Chomsky on the credit crisis.
The Economics of Fascism
Wikipedia on The Economics of Fascism:
Fascism also operated from a Social Darwinist view of human relations. Their aim was to promote “superior” individuals and weed out the weak.[15] In terms of economic practice, this meant promoting the interests of successful businessmen while destroying trade unions and other organizations of the working class.[16] Historian Gaetano Salvemini argued in 1936 that fascism makes taxpayers responsible to private enterprise, because “the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise… Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social.“[17]
So that we’re all aware, we’re not looking at a socialist economic bailout, but a fascist one.
Note: Bryan posted this already in the comments section, but I think it’s extremely relevant to our current national predicament so I’m posting it again. Plus I think Digg and Reddit are going to eat this up.
Blindly Into The Bubble
Paul Krugman writing for The New York Times:
Given the role of conservative ideology in the mortgage disaster, it’s puzzling that Democrats haven’t been more aggressive about making the disaster an issue for the 2008 election. They should be: It’s hard to imagine a more graphic demonstration of what’s wrong with their opponents’ economic beliefs.
I agree with Krugman on politicizing the mortgage crisis, but I disagree on Krugman’s alternative, which simply involves a rejection of ideology (here he’s referring to Greenspan’s Objectivist overtness). I’m all for pragmatic solutions, but Krugman is missing the Althusserian point which is that the rejection of ideology constitutes ideology at its finest. It’s important that the Democrats use this to articulate a critique of neoliberal economic policy, but the problems of the mortgage crisis, which are, of course, of a global nature, are perhaps more suited to a fundamental critique of late capitalism — that is, global capitalism.