The mass media has been absorbed with the shooting of four cops, child murders, rapes and various degenerate acts, not to mention Tiger Woods' domestic troubles and speculation that perhaps his wife beat him up for infidelity. But the serious journals of capitalism have more important issues to talk about. These journals are concerned with how the economy that they manage is doing and is the goose that lays the golden egg still fertile?
It seems the last period has not been that bad for some. It certainly can't be bad for the banks and financial firms that have and are receiving trillions in taxpayer handouts. Wall Street indeed is returning to normal.
Shh! Wall Street Is Spending Again, read a headline in yesterday's Wall Street Journal. The article says that "conspicuous consumption is making a comeback on Wall Street." and goes on, "Traders and investment bankers near the finish line of what looks like a boom year for pay. Some are spending money like the financial crisis never happened."
Apparently, $15,000 a week vacation getaways and $200,000 watches that track the moon's phases are are back in vogue as well.
Does any of this apply to you? I think not.
Bankers are optimistic that while 2009 has been a year during which you have been struggling to stay in your home or losing it, losing your job or have already lost it; for them it will "soon bring them fat bonuses." says the WSJ.
There's even some jealousy and downright resentment the Journal reports because the "firms rescued by the taxpayer are rebounding much faster than the rest of the country." This is the jealousy between thieves. None of them have a problem with the fact that the US taxpayer has pulled their precious market system from the edge of the abyss, some are resentful they didn't get their snouts in the public trough also.
So it seems we are not all sharing the pain. The capitalist class know this and the hatred and anger that exists in society for Wall Street and bankers in general is well understood by these people.. The return to increased speculative and parasitical behavior like the $3 million party one waster threw for his daughter has no need for the limelight. During the massive credit cycle during which workers drew trillions out of our homes, the hedge fund managers and private equity lords were the talk of the day and had wallowed in the glory of their new title, The Masters Of The Universe. The imbecile Dan Quayle, working for Cerberus, was one of them, or used his political connections to gain favors with them giving them access to lots of cash and favorable legislation just like they did during the Savings and Loan debacle.
Larry Summers, feeling the pressure form an angry public, described the financial bubble as them having a "sumptuous feast" . The table is becoming full yet again but they are careful not to brag. "Were booking a number of parties but have been told to be very discreet about it." says one manager of a trendy Manhattan venue.
An investment banker with a "major" Wall Street firm decided against impressing his wealthy clients with front row World Series tickets because his firm received taxpayer aid and he was afraid of "bad publicity."
The media that they own always has and always will have a different bent when it is for mass consumption than the serious journal that they produce for themselves, journals that discuss the system that they rule and how best to rule it. But they weren't so concerned about bad publicity when a hapless public were digging themselves deeper in to debt consuming on borrowed time, borrowed money and based on an overvalued housing market.
There is no crisis for the 1% of the US that own more wealth than the bottom 90%. They have been handed over trillions of dollars of public money as job has been slashed, education and pensions savaged and people thrown out of their homes. Whole industries have been nationalized to save them from the savagery of the market; this is their precious market at work.
This crisis has changed consciousness forever. There are more job losses to come as the stimulus money runs out, a situation temporarily positive for the Obama administration as it will make the military a more attractive proposition for young workers; we have economic conscription in the US
But the student rebellions around the world from Vienna to California have not gone unnoticed and there will be more to come. Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan will also re-vitalize the anti-war movement as well. Capitalism is not the same since the crash in more ways than one. The article in the WSJ makes it clear that they understand and fear the mood that exists beneath the surface of US society, a mood of anger against bankers, speculators, and even capitalism itself. This mood is so strong that the US Chamber of Commerce decided against using the term "Capitalism" in its campaign to bolster support for the free market. They found most people associated it with the crash, with greed and the strong dominating the weak.
The mood in society has changed and activists, anti-capitalists and all who want change in society, must be sure to tap in to it and be part of movements that arise out of it.
It's like one worker said to me recently in response to his Unions support of the Team Concept, "If we're all on the same team; how come we never control the ball?"
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