The Boss takes on the banksters in Berlin

Bankers are in a LOT of trouble.  They once considered themselves pillars of the community in charge of the community's well-being.  Now they are seen as vandals who devote their considerable skills into dreaming up new forms of theft.  They are so far into debt themselves that they all are now essentially wards of the state and the state's citizens want seriously bad things to happen to them.  And now they are in danger of losing pop culture.  Since their basis of wealth and power is an illusion, pop culture is a threat because it also traffics in illusion.  The difference is a guy like Bruce Springsteen can make people happily repeat his words because they can sing them.  Banksters do not have such power.

Bruce Springsteen lashes bankers during Berlin concert

Rocker taps into anger at financial world, dedicating anti-bank song to 'those who are struggling in Europe and Berlin'
Reuters in Berlin
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 May 2012

Bruce Springsteen has touched on a nerve of widespread discontent with financiers and bankers while performing a concert in Berlin.

Springsteen played to a sold-out crowd at Berlin's Olympiastadion, singing from his album Wrecking Ball and speaking about tough economic times that have put people out of work worldwide and led to debt crises in Greece and other countries.

"In America a lot of people have lost their jobs," said Springsteen, 62, who performed for three hours to 58,000 fans in the stadium that hosted the 1936 Olympics and 2006 World Cup final.

"But also in Europe and in Berlin, times are tough," he said, speaking in German. "This song is for all those who are struggling." He then introduced Jack of All Trades, a withering attack on bankers that includes the lyrics: "The banker man grows fat, working man grows thin."

Europe has been especially hard hit since 2008's financial meltdown that sparked an enduring sovereign debt crisis. Unemployment on the continent has risen to levels not seen since the 1990s.

Springsteen's Wrecking Ball tour began on 13 May in Spain, which is struggling with its crushing debt load, and runs for two and a half months with 33 stops in 15 countries before concluding on 31 July in Helsinki.

Berlin has been a special place for Springsteen since his July 1988 concert behind the old Iron Curtain in East Berlin.

Watched by 160,000 people, it was the biggest rock show in East German history, and The Boss spoke out against the "barriers" keeping East Germans prisoners in their country. Some historians have said the concert fed into a movement gaining moment at the time that contributed to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall 16 months later in November 1989.

"Once in a while you play a place, a show that ends up staying inside of you, living with you for the rest of your life," he told the crowd on Wednesday after being handed a poster from a fan thanking him for the 1988 concert. "East Berlin in 1988 was certainly one of them."
Germany has weathered the financial crisis well so far but Berlin itself is struggling with double-digit unemployment, low wages and a high incidence of poverty. more