Dislike Ralph Nader all you want but at least he is pointing out an avoidance that even wraps itself up in the fig leaf of economic populism. His take on the Democrats was not to my knowledge echoed by any of the commentators we saw on TV who were raving about the excitement at the Invesco stadium.
“You won't hear a call for a national crackdown on the corporate crime, fraud, and abuse that, in just the last few years, have robbed trillions of dollars from workers, investors, pension holders, taxpayers and consumers. Among the reforms that won't be suggested are resources to prosecute executive crooks and laws to democratize corporate governance so shareholders have real power. Democrats will not shout for a payback of ill-gotten gains, to rein in executive pay, ending corporate personhood, or to demand corporate sunshine laws
The Democrats and the pundits didn’t point out the parallels either between the depressing official protest area in Denver and its resemblance to the ones in Beijing. Unlike China where protesters were arrested, ours were just ignored.
But let’s be upfront, as consumer buying falls and the recession becomes more intractable, there are few real solutions coming out of either convention or the government even as the political race feels more and more like a sit-com.
One of the world’s leading financial publications, The Economist, hardly a radical rag, doesn’t mince words. They call this disaster a “nightmare;”
“Like a Hollywood monster that is impervious to bullets, the credit crisis refuses to lie down and die. The authorities have bombarded it with interest-rate reductions, tax cuts, special liquidity schemes and bank bail-outs, but still the creature lumbers forward, threatening new victims with every step. Global stockmarkets are suffering double-digit losses this year, and credit markets are once again gummed up.”
The economic crisis is slowly moving from category 4 to category 5---call this Hurricane “Maestro” for interest rate slasher Alan Greenspan-- but no evacuation plans are in effect, no relief is in sight. Prices are up along with foreclosures and credit card defaults. but the economy is staying down.
The Administration’s “plunge” protection unit is about as effective as its war on terror. And the plunder goes on and on with only a relative few recognizing that this storm is coming and that we need to fight back.
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