partypup, you make it sound like some little cabal of upper-echelon US bankers and policy administrators are selling out the US. In a way, that is happening. But they are simply trying to find ways for the American people – you know, that huge mass of innocence and goodness and light – to continue to do what they insist on doing. What do they insist on? Investing without saving, spending without earning. House prices and stock prices going up forever, and borrowing without end.
If we lived in an old-fashioned kingdom under an absolute monarch, or some other top-down political system, then the right people to blame would be the few people at the very top. But we live in a democracy, imperfect as it is. Our politicians’ actions reflect, mostly, what we the voters demand. What’s going on between Geithner and Hu and all the other leaders is not THEM, it’s US. Blaming THEM is just compounding our failure to act responsibly by not even taking responsibility in the first place.
I realize conspiracy theories are a lot sexier, but they end up letting the people who are really irresponsible off the hook.
Oh, and why do you think the Democratic party is more committed to financial irresponsibility than Republicans? Arthur Burns was put in by Republicans, Paul Volcker by Dems. As far as I can tell, they both get near-perfect scores in the current bout of financial irresponsibility.
