It’s a bit ironic, wouldn’t you say, that the current American administration (through the Fed), champion of the free market and freedom of enterprise, just recently nationalised Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and, so far, AIG – a measure usually attributed to socialists like Hugo Chávez and the likes of him.
Still, you can’t blame them for trying to avoid a collapse, which seems more and more inevitable day by day. And then, of course, there’s the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, just one day ahead of the AIG intervention. Norwegian banks and finance institutions saw a similar crisis some 15–20 years ago, culminating in a government takeover, prompting many conservatives to brand Norway a socialist state – for taking some of the steps now seen in America.
Needless to say, Chávez, whom the Lehman Brothers slammed for his economic, nationalising policy, is over-thrilled by recent developments:
“They were always producing negative reports about Venezuela,” Chavez told reporters. “They forgot about themselves … and ‘boom!’ they were bankrupt.”
— Reuters
I wouldn’t revel in the American recession, if I were him, or is he convinced that Venezuelan finances are invulnerable, unaffected by the American economy? Well I’ve got news for you, Mr. Chávez: This is most certainly going to affect us all, one way or the other, and it won’t be pretty.
Perhaps it’s time we pick up some of those good old tunes again (here performed by Bing Crosby)?
Of course, that’d be overreacting, but these are difinitely scary times, and I’m afraid we haven’t seen nothing yet.
I overheard CNN anchor Adrian Finighan today, expressing concerns over the redundancies in Wall Street and London’s city. Certainly, there’s every cause for concern, but the financial centres constitute the tip of the iceberg, I’m afraid. What Finighan failed to take into the picture, is the vast amount of jobs at risk in industries depending on stock market and monetary prosperity, which more less amounts to every industry – or corporation therein.
Now that’s what I call depressing.