John Gray at the Globe and Mail argues that if the end of the 20th century saw the fall of the USSR, the first decade of the 21st century has seen the fall of the USA.
"The era of U.S. global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over.
You can see it in the way the United States’ dominion has slipped away in its own backyard, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez taunting and ridiculing the superpower with impunity.
Yet the setback of U.S. standing at the global level is even more striking.
With the nationalization of crucial parts of the financial system, the U.S. free-market creed has self-destructed while countries that retained overall control of markets have been vindicated."
One major causes of the current crisis are bungled social engineering efforts by Freddie Mac And Fannie Mae, which are highly policitized government supported enterprises.
The information on the true worthlessness of many of the assets that have spread like a poison through the financial system has arrived only belatedly; and the market is rightly reacting to it.
The real question is why this information did not come front and center sooner.
Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 2, 2008 at 9:01 am Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online
The only bright spot is the realization that , in this pussification, Europe is still the leader.
Posted by Perspective, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Oct 2, 2008 at 9:37 am
What is completely hilarious is that our unemployment and standard of living,even of the poorest, is still much better, by all standards, than any of the European/British countries.
Vindicated? What an idiot. He and all socialists are just dying for the USA to fail, and what the fools don't realize is that the more we sink economically, the more they sink along with us.
I will be fine, my kid will be fine, our standard of living will lower a bit, but will still be far above the standard of living of teh average "middle class" person in Europe and Britain, so I, personally, will simply LMAO when I begin to hear the whining from our left and Europe as they see the results of getting what they want.
Frankly, I amm already laughing, as I speak to family in Europe who hate Bush, and Republicans, and think we are evil, ..and are starting to see the financial effects of THEIR left wing beliefs...Even THEY understand what has happened better than our own MSM, BO and McCain, and know it comes back to the root cause of OVER regulation, regulation which basically forced lending to unqualified people.
For a great article, read Daniel Henninger's column today, WSJ, about the cause of the latest financial crisis.
Posted by Foreign Authority, a resident of another community, on Oct 2, 2008 at 9:40 am
We are supposed to have a credit crisis and this new law ( Web Link ) to save America has more nonsense than a Dr. Phil episode.
We are told that the world of credit is coming to and end. That we must act today. But act on what??? "Coordination with foreign authorities and central banks" Whom is this bail out for?
Our so called leaders are leading us to ruin. Now, we have this 700 Billon dollar tax scheme.
Posted by Do some research, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Oct 2, 2008 at 10:37 am
"What is completely hilarious is that our unemployment and standard of living,even of the poorest, is still much better, by all standards, than any of the European/British countries."
Perspective,
This is complete nonsense. You need to do more research. You are obviously very insulated from the world.
Posted by tj, a resident of the Old Palo Alto neighborhood, on Oct 2, 2008 at 11:50 am
The key organizing principle in the globalized world will be culture; once co-extensive with ethnicity but now a distinguishable in itself.
Because modern nations have been around for so many lives of men, it’s easy to forget that they once didn’t exist.
Nations were built: by history, leadership and cultural influences. The United States of America, for example, did not strictly speaking, exist before 1776.
Now I would argue that if adaptability and the capacity to self-reinvention is the key to surviving in the globalized world, the USA more than any other major culture has a fair claim to advantage.
However, that ability to adapt is critically dependent on a shared set of values.
These values are the organizing principle which allow the emergence of unity in apparent diversity.
‘Multiculturalism’ is the most destructive ideology in possible in a globalized world because it implicitly assumes the existence of nations to lend it stability; it postulates a dominant culture to lend the framework keep the multi-culti from collapsing on itself. Multiculturalism without a dominant culture would lead to chaos.
In a world of nation-states, multiculturalism would just be supportable; even entertaining.
In a globalized world it is a fast track to disaster.
In context of this post any ‘nation’ or cultural entity which wishes to survive must experience a new birth of freedom.
Ridding ourselves of the ideology of the left — by debate, discussion and persuasion — is the key to staying alive.
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