Many comparisons have lately been made between our current economy and the Great Depression. While future historians may have a better view of the severity of both incidents, a real comparison can of course not be made unless we strain ourselves to give equal weight to a majority of causes. The comparison is not only questionable, but seems to suggest that we'll be facing the same hardship now as the nation did back then. There's no doubt that both times a financial crisis spearheaded what some would call a catastrophy, but what I see as a collapse of Capitalism. I'm not saying this will be the end of Capitalism, as it can recover and I'm sure it will, but right now it's flat out on its back and if that isn't a collapse then what is...
Indeed, the patient is Capitalism and its recovery is not expected any time soon. It's all too clear now that pure, unadulterated greed lies at the core of a system that sprouted from the industrial revolution and turned the globe into a mine field of interdependent economies and a landfill for the results of glutinous consumerism. In the end just promises of future product availability turned out to provide the strength that held up the house of cards the economy had become. Capitalism, which after all believes in itself and free markets, deserves to be left to its own devices to recover—however painful that process may be. All the money now thrown at it will be wasted if it's only used to keep the machine running without looking at what it exactly produces. But, the people now protesting, the taxpayers, should also realize that they have been feeding the private jet uppercrust by indiscriminately buying their spit & shine crap, useless mass-produced trinkets, and stuff that doesn't work, is badly designed, badly engineered, and produced by poor suckers without shoes in dictatorships. So, in the end it's us that are sick and we better understand that real medicine never tastes like sugar water.
Under Bush, regulations that were in place to control corporate behavior have been relaxed to the point where Wall Street ran euphorically wild with the bulls until all was exhausted and greedy CEO's got into their private jets to beg in Washington for more party money from you, the taxpayer. It's a scam that has been played by the Republicans since they took control of the White House. We were promised victory in Iraq, lower gas prices, Obama's, uh, Osama's head, national security, and ended up getting bilked for billions of dollars while being spied on domestically. They controlled everything until two subsequent elections taught them that America had enough of these out-of-control control freaks that call themselves conservatives but conserved nothing, except for their hatred of gays, immigrants, and the French.
Now, I have no doubt that the greedy corporate bastards that got us in this mess will be the same that get us out, as they control the government, global resources (that may include you!), product manufacturing, infrastructure, media, and market (that certainly includes you!). Of course, they will also be the ones shaking things up by buying failing companies for a fraction of their worth and letting others die. In the process, many may die, either physically, or figuratively (and I hope that isn't you, or me!), before the markets stabilize and then it will begin a new cycle with the kind of outcome that will lead to comparisons with the Great Depression.
Only the people at the base, the workers, citizens—consumers all—can change the course if they are beginning to think and shop differently. As we've seen now—and I hope it's a lesson—it's our money that controls the players at the top, not the other way around, as "trickle-down" Reagan-onomists and rightwingers have had us believe for too long. Luckily, as has been proven by Obama's election, the books he wrote, and the discourse that took place in blogs and other media helped turn hapless citizens into informed buyers. The Obama brand may still disappoint, but its emergence stands in sharp contrast with the old-school baseless attacks the political right depended on. This is a different time and this time we know better. We're no longer the unshaven great unwashed from the Great Depression era. We've got blog power!
Let us hope that we can do better and that an open dialog about what our real needs are may lead to better products that address real needs at prices that reward everyone in the product cycle fairly. To follow what things are heading in that direction I recommend treehugger.com.
About Financial Crisis
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