The Associated Press coverage of the historic economic summit in Washington, DC the last two days summed up with this sobering indictment of US economic policy under both Republican and Democratic Party leadership:
Talk of blame was kept to a minimum, though many still hold the belief that the primary fault for the cascade of ruinous events lies with a U.S., where it has become the norm to offer easy credit, outsize rewards for high-risk investing, and lax oversight to the whole process.
Also remember: It wasn't an accident, as if they thought the bottle wouldn't break when they threw it on the ground. The economic policies were designed to create speculative expansion (a phony economic bubble). Insiders knew how to reap huge profits before the inevitable bubble burst. They also knew that the vast majority of people would get hammered, but some like to argue that "the economy grew a lot during the expansion." It grew alright, for a small slice of insiders (it's that 'wealth distribution' detail that is so easy to overlook). And "the insiders" include Democratic Party people too, not just Republicans.
On a more specific here's who's responsible for the collapse.
Sources:
Associated Press, Econ summit vows action — takes few concrete steps, November 15, 2008.
3 comments:
A rare voice of honesty in a professionally spun world.
The funny thing is that the foreign leaders are afraid to publicly state that American leaders in both major parties have pushed policies that have caused the meltdown. That doesn't exactly create confidence for investors or consumers.
Congress is afraid too.
Naomi Klein are reporting about the congressional aide she said, talking about an illegal use of the $700 Billion bail out funds, “We’re all nervous about saying this was illegal because of our fears about the marketplace. To the extent we want to try to publicly stop this, we’re going to be gumming up some important deals.”
But the blogosphere isn't letting them get away with it.
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