Forget About "Recovery" (James Kunstler)

[Tace]

One moment you see a bewildered bunch of flabby clown-citizens vacuously enraptured by "American Idol," and the next moment they are transformed into a vicious mob hoisting flaming brands to the window treatments of a hedge funder's McMansion.

James Kunstler -- World News Trust

March 9, 2009 -- At the risk of confirming my critics' dumbest charge -- that I am a "doomer" -- the mandate of clarity requires me to ask: to what state of affairs do we expect to recover?

If the answer is a return to an economy based on building ever more suburban sprawl, on credit card over-spending, on routine securitized debt shenanigans in banking, and on consistently lying to ourselves about what reality demands of us, then we are a mortally deluded nation. We're done with that, we're beyond that now, we've crossed the frontier and left that all behind, and we'd better get our heads straight about it.

I maintain that there are countless constructive tasks waiting to occupy us on a long national "to do" list for rebuilding a national economy, but they are way different than the ones currently preoccupying government and the mainstream media. The Obama White House, Congress, and The New York Times are hung up on exercises in futility -- "rescuing" banks and insurance companies that cannot be rescued (because they are hopelessly trapped in "black hole" credit default swaps contracts), and re-starting a "consumer" binge that was completely crazy in the first place, based, as it was, on a something-for-nothing standard-of-living.

Meanwhile, if the buzz on the blogosphere is a measure of anything -- and I think it is -- then a new consensus is forming out there about where to start doing things differently. Unfortunately after less than two months in office, President Obama finds himself awkwardly behind-the-curve on this. It begins with the understanding that a general bank rescue is hopeless and, going a step further, that the people who caused the train wreck of "innovative" securities have to be prosecuted. The public's collective voice on this is muted but growing. It has been muted by the general air of blackmail that the banks have used to enthrall policy and opinion -- the "too big to fail" idea -- in effect holding the nation's future for ransom.

more

http://www.worldnewstrust.com/wnt-reports/commentary/forget-about-recovery-james-kunstler.html

[Delphinus]

1. Yes:

It begins with the understanding that a general bank rescue is hopeless and, going a step further, that the people who caused the train wreck of "innovative" securities have to be prosecuted.

[FreakinDJ]

2. That would satisfy the Asian Markets

they were pissed we drug our feet on prosecuting Enron

[notesdev]

4. I'm so glad

to see this finally getting some momentum. There was nobody talking about prosecutions as a solution until very recently; suddenly I'm seeing a lot of it, and that's a very positive sign that people are waking up to the extent of the fraud perpetrated upon us. It was perpetrated by people, and those people ought to be held to account.

[Tace]

5. Agreed

One of the toughest things about the past eight years is that so many criminals have walked away unpunished.

[ixion]

3. another great piece by Kunstler

I think it would be very productive to see the culprits frog-marched to a Grand Jury, and to start helping the taxpayers, rather than those who caused the mess in the first place.

[fasttense]

6. If Republicons had any real backbone, they would be calling for AIG, Citi and BofA

to go into bankruptcy instead of GM. But being the cowards that they are, it is left up to us.