A Tipping Point?
Today is Sunday, 12 October 2008.
This may prove to be one of the most important days in the present global economic crisis.
Iceland’s banking system is seriously wounded; Japan has begun to realize its banking system is not immune from the subprime contagion; Russia’s stock market is choking so badly it seems to close at least part of every day and is requiring massive government financial investment, etc. One of the few national economies unaffected to this moment is, ironically, that of Iraq: the government and the barely-functioning banks have little foreign exposure, the stock market is miniscule, and most citizens keep their savings in cash at home, not in banks.
The whole world last week finally began to realize the extent to which America’s lax regulation, and voracious appetites, private and governmental, for living wildly and irresponsibly beyond their means, has damaged the financial systems and economy of the entire interconnected globe.
The Bush-Cheney regime’s ballyhooed $700 billion rescue has yet to come online, and may never to that extent. Today’s news reports indicate the regime is finally considering what it should have attempted from the beginning: direct injection of taxpayer funds into the capital structure of the financial system, thus taking the state capitalism which has always existed in this country to a higher level which may staunch the bleeding.
Until now, the Bush-Cheney regime has exhibited all the backward-gazing intelligence of Hooverism. What is now required is a vision beyond even that of FDR.
It may well prove to be of the utmost importance that such a vision be articulated and begin to be implemented before the Asian markets open for their Monday session, lest the mindless panic of last week deepen further.
This may prove to be one of the most important days in the present global economic crisis.
Iceland’s banking system is seriously wounded; Japan has begun to realize its banking system is not immune from the subprime contagion; Russia’s stock market is choking so badly it seems to close at least part of every day and is requiring massive government financial investment, etc. One of the few national economies unaffected to this moment is, ironically, that of Iraq: the government and the barely-functioning banks have little foreign exposure, the stock market is miniscule, and most citizens keep their savings in cash at home, not in banks.
The whole world last week finally began to realize the extent to which America’s lax regulation, and voracious appetites, private and governmental, for living wildly and irresponsibly beyond their means, has damaged the financial systems and economy of the entire interconnected globe.
The Bush-Cheney regime’s ballyhooed $700 billion rescue has yet to come online, and may never to that extent. Today’s news reports indicate the regime is finally considering what it should have attempted from the beginning: direct injection of taxpayer funds into the capital structure of the financial system, thus taking the state capitalism which has always existed in this country to a higher level which may staunch the bleeding.
Until now, the Bush-Cheney regime has exhibited all the backward-gazing intelligence of Hooverism. What is now required is a vision beyond even that of FDR.
It may well prove to be of the utmost importance that such a vision be articulated and begin to be implemented before the Asian markets open for their Monday session, lest the mindless panic of last week deepen further.
posted by HH at 10:20 AM
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