The Wonderland that is Washington
Is it just my imagination or did I recently witness US politicians and other interested observers 'celebrating' the fact that Congress had finally agreed to increase its debt ceiling to a projected $ 17.5tn - this should allow the federal government to function until the middle of January 2014 ? Their political spatial awareness as they pass through the 'Washington looking glass' in search of reality is truly impressive ! But I guess from a practical perspective the need to keep the show on the road regardless of the fact that the long term viability of this system is looking increasingly precarious is still an essential part of the US political system.
Neo liberal or free market capitalism if you wish -a US invention - is distorting and disintegrating society, not in a monumental explosive fashion but in a way that can still be disguised by moving backwards and forwards in between the space that is real for the majority of us and the space that only exists in the minds of people that make money from money. In other words, the value of a commodity or a material is determined not by its real demand, but by market traders who artificially create profit by buying and selling without seeing the goods or services, understanding the product, or ever realising the significance of their actions as they effectively place millions of people's livelihoods in jeopardy because the market rules and they rule the market - ethics is after all just for 'whimps...'
This latest deregulated version of capitalism is based on two main considerations; debt and dependency. This is a high stakes game that only allows the high rollers to participate. The US government needs to keep spending since their economy equates to a quarter of the World's GDP. If they stop everything slows down or stops. Unfortunately, the revenue obtained by the US government through taxation and other earnings is not sufficient to match the spending required to support an economy that supports an international system that demands we keep consuming even when we cannot afford too - where is the Mad Hatter when you need him ! But do not worry as long as the US can continue to borrow money that they have little chance of repaying, then 'everything will be ok' Well, no actually.
The principal by product of this continuation of a system that demands unsustainable consumption fuelled by money that keeps being printed by the Fed - quantitative easing - for you students of economics is that the richer continue to benefit since they can afford to play in this story of fantasy whilst the less fortunate find that in their reality they have not even been invited to the 'tea party' since they are now earning less, are paid a pittance for their toil or are employed then unemployed during large tracts of insecurity. The evidence; Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy etc and of course, the US where this growing economic inequality continues to drive social unrest especially amongst the young. Washington does not tax the very people who can afford to pay enough. This effectively means that the US is too big to fail and too blind to see that their continuing financial policies are leading to another disaster, even more potent than 2008. But who will be ultimately effected by this myopia ? Certainly not the 'Masters of the Universe' better known in Washington as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
KK
Neo liberal or free market capitalism if you wish -a US invention - is distorting and disintegrating society, not in a monumental explosive fashion but in a way that can still be disguised by moving backwards and forwards in between the space that is real for the majority of us and the space that only exists in the minds of people that make money from money. In other words, the value of a commodity or a material is determined not by its real demand, but by market traders who artificially create profit by buying and selling without seeing the goods or services, understanding the product, or ever realising the significance of their actions as they effectively place millions of people's livelihoods in jeopardy because the market rules and they rule the market - ethics is after all just for 'whimps...'
This latest deregulated version of capitalism is based on two main considerations; debt and dependency. This is a high stakes game that only allows the high rollers to participate. The US government needs to keep spending since their economy equates to a quarter of the World's GDP. If they stop everything slows down or stops. Unfortunately, the revenue obtained by the US government through taxation and other earnings is not sufficient to match the spending required to support an economy that supports an international system that demands we keep consuming even when we cannot afford too - where is the Mad Hatter when you need him ! But do not worry as long as the US can continue to borrow money that they have little chance of repaying, then 'everything will be ok' Well, no actually.
The principal by product of this continuation of a system that demands unsustainable consumption fuelled by money that keeps being printed by the Fed - quantitative easing - for you students of economics is that the richer continue to benefit since they can afford to play in this story of fantasy whilst the less fortunate find that in their reality they have not even been invited to the 'tea party' since they are now earning less, are paid a pittance for their toil or are employed then unemployed during large tracts of insecurity. The evidence; Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy etc and of course, the US where this growing economic inequality continues to drive social unrest especially amongst the young. Washington does not tax the very people who can afford to pay enough. This effectively means that the US is too big to fail and too blind to see that their continuing financial policies are leading to another disaster, even more potent than 2008. But who will be ultimately effected by this myopia ? Certainly not the 'Masters of the Universe' better known in Washington as Tweedledum and Tweedledee.
KK
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