Jim D. writes:
Marvin Gandall wrote:
The dithering
behaviour of the Obama administration is most commonly misdiagnosed by
Wolf
and others as "timidity" whereas in fact it is rooted in ideology.
or could it instead be cupidity? the government has given the
financiers exactly what they want for so long they can't see it any
other way. They want the banking system bailed out with zero cost to
them and all the benefits. They lack any kind of "big picture" view in
which they have to make sacrifices for the "greater good" of the
financial system and the broader (world) economy. This seems the
_material_ basis for the ideology.
====================================
I assume by "they", you mean senior bank execs whose self-interest, if
nothing else, would dictate opposition to a full-fledged nationalization
which would sweep them aside. I was referring to the broader ideological
consensus about "free markets" which spans the US political spectrum in
varying degrees from right to left at both the popular and elite levels, of
which the current rejection of nationalization by the Obama administration
is but an expression. In the US, "nationalization" is still a more alien
concept than in European and other capitalist societies, where there has
been more experience with the temporary takeover and restructuring of failed
industries and where public ownership, popularized by the old socialist
parties, remains an acceptible part of popular political consciousness.
It does seem to me, though, that the long postwar consensus in the US is
rather quickly eroding under the pressure of the financial crisis and the
inability to contain it by massive handouts to the private sector. The
discussion of the (temporary) nationalization option, including in the
mainstream media, is a reflection of this growing sentiment. The prospect is
now more accepted with equinimity than rejected as anathema. The Obama
administration must itself recognize it may have to move in this direction
in the same way an earlier DP administration was forced to take
extraordinary measures it never intended under similar desperate
circumstances in the 30's.
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