Do I even have to say it at this point? The unfettered hand of capitalism, in this case manifested as the deregulated financial industry, reveals itself once again to have no compunction about destroying anything, including itself, in its juggernaut quest for profit. With the gaze of federal regulators turned away by formal deregulation and overall loose constraint on the part of the administration, the financiers destroyed themselves by chasing after profit to the exclusion of sensible management of debt. And now that the true rewards of such rapaciousness have come home to roost, those free-market warriors have forced said administration into a corner and demanded to be bailed out. And, as usual, it is the pocket of the average person, not the super-wealthy who benefitted most from those years of unscrupulous and unbridled greed, being picked to make sure those billionaires aren’t reduced to mere millionaires.
Times of London financial editor Anatole Kaletsky recognizes the end game of the global capitalist system when he sees it. He’s almost livid about the U.S.government’s overnight absorption of AIG, and echoes the financial world’s public mourning of its own demise. But despite the inevitable economic hardship these events are about to unleash on the population of the world, I am more in agreement with some of the sentiments aired by Douglas Rushkoff. We are at the tipping point of the post-capitalist era because the capitalists can’t bleed us for any more wealth and are beginning to cannibalize one another. The true value of “money” is revealed for its actual self: absolutely nothing. That will be a profound leveller of society and redirect our economic focus back to “real” assets: goods, some services, infrastructure, etc. The parasites who reduce everything to widgets and skim the profits will be choked of their blood supply, hopefully long enough to kill them, but at least long enough to displace them. Sadly, the way to that future will consist of a great deal of adjustment and displacement for a great many people. Our society’s short-term focus and relaince on instant gratification will not hold up well. Dark days await us all.
Maybe Martha Stewart should buy one of these guys out. She can apply her perfect sensibilities and culture to them.