Is there something to envy Europe for?

[mahnmut]

In the financial sector I mean.

I think the one thing to be jealous about is the fact that after the crisis, Europe actually started to address the issues of:

1. Market deregulation, particularly risky finances, and the troubles that come with it.
2. Transparency and accountability in the financial sector.
3. Protection mechanisms against balloons and busts.
4. Ridiculous bonuses for bankers who've run whole economies into the gutter.

For a time it looked like Obama would keep his promise to address these issues. But that was only until the, maybe 10th day of his presidency. Then we saw who were the guys he chose to surround himself with. And all hope was lost for a change.

And change didn't come.

The US economy may still be more versatile but the lack of political will to address its flaws means that the framework is now tilted in favor of other regions, and the US financial dominance may be pushed away sooner than most of us are expecting.

As for Europe, it may still have to heal itself from the ditch it was put into (yes, including wounds like Greece, Ireland and Portugal), granted. But there are some good signs there that I'm not seeing at the other side of the pond.

Comments

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, the wife and I just finished watching Inside Job.

C'mon dude, did you really think Obama was going to be less corrupt than the guys who prceded him even if only for a second? The only prayer us Americans have to end Wall Street corruption is to stop voting Democrat and Republican. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting to eventually get a better outcome...you know what that's called, right?

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Being the cynic that I'm becoming for some time (though I'm still kinda trying to resist that), I don't really think any US president would be different from the previous one, nope.

Stopping voting for A or B (which is again A) might sound like a nice idea, and even if you elect (or bring by force) C, which initially might look different from A and B, eventually C will get corrupted by power and become like them. Unfortunately I don't see hope for you guys. :-P

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not like vote for C instead of A and B. It's more like vote for C, D, and E instead of A and B. If C gets voted in and doesn't go back to regulating Wall Street, then move on to D, etc.

Thing is C, D, and E can't even get elected because most of us americans are a bunch of dumb conformist sheep. The one thing that makes these alt parties look good is also their greatest weakness: They have no financial backing from the fat cats.

But yeah, there isn't much hope for us. We've become a nation filled mainly with weak-minded pussies who won't stand up for themselves or even admit who the real culprit is.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

What makes you think C, D and E wouldn't become another A+B? The system is designed in such a way that even if you keep making electorial experiments until you run out of alphabet letters and start using digits, chances are it'll end up the same way.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

What makes you think C, D and E wouldn't become another A+B?

That's the rub. They might. I'm not ruling it out.

The only way to make sure c, D, or E introduces reforms is for us Americans to not get cocky. We'd need to keep on their asses. Eternal vigilance, you know.

But that's the other rub I pointed out: Most Americans are stupid weak little sheep without the backbone to do this.

Seriously, Egypt is more deserving of a democratic republic than we are. Oligarchy happened because we collectively let it happen.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Every nation deserves its rulers, I guess.

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Bingo.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

Interesting documentary, that. Some high-profile names missing from the grilling chair, though (for reasons well known).

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Who would you say is mkissing and why? I'd like to write a critique of this documentary sometime and anything they've left out would be helpful.

[abomvubuso.livejournal.com]

They actually listed every single high-ranking guy from the financial circles that they tried to interview and that declined to appear on the documentary. While watching it you can occasionally see a caption saying "XXX declined to be intervewed for this film".

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, those guys. I thought you meant that there were other people who needed to be put on the hot seat that weren't.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

I don't think people in general, who don't live in the US (and many who do live here) are aware just how owned this country is by corporate money. I honestly think there is a very big and real limitation to what a president of any party could do here. The system is already undermined.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

So where does this lead?

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

It depends on what you mean with your question. If you mean "what can be done about it" then there are some concrete things, but they are hard to accomplish, because it involves legislation of a steadier kind than partisan politics, probably even constitutional amendments supporting monetary transparency in politics. But it has been turned down (last time in the supreme court) time after time. It is possible the corruption is too deep.

If you mean, what will happen if this continues? Well, more problems, more bubbles that burst, more ecological and societal crises, and the blame game in the culture war being the only thing ever heard. Bad shit basically...

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Pretty much this.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

I meant what's your prediction about how this will develop. Just a wild guess.

[alphistia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for asking ;-) I think the American Way of Life is doomed - it can't and won't reform itslef. A through Z alternatives won't make a bit of difference and anything other than A or B are impossible in the American winner/loser mindset anyway. I think that the US will gradually (or not so gradually) collapse from its own contradictions and mistakes. Western Europe is a kinder and gentler form of late imperialist capitalism, and allows A,B,C,D choice politically, but just look at its own messes. It will collapse too.

What will replace these systems is the Great Unknown. How can any of us know? But looking at the "alternatives", such as Chinese authoritarianism with its 19th century Dickensian economics and faux communist government, or kleptocracies around the rest of the globe in Eastern Europe and Russia, Latin America and Africa etc etc ... not a lot to look forward to. Mankind sure has fucked it all up, hasn't it?

What I would like to see happen after the economic collapse and ecological disaster in our near future, is a technological and political collapse that would disable nuclear weapons just as America's world hegemony becomes irrelevant. After that people around the world could re-form (in both senses of the word) into smaller communities or nation states. Of course they will invade and conquer each other - it's the nature of man to fight and kill his fellow man. Maybe the remnants of a nuclear Iran will nuke Israel and Pakistan will nuke India, who knows? But man has this strange tendency to survive himself.

So a new Dark Ages might be just the thing, another chance just like the Western World had after the Roman Empire fell. Hopefully Kol will set aside a little refuge for his friends to hide out...I'll run the scriptorium.

But chances are, we'll all likely be gone or done in.

Well, you asked for a "wild guess"...

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

It sure sounds wild! :-S

So, no chances for our dream to go to the stars as a one people, then?

[alphistia.livejournal.com]

Well, with my Project Alphistia Plan, I intend to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ;-) As for the stars, isn't it more likely the Aliens will come to us? Whether or not they'll eat us is still a mystery...have you ever seen the Twilight Zone classic episode: "To Serve Man" -? that's one of my faves - it's probably on youtube - I highly recommend it.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

Thanks, may see that one.

[alphistia.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Ms3suLrYI
in 3 parts of 10 minutes each

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Hell, any aliens that make it here might be so advanced that they ignore us the same way we humans tend to ignore plankton on a daily basis. Or simply regard us as a momentary curiosity:

"Huh, what are those things? Eh, pfft. Bipeds. No real threat. Time to move on and look at something interesting like this planet's plate tectonics."

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

I honestly think there is a very big and real limitation to what a president of any party could do here.

Actually, they could start by not appointing any more Wall Street types to such positions as the Federal Reserve and accepting campaign donations from those same people. Then they could do campaign finance reform. But our Presidents haven't wanted this since the 1980s when all of this started. Simply put, both parties have been corrupted by Wall Street moguls who are themselves corrupt.

[mahnmut.livejournal.com]

The Inside Job movie. It speaks from every line in this convo of ours. :-)
Btw in the movie it was mentioned that some of those moguls did want to get regulated and restricted - and they said to the government: "YOU must do this, we're just too greedy!" Which essentially = "help us, we're so addicted!"

[kardashev.livejournal.com]

Oh Lord, I remember that part!

Yeah, they are addictive personalities in every sense of the coke-snorting word.