commissioner is appointed by the governor, and Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor assured the governor that any applicable rules could be waived to make the plan successful.

Now all they needed was to get enough teachers and retirees to sign off on the plan to make it profitable. It was figured that at least 40,000 policies were needed to insure the plan could make many millions. The governor's office then showed they were serious in pursuing the ghoulish plan. Staff members from the governor's office actually met with representatives of the Texas Teachers Retirement System, the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, and the Texas State Teachers Association.

Perry and his staff hoped they could talk the teachers into doing this for nothing, but they did set aside enough money to pay a teacher or retiree $50-$100 for signing off on the policies -- a pittance considering the large sums the policies would pay out when the people died. And of course, the families of those who died would not receive a single penny from the insurance payout on their loved one -- zilch, zero, nada, nothing. All of the insurance money paid out would be divided up by the greedy bankers and politicians.

Fortunately, the news media got wind of the ghoulish scheme before it could be put in operation and the plan was abandoned. Even a politician as brain-dead as Perry could see the plan was not going to play well in the press. The governor's office tried to distance themselves from the plan by saying it was just a "concept" being considered. But the truth is that staff members from the governor's office had already held meetings to try and turn the "concept" into reality.

Rick Perry tries hard to paint himself as a pious christian, but that is just a facade. As this ghoulish plan shows, he really has no moral and ethical base. And you can bet if he'd been able to get this program off the ground he'd have found a way to dip his own finger into the money pie. After all, this is the person who became a millionaire after becoming governor (through shady land deals with his rich friends).