The airtime dedicated to wailing and gnashing of teeth by politicians and massive bankers threatens to eclipse the the highly sugared and somewhat vacuous political running race in the You ess of. It is, by any definition, big news. It is now more than apparant that we are all going to feel the force of this crunch in our lives. And, while the media castigates various financial institutions for their 'irresponsible practices'; in the next breath lambasts the average Joe for living on the nevernever. Am I alone in thinking that all these protestations and explanations are occluding the real underlying causes of the worldwide financial instability? The 'sub-prime' scandal may have been the opening shot in this saga for many of us, but to my mind it is indicative of a more insidious political landscape it is high time we began to question more robustly.
Political affiliations aside, I think we have enough computers and technology to push the cycle of boom and bust into the footnotes of history, but this year people have been dying of starvation in their thousands because certain individuals in certain organisations are comfortable with comodities speculation. Representatives of the same institutions can then be heard on the news bemoaning the fact they may actually have to put off the purchase of their seventh Ferrari cos times is tight. Although not the biggest fan of corporate capitalism, I see no viable alternatives waving flags from the sidelines. However, it is high time for some regulation of the behaviour of the powerful towards the weak. On the micro scale Traders have to accept smaller bonuses this year while owners of small businesses begin to log on to Euthanise.com. On the macro scale the G8ists shake their heads remorsefully whilst profering raised palms of regret, while the towelheads, minos and savages starve- making the news look unsightly. This is not the result of rogue trading but evidence of politically sanctioned malfeasance sold back to us as mere consumer greed. We don't need to recover from a global reccession, we need a new global framework that allows progress, prosperity and development for the world not just the rich.