Doug Henwood: >>>And what if they're right, Tom? Tom: >>Right about what, Doug? Doug: >That the crisis is over. Tom: Crisis? What crisis? If "the crisis" is a public relations crisis, perhaps for the time being it -- and golfing season -- is over. If "the crisis" is falling stock markets and collapsing currencies, there's a possibility that the co-ordinated and alert actions of the G-7 finance ministers and central bankers may muffle trouble as it emerges. Last I heard, though, one quarter of the world's economy was in recession. Even in the land of the free and the home of the brave (reputedly immune from recession) there remain immense inequalities of wealth and income. I've even heard from non-marxists that the growth of inequality is the consequence of public policies that favour the rich and powerful, not of anonymous market forces. So, if the crisis is a systemic crisis of the legitimacy and rationality of public policies, their outcomes and economic effects, I see nothing new in the consent by the U.S. Senate to an $18 billion dollar IMF contribution, a $500 billion Japanese bank bailout or a $30 billion IMF rescue package for Brazil that even acknowledges _that_ crisis, let alone solves it. The task of crisis management ideology is to redefine the crisis as something else -- something manageable -- and then to boldly solve that substitute crisis. Redefine a systemic crisis as "financial market turmoil" and then sooth the financial markets. Whoopee! True, there have been muted musings (e.g. from the likes of Wolfensohn and Stiglitz at the World Bank, even from Clinton) that something needs to be done about the maldistribution of economic benefits but I don't see any concrete steps toward distributive justice in the October achievements of the G-7. On the contrary, according to the news report the G-7 wants to "highlight as evidence of a successful, co ordinated effort" actions that are more of the same conventional austerity + bailout. Because austerity trickles down while bailouts float up, we can reasonably expect that the October efforts will accentuate rather than resolve the systemic crisis. Whether or not that systemic crisis generates a renewed financial crisis in two months, four months or four years is anybody's guess. By the way, my guess is that the dam will hold for about four months, after which the renewed distress in the markets will be less catastrophic than some expect but more sustained than anything that's ever happened before. Instead of the spectacle of a bubble bursting, I would listen for the sound of someone sitting on a extremely large and seemingly inexhaustible whoopee cushion. Regards, Tom Walker ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ #408 1035 Pacific St. Vancouver, B.C. V6E 4G7 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (604) 669-3286 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The TimeWork Web: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/timework/
