There Is No Fix
September 20, 2008
That's the truth that almost no one will face about the economic unraveling: There is no fix. This is the fundamental reason I say that, with regard to their publicly proclaimed aims, no one knows what they're doing. They can't know what they're doing -- because, while everyone insists they are trying to "fix it," there is nothing to be done. And yet, everyone in Washington persists in trying to "fix it" -- that is, they are attempting to avoid the inevitable consequences of an economy that has significantly and for a long time gone completely off the tracks. Many actions by many players must lead to certain results now. To rebuild on a solid foundation, the results must play out -- and they will play out, no matter what stop-gap measures are adopted -- and then and only then, a new structure can be erected. The frantic activity in Washington is the hysterical scrambling of terrified and not very bright people faced with unavoidable disaster, still trying to convince themselves and everyone else that "something" can be done to avert catastrophe. This isn't a plan, or even hoping against hope: it's panic, pure and simple.
We can be thankful that in these horrific times, at least we get a lot of Mike Whitney columns. I excerpted two last week -- here and here.
And here are some excerpts from today's Whitney piece:
--MORE--
That's the truth that almost no one will face about the economic unraveling: There is no fix. This is the fundamental reason I say that, with regard to their publicly proclaimed aims, no one knows what they're doing. They can't know what they're doing -- because, while everyone insists they are trying to "fix it," there is nothing to be done. And yet, everyone in Washington persists in trying to "fix it" -- that is, they are attempting to avoid the inevitable consequences of an economy that has significantly and for a long time gone completely off the tracks. Many actions by many players must lead to certain results now. To rebuild on a solid foundation, the results must play out -- and they will play out, no matter what stop-gap measures are adopted -- and then and only then, a new structure can be erected. The frantic activity in Washington is the hysterical scrambling of terrified and not very bright people faced with unavoidable disaster, still trying to convince themselves and everyone else that "something" can be done to avert catastrophe. This isn't a plan, or even hoping against hope: it's panic, pure and simple.
We can be thankful that in these horrific times, at least we get a lot of Mike Whitney columns. I excerpted two last week -- here and here.
And here are some excerpts from today's Whitney piece:
--MORE--