"A casatrophic loss of faith that this society can govern itself...."

[JohnyCanuck]

Latest entry from Kunstler's blog:

Failure Beyond Finance

Events are driving us now, not personalities or even policies. Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, and the other characters in the headlines might pretend that they are managing things, but the truth is that problems in the financial sector have spun wildly out of control. The wheels are coming off and we are in that long sickening moment of sideways sliding motion That it is happening at the very height of the Christmas season, when events have previously been controllable -- the season of manufactured Santa Claus rallies and $50 million bonuses -- shows how perilous the situation is.

The reason the financial sector is crashing is really pretty simple: it created too many fraudulent securities. What has been conspicuously absent so far is any sense of accountability for what may go down as history's greatest swindle. It's really impossible to imagine that a bunch of low-ranking worker bees in the banking hives spun out all these bundles of collateralized debt obligations, mortgage-backed securities, and similar trash on their own without the say-so of their bosses -- a group that includes the current Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Paulson, formerly CEO of the Goldman Sachs organization. And, of course, the questions naturally follow: what about those in charge of the ratings agencies that awarded AAA status to high-risk junk investments; and where were the banking regulators when outfits like Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual, and Ditech were handing out miracle mortgages to borrowers without normal qualifications; and where was the Securities and Exchange Commission when the wholesale trade in creatively-engineered debt instruments ramped up to high volume, and what was the board of directors at Merrill Lynch thinking when it allowed disgraced CEO Stan O'Neal to back a truck up to the company loading dock and fill it up with $160 million in bonus-and-termination payments after O'Neal presided over at least $8 billion in losses?

What we're also seeing is a crisis of authority on top of a crisis of capital, and it will probably lead to a crisis of legitimacy -- by which I mean a catastrophic loss of faith that this society can govern itself at any level. Leadership across the board has failed, in government, in business, in what used to be called the press, and in education. Leadership in every sector went along with the program, marveling stupidly at their society's ability to get something for nothing.

SNIP

The nation is acting just now like a crowd of bystanders watching a car wreck that has nothing to do with them -- as though they were just occupying the Nascar grandstand on a particularly bad day. They'll discover soon that it's their own society that's hit the wall out there on the track. It raises the question, under the circumstances, as to whether the next presidential election will have any legitimacy.

http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2007/12/failure-beyond.html

[Red Zelda]

1. But the lady on TV yesterday

said the economy was booming with growth. Really. I saw her. On NBC.
TV wouldn't lie.

[Tesha]

2. And they're going to double the chocolate rations on new Year's Day, too! (NT)

[bryant69]

3. It's really hard when TV and the Internet disagree

I mean both TV and the Internet have such a reputation for complete accuracy, when they disagree it hurts my brain.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Toots]

8. Boy talk about self limitation

TV you get what they put out. Internet you get what you put out. I see the difference but can you. Or do you think the "internet" is just DU? The internet has unlimited resource potential. It only depends on the effort you put forth in your investigations. What power over TV do you possess except the on and off switch?

[bryant69]

10. The great thing about the internet is that it's easy to find someone who already agrees with you.n/t

[spirit of wine]

4. To extend this thought out a bit on faith

one has to presume a loss a faith is a loss of faith. Both politics and religion are both human constructs that are equally fragile, if one seems less legitamite than the other think again. Go bow your head!

[EFerrari]

5. It's good to see someone finally put the responsibility where it belongs. nt

[annabanana]

6. Yeah? Well "Ho Friggen' Ho" to Kunstler too.

And what ideas are "lying around" with which to rebuild? A re-dedication to the precepts of the Constitution... Allow MORE people to weigh in with solutions and LESS control by the self appointed experts. Perhaps a search for some people with a track record of getting it right for a change?

I am not quite ready to throw in the towel.. and not convinced that we will not come out of it stronger.

[nashville_brook]

12. there are some old ideas laying around -- Works Progress Administration comes to mind.

we are so far behind the curve in infrastructure maintenance that there's no reason not to put money there.

my guess is there's plenty of public money being wasted on wars and kickbacks for ubercapitalists. put that money BACK where it belongs and put America back to work for ourselves. it's been done before and it was a smashing success.

[natrat]

7. worse, it seems the ship has been run aground on purpose

[Trillo]

9. Thanks for the link to this blog.

This guy has figured it out. So few others have. I liked his words about 'the greatest swindle of all time'.

I wish more people would speak out about the greed and corruption at the top, and how it's cannot be anything other than deliberate, while appearing laissez faire.

[natrat]

11. it is so bizarre when you stop to think abot it all

if the lie gets repeated enough...