One interesting feature of the public discussion of the economic crisis: before October 2008 when was the last time that you heard the corporate news media, or for that matter any mainstream U.S. politician, use the word “capitalism” much less attempt to explain what it means. Like a fraternity of magicians, those whose livelihoods depend on its secrets seemed always to want to keep the public in the dark. And perhaps never naming the thing also contributed to the sense of its universality.
In the last few weeks we’ve been treated to the spectacle of President Bush himself, as well as many lesser minions of the system, both naming the great unnameable and also explaining – or at trying to explain – how it works. The only explanation that comes to mind is that explaining and defending capitalism is unavoidable for its adherents at a time when it so plainly does not work . . . or at least does not work for the vast majority of people, the working class, that are subjected to its operations.
Of course there is a tremendous irony here, and not just the irony that we only get to hear how the system is supposed to work when it doesn’t. Certainly the far greater irony is that we are being treated to explanations and defenses of capitalism that reveal the “invisible hand of the marketplace” precisely when the ruling class has abandoned its most fundamental principles.
First there were a few select rescues for “key” players in the financial markets. Then there was the Big Bailout – more than $850 billion worth of government intervention. Then there was a long and anxious pause . . . and now the lords of the marketplace are back again demanding billions if not trillions more. And, mind you, they are not standing at the door with their hats in their hands, trying to look pitiful. The helmsmen of a system that constantly preaches self-reliance, individual responsibility and the value of risk-taking to working people are now converted to socialists, of a sort. The market cannot be relied upon when its their precious hides that are at stake, and so the government must come to their rescue.
Every working person who has ever wondered who would help them when they lost their job, couldn’t pay their bills, wanted to send their kid to college or even just to the doctors must take note. Every thing you have been told about solving your own problems has been a colossal lie. As you have always suspected, it’s not that there is no such thing as free lunch . . . it’s that under capitalism, the free lunch is only for capitalists.
Filed under: Economic crisis
[...] One interesting feature of the public discussion of the economic crisis: before October 2008 when was the last time that you heard the corporate news media, or for that matter any mainstream U.S. politician, use the word “capitalism” much less attempt to explain what it means. Like a fraternity of magicians, those whose livelihoods depend on its secrets seemed always to want to keep the public in the dark. And perhaps never naming the thing also contributed to the sense of its universality. [Continued at Two Good Hands] » [...]