Sunday, September 21, 2008
Proposed legislation in its current preliminary form indicates that the same processes of secrecy that have been developed for the Pentagon and the intelligence services are about to be extended to governmental involvement in the financial markets. Apparently, the lessons learned from the collapse of the NASDAQ bubble, the need for public transparency and accountability, have been totally abandoned in the belief that covert dealings between the Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the world's major financial institutions is a more effective way of dealing with the crisis. Crony capitalism over Adam Smith, in other words.
Don't expect the Democrats in Congress to stop it. Faced with an election in less than two months, they will do as they did with the authorization for the Iraq War in October 2002, give a Republican President what he wants in the hope that they will prevail on other issues. As then, they will not take the risk of being blamed for a crisis because they have refused to immediately pass legislation demanded by the President. And, of course, there's the dirty secret that they someday expect to be in control of the White House, and want such powers for themselves, to exercise for the benefit of interests associated with them.
Labels: American Empire, Bailout of Finance Capitalists, Credit Crunch, Democrats, Elections, Housing Bubble, Neoliberalism
