Comments on: The End of Prosperity http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/the-end-of-prosperity/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:26:36 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: bozhidar bob balkas http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/the-end-of-prosperity/#comment-31024 bozhidar bob balkas Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:30:15 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=4429#comment-31024 kenny, what u said negates my conclusion that the world plutos r united like never before to: obtain the planet and settle on choicest parts destroy all or most vestiges of socialism obtain permament master-serf relationship btwn it and "them". i hope u'r right and me wrong. thnx kenny,
what u said negates my conclusion that the world plutos r united like never before to:
obtain the planet and settle on choicest parts
destroy all or most vestiges of socialism
obtain permament master-serf relationship btwn it and “them”.
i hope u’r right and me wrong. thnx

]]> By: Michael Kenny http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/the-end-of-prosperity/#comment-31004 Michael Kenny Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:08:03 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=4429#comment-31004 An interesting point is the reaction in Europe. Everybody believes that the worst is yet to come (roughly from mid-January) but nobody is really pessimistic. Commentators always tend to predict nightmare scenarios which never really come to pass, but even the commentators' scenarios, some of which are quoted above, are not too bad. Like the crew of a ship which has been told that it is heading into a severe storm, the "European street" is battening down the hatches and preparing for difficult days ahead but nobody expects the ship to sink and everybody basically trusts the captain to get them through. Even more interestingly, and for the first time ever, people trust, and look to, the EU. Public opinion in each member state has always tended to see the EU as a conspiracy of the other member states against themselves. Now, acting together through the EU is seen as the road to salvation, perhaps the only road, and even the professional EU-haters have either been struck dumb or are babbling incoherently about nothing at all. That may well be because the European elite sees itself threatened by a sort of "gold war" in which US bankers try to get control of the European economy. When the European elite bought into neo-liberalism in the 1980s (and they bought in big time!), they thought they were becoming full members of the club but the American elite treated them as little more than the managing clerks of regional offices whose job it was to implement policy decided in the US and keep the local "natives" from getting too restless. That humiliated the European elite, thereby alienating them. Now, they are taking their revenge and may well be exaggerating the seriousness of the crisis, the better to pose as the saviours of their countries. Among those of course is DSK, who sees himself as the next president of France in 2012, and seems to be using his IMF presidency as a springboard in that direction. Certainly, the IMF seems to be doling out huge amounts of money to European countries! Essentially, what has happened is that the two guardians of the old order, the American and European elites, have fallen out. Where that leads will be interesting! An interesting point is the reaction in Europe. Everybody believes that the worst is yet to come (roughly from mid-January) but nobody is really pessimistic. Commentators always tend to predict nightmare scenarios which never really come to pass, but even the commentators’ scenarios, some of which are quoted above, are not too bad. Like the crew of a ship which has been told that it is heading into a severe storm, the “European street” is battening down the hatches and preparing for difficult days ahead but nobody expects the ship to sink and everybody basically trusts the captain to get them through.

Even more interestingly, and for the first time ever, people trust, and look to, the EU. Public opinion in each member state has always tended to see the EU as a conspiracy of the other member states against themselves. Now, acting together through the EU is seen as the road to salvation, perhaps the only road, and even the professional EU-haters have either been struck dumb or are babbling incoherently about nothing at all.

That may well be because the European elite sees itself threatened by a sort of “gold war” in which US bankers try to get control of the European economy. When the European elite bought into neo-liberalism in the 1980s (and they bought in big time!), they thought they were becoming full members of the club but the American elite treated them as little more than the managing clerks of regional offices whose job it was to implement policy decided in the US and keep the local “natives” from getting too restless. That humiliated the European elite, thereby alienating them. Now, they are taking their revenge and may well be exaggerating the seriousness of the crisis, the better to pose as the saviours of their countries. Among those of course is DSK, who sees himself as the next president of France in 2012, and seems to be using his IMF presidency as a springboard in that direction. Certainly, the IMF seems to be doling out huge amounts of money to European countries!

Essentially, what has happened is that the two guardians of the old order, the American and European elites, have fallen out. Where that leads will be interesting!

]]> By: Don Hawkins http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/11/the-end-of-prosperity/#comment-31003 Don Hawkins Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:02:58 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/?p=4429#comment-31003 Will world leaders seize the challenge and act? Only if mass outrage demands it and even then change at best may be minimalist and short-lived. If history is a guide. What better time to prove history wrong. If not now, when? If not by us, who? If not soon, maybe never. If that’s not incentive enough, what is? Stephen that was well put and I am going to quote you only use those words for the fight we are in with climate change. Will world leaders seize the challenge and act? Only if mass outrage demands it and even then change at best may be minimalist and short-lived. If history is a guide. What better time to prove history wrong. If not now, when? If not by us, who? If not soon, maybe never. If that’s not incentive enough, what is?

Stephen that was well put and I am going to quote you only use those words for the fight we are in with climate change.

]]>