Halftime Between Two Lost Decades - Article in the Atlantic

[suki]

"...we are stuck in a stubborn, long-term recession. We are facing the most difficult kind of cyclical crisis -- a financial crisis leading to many years of deleveraging and reduced private spending in Europe and the U.S. We also have a structural crisis of employment in the U.S. and Europe as we adapt to discarding of old-skill workers and creating a new labor force suited to the high automation high-computer-tech economy. And we have additional structural crises in China as it changes its economic growth model from export-driven to internal demand-driven, and in Europe as it deals with the disjuncture between its political and economic institutions."

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/06/its-worse-than-you-think-halftime-between-two-lost-decades/258260/

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Halftime Between Two Lost Decades - Article in the Atlantic

It blows my mind people can write broad pieces like this without mentioning fraud.

However, when I scrolled to the top and saw George Mason University, a big gong went off.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Halftime Between Two Lost Decades - Article in the Atlantic

It blows my mind people can write broad pieces like this without mentioning fraud.

However, when I scrolled to the top and saw George Mason University, a big gong went off.

Indeed.

And then there is this:

Economic crises of the kind we are in are costly tragedies, and it takes dedication, sacrifice, and hard work on the part of business elites, labor organizations, political leaders, and ordinary consumers and voters to make it through.

I can't recall a single "business elite," apart from Madoff, who has been asked to "sacrifice" anything. Nor can I recall a single political leader who has been asked to sacrifice anything, aside from a couple losing elections, which comes with the game.

I can think of lots that ordinary "consumers" (note the word choice) have had to sacrifice. Business non-elites have had to sacrifice. And yes, even labor organizations have had to sacrifice. But name me a "business elite" or "political leader" that had to give up one month in jail or one fortune. Even one who obviously dealt in fraud and nonsense. I don't think there are any.

Funny how the author lumps all of these together. It's as if we're already in the middle of a new, new deal, and the author's apologizing for the stress it puts on the billionaire class. Except there is no new, new deal. And unemployment is still sky high. And the billionaire class is doing better than ever.

But screw the facts.

Let's just say they provide "hard work" and "sacrifice" anyways.

[think365]

Re: Halftime Between Two Lost Decades - Article in the Atlantic

Indeed.

And then there is this:



I can't recall a single "business elite," apart from Madoff, who has been asked to "sacrifice" anything. Nor can I recall a single political leader who has been asked to sacrifice anything, aside from a couple losing elections, which comes with the game.

I can think of lots that ordinary "consumers" (note the word choice) have had to sacrifice. Business non-elites have had to sacrifice. And yes, even labor organizations have had to sacrifice. But name me a "business elite" or "political leader" that had to give up one month in jail or one fortune. Even one who obviously dealt in fraud and nonsense. I don't think there are any.

Funny how the author lumps all of these together. It's as if we're already in the middle of a new, new deal, and the author's apologizing for the stress it puts on the billionaire class. Except there is no new, new deal. And unemployment is still sky high. And the billionaire class is doing better than ever.

But screw the facts.

Let's just say they provide "hard work" and "sacrifice" anyways.

So true.

The reality is that the middle class is being looted once again by the banking elite and crony capitalism. Articles like this are intended to mollify the outrage and with a straight face try to convince the victims that they are at fault for what has just occurred and load them up with enough existential guilt that they will actually "want" to anti-up and cooperate to put matters straight again. Accordingly, you get idiotic statements such as, "We all just have to pay our fair share to get ourselves out of this fix..." (Obama).

Metaphorically, it's like a bunch of banksters (sorry, I meant gangsters) break into your home in the middle of the night, ransack your house, steal all of your assets, and then, just for good measure, rape your wife and children. They return the next day, just as if nothing happened, and notice how your house (and life) is in disarray and benevolently offer to help you get things back in order.

Feining great concern, they want to sit down with you and discuss how bad they feel about your predicament. After much deep thought and consternation, they piously offer you a low interest loan so you can clean up (your) mess, put your house back in order, and start consuming again. They expect gratitude for their efforts and admonish you that by "paying your fair share, we will all get through this together".

Historically, with the help of the mass media, this scenario gets sold over and over again and unfortunately, the middle class buys it. With enough credit and consumption they are lulled back to sleep and quickly forget the horrific events that just happened to them.

Time will tell if this time is different.