According to many observers around the world, whether or not Barack Obama wins the actual election - and it looks like he will - the financial catastrophe has insured that his philosophy of governance has already won.
“The Obama government will quite possibly begin this week. No, not the tenure of President Obama. Because Obama the candidate may still lose. But the governing philosophy of Barack Obama, which has already conquered America. With the advent of the still-embattled rescue package for Wall Street’s banking giants, comes the inevitable end of an era which began with Ronald Reagan: free markets, low taxes, deregulation.”
Within two weeks, an entire philosophy on economic life has gone bankrupt; Wall Street has been fundamentally restructured and the election campaign has been stood on its head. The people no longer want to hear about unregulated markets, but rather about ideas about how to subdue them. And so they want to hear from Barack Obama. Not long ago his opponent John McCain held a small lead, but that has since evaporated. This crisis is benefiting Barack Obama.”
German federal finance minister Peer Steinbrück has a plan. On Wednesday, he published an eight-point plan, to be presented at the G7 meeting of finance ministers…. No word about nationalisation, but definitely about new regulation. Condensed summary:
1. Obligation to keep innovative financial instruments on the balance sheet, and they must be supported with sufficient equity.
2. Bank liquidity cushions must be increased, and a minimum size must be set for them.
3. International standards should be created for greater personal liability for the financial market participants accountable (to prevent golden parachutes).
4. Incentive and remuneration schemes should be adjusted in the financial sector (Steinbrück links those to the insane push for high profit margins).
5. Closer coordination between FSF and IMF.
6. Detrimental short-selling should be temporarily banned by international agreement.
7. A ban on the securitization of 100% of lending risk (to make lenders aware of risk).
8. Enhance cooperation between national regulators.
An interesting narrative surrounding the financial crisis that hasn’t gotten much attention is this: Is the near fiscal collapse of the United States the fulfillment of Osama bin Laden’s original plans for the downfall of the United States, laid out in his 1996 Fatwa?
“Since the United States is experiencing a crisis of monumental proportions, Osama must genuinely feel that his prophecy has become a reality. More than a decade ago, he set out to vanquish America and its villainous puppets in the Arabian Gulf - nothing more, nothing less. Back then this must have appeared like folly, because the U.S. was at the zenith of its power and Osama and his people were considered nothing more than a fanatical gang of murderers.
“Today we are witnessing the rapid decline of the United States, a trend which some consider to be irreversible. Osama has victory in his sights. Whether that’s true or not shouldn’t be debated here. This is about recognizing that this is the view of Osama bin Laden. This is about catching a glimpse of the world of ideas espoused by these fanatics.”
“In contrast to ‘Mr. Hot’ McCain, Obama doesn’t proceed according to the slogan, ‘Forward, no matter what!’ … Obama simply seems more sober and rational. When panic abounds, this is what’s needed.”
With much of the developed world pointing fingers at American greed and free enterprise as the central culprit of the current financial crisis, Thomas Fricke, Chief Economics Editor at the Financial Times Deutschland, has another explanation.
“German politicians badmouth bank managers or (indebted) Americans, demanding that with their private assets, they be held liable … Certainly, there are horrible people who always want to obtain more money. The only question is whether this is the problem at hand. And whether it explains why the world of finance regularly confronts increasingly dangerous crises. … The problem may be less about greed, and more about the fact that bankers and investors today are severely overwhelmed. This is instead, a system-wide problem.”
“It was perhaps not such a great idea to introduce financial innovations, the function of which even professional hedge fund managers declare themselves puzzled and even mystified … the financial world would do well to shift down a few gears and adjust its business practices to the limited capacity of human beings to adapt.”
Now that the crisis over Georgia has subsided, where do things stand? Has Russia ‘won.’ French historian Alexandre Adler thinks not. According to Adler, while Russia has successfully maneuvered Ukraine into swearing off NATO - in almost every other way, things have gone badly for Moscow.
“The relationship between Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union have spectacularly deteriorated … China’s has resoundingly refused to show the slightest solidarity with Moscow … there has been a massive divestment on Russia’s Stock Exchange.”
“Clearly, it’s an opportune time to avenge the strong-arm tactics that have caused such fear around over the world and for the Western alliance to negotiate an end to this crisis with Russia, which would immediately stabilize a large portion of the planet.”
Is the current financial crisis the latest bit of evidence that the final collapse of American power is at hand? If these weren’t the fears of Joschka Fischer, a former German foreign minister that knows the debt that Europeans owe the United States, one could perhaps more easily dismiss these sentiments as ‘schadenfreude‘ [taking pleasure in the pain of others].
“In a few weeks, it’ll be the 19th anniversary of the night that the Wall came down and the Cold War came to an end. In the following years, the United States stood alone at the summit of global power. Today, just 19 years later, we are witnessing the decline of American power. This decline can be traced essentially to a mixture of arrogance and blindness. … The grave crisis in the American financial system is a provisional climax in this decline in power, which can be compared in its magnitude only to the global crisis of 1929.”
“Certainly, this process didn’t begin with the election of George W. Bush as 43rd President of the United States. But since he took over in 2000 - and with him the neoconservatives of the Republican Party - the U.S. government has been headed rapidly into decline. … Under the banner of a “New American Century,” Bush and the neoconservatives chose a policy based on sole American predominance. The results are now clear to be seen:
Due to Guantanamo and torture, America has lost her moral credibility; Thanks to the Iraq War, Iran has achieved regional supremacy in the Middle East; American military power has become overstretched due to a wrong and unnecessary war; Bush inherited a balanced budget from Clinton and has since acquired a huge mountain of debt; China is now America’s largest creditor; the dollar’s role as the dominant global reserve currency is seriously endangered; the American financial system is threatened with collapse; and the only answer to this crisis, an existential threat to the entire global economy, is nationalization by Washington’s Republican government!”
“Considering the negative consequences of declining American power, one must hope that it’s only a temporary phase of weakness and not the beginning of America’s final downfall. However, we Europeans must finally wake up and unite politically and responsibly to prepare for tougher times and greater responsibility.”
So what is one to make of what is being described as a ‘global financial meltdown?’
The sense one gets from Europe - particularly the Germans - is that while things are grim, and while this may mark the end of an ‘entire phase of capitalist development,’ - this isn’t the end of the world. In fact - it’s all for the best.
“The world doesn’t need as many large investment banks like Merrill Lynch and Lehman. … Here’s one way to look at the financial crises: out of the five major U.S. investment banks, only two remain. That’s capitalism. A major crash follows the biggest financial boom. The institutions that drove the boom - a good deal of the time - go over the Wupper - or over the Hudson. [In German, an expression for “going bankrupt” is to “go over the Wupper,” which is a river in Germany]. So is the adjustment over? It’s probably just the beginning.”
The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers; the acquisition of what was the largest American broker, Merrill Lynch, by the Bank of America; and the way the once greatest insurer on earth - AIG - has had to beg the U.S. Federal Reserve for help; and the nationalization of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - all of these dramatic events within the shortest possible time, herald the second phase of this great financial crisis. It is now clear that this crisis, which began with problems in the subprime mortgage sector, will probably bring to a close an entire phase of capitalist development.”
Anyone on this planet with a TV or radio knows, Wall Street and the world are experiencing a kind of banking cataclysm, with some of the most venerated and successful investment banks disappearing almost overnight. So what does it all mean?
According to this editorial from the Financial Times Deutschland - and many other English-language articles we have already posted on WORLDMEETS.US, this crisis signals the end of what people in the finance sector call ‘moral hazard’ - a term that refers to the state-rescue of struggling financial institutions.
“The real shock was delivered on Sunday, when U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson rejected calls for a state bailout with a resounding “No.” Because no matter how gloomy the markets and balance sheets appear - until Sunday, the financial circles had lived by the motto that in case of an emergency, the government would open its coffers … at least for the moment, both the government and Federal Reserve have removed the safety net. … The era of proud investment banks reigning supreme over Wall Street and bonus payouts reaching billions of dollars a year are definitely over.”
If you don’t give a hoot about how the rest of the world views our country, proceed no further. If you have a little bit of curiosity as to what other people, other countries think of us, then join me in taking a look at such views.
As a translator for WatchingAmerica.com, I scan the Dutch and Spanish newspapers for articles that, when translated, will give Americans a feeling of how Europeans (and others) see our elections, our candidates, and our nation. Other translators at Watching America translate similar articles from a number of other languages from around the world.
The newest entry into the elections melee, Sarah Palin, has in particular drawn a lot of attention and a lot of press abroad.
Scanning the most recent articles about Palin at Watching America, one notices a lot of curiosity about Sarah Palin, a lot of skepticism, some apprehension, but also some hope—and humor.
U.S. Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s choice of Ms Sarah Palin as his running mate in the coming November election is rife with risk.
For starters, Palin is unknown to most Americans, even though she has been governor of Alaska since 2006. She is an extreme conservative on several issues, especially those which concern women, which distances her from moderate Republicans, let alone the Democrats whose support McCain is courting… But what is riskiest is that Palin is completely lacking in experience in international politics and several politicians question how this woman can fill the vacant seat of the nation’s President should McCain die during his term, especially given that he is over 72 years old…
To many Europeans, especially of a liberal bent, the emergence of Sarah Palin as one of the dominant forces in American politics is a cause for dismay. At first glance she seems to represent the triumph of the personal over the political. Her looks are remarked upon, her fashions critiqued. For supporters her status as a mother of five is touted as her greatest virtue. For others the Palin family is a source of sniping gossip.
And, The Guardian warns:
This is to overlook the substance of her beliefs. Palin represents an extreme form of conservatism. She is not just anti-abortion, she opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest. And Palin supports the introduction of creationist ideas into the classroom, alongside evolution. She is sceptical of global warming, only recently accepting that human activities might play a role, flying in the face of vast bodies of scientific opinion - even the US government’s own advisers. She is pro-drilling for oil in environmentally sensitive areas in a world that needs to wean itself away from fossil fuels. Her grasp of foreign policy is limited to a series of hawkish and naive soundbites on Russia, terrorism and Iran.
And concludes:
America has had eight years of a government that has held similar views. The result has been to put ideological and emotional distance between it and large parts of Europe, Asia and Latin America….America needs a friendlier world to do economic and political business…The political beliefs exemplified by Palin and her fellow religious conservatives are not the answer, no matter how well presented by her considerable political skills. Change is the watchword of the American election. But McCain, in putting Palin on his ticket, is trying to pull off an audacious con trick. Palin does not represent change, but more of the same. And then some.
Also this weekend, The Observer, looks at the Alaska Governor, but in the context of her pregnant teenage daughter. The Observer introduces its lengthy article “How a small US town hailed its teen mums,” as follows:
High-school pregnancies, once a mark of shame, have become a badge of honour - and proved no barrier to Sarah Palin’s campaign. The new mood, fostered by Bush’s family and economic policies, is not confined to the rural South, but is apparent even in affluent Massachusetts. Now many fear the trend is threatening to erode hard-won women’s rights.
As to the latter, The Observer writes:
According to Mike Males, the Palin pregnancy has highlighted the broader cultural attack on women’s rights from both ends of the political spectrum. On the one hand, it has been used by liberals to emphasise the need for sex education, birth control and a woman’s right to choose. On the other hand, said Males, the issue of teen pregnancy has also been exploited by rightwingers: ‘There’s a deliberate demonisation of teenagers in order to impose restrictions on behaviour they deem unacceptable. In that way the Republicans can promote their own socially conservative agenda.’
The very first “Sarah Palin” Barbie doll design already exists. It shows the 44-year old Governor from Alaska in high heels and a tight black cocktail dress, with shoulder arms and a snowmobile as accessory.
Currently, the “Sarah Superstar” hysteria seems to know no boundaries in the United States – a hysteria that also affects politics
Palin’s “half-truths” and other more “juicy” comments have also not gone unnoticed by the German newspaper:
In her speech in St. Paul, Palin also claimed that she had saved the tax payer a lot of money by selling her predecessor’s company jet on Ebay. By now, this statement has been discovered not to be true… And then there are reports from ear witnesses who supposedly heard Sarah Palin publicly use improper language when talking about political rivals. She is reported to have called Hillary Clinton a “bitch” at the top of her voice while dining in a restaurant, and to have used the word “sambo” to describe Barack Obama – a term that, especially among African-Americans, is considered extremely pejorative.
In the South Korean JoongAng Daily‘s, “An Unverified Palin,” we read more about Palin’s celebrity status and how “Governor Palin has performed one great act for the public - reading the teleprompter.” :
A star is born. She must feel like Lord Byron who said, “I woke up one morning and found myself famous.” She is indeed a Cinderella in glass slippers. Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, emerged as the star of America with an acceptance speech to be John McCain’s running mate at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.
And,
Romans used to go crazy when a young white gladiator appeared in the Coliseum, where gladiators were mostly old and non-white. Senator Obama became a star with a speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, but he is running for president because he passed the rigorous verification process of a long primary. Verification of Governor Palin has only begun.
The JoongAng Daily‘s editorial writer and traveling correspondent concludes with the admonishment:
The U.S. presidential election is too serious for the country to be on a roller coaster ride because of a single, unverified vice presidential nominee. We Koreans know too well how reckless it is to ignore content and make a choice based on image alone.
With the ominous title, “Palin Willing to Wage War Against Russia,” The Finnish publication, Iltalehti, reports in its September 12 edition on Palin’s interview by ABC-News:
Palin was grilled with questions on foreign policy. Palin explained she believes in “God’s great plan for the world” and emphasized a strict policy towards Russia. Palin also thinks Goergia and Ukraine should be granted NATO membership. “We must keep an eye on Russia,” the Alaskan governor said, but added in the same breath that she hopes the U.S. avoids another era of Cold War.
When asked if the U.S. would wage war on Russia if Georgia was a NATO member and Russia invaded it Palin responded, “Maybe so.” “I mean that according to the NATO-articles the U.S. would have a duty to defend Georgia, even by starting a war against Russia”
Believe it or not, there is also a little bit of political humor in the foreign press when discussing our elections. The lead paragraph in the Brazilian O Globo‘s story, “Palin ‘Shuffles the Cards‘ of the U.S. Campaign,” says it all:
Attack a woman like Palin, and the result is to turn her into a victim of machismo, sexism, prejudice, etc. Turn your back on her, and you will emerge with a beautiful bite on your behind.
But there are also more sober and objective assessments of the U.S. elections in the foreign press. For example, in the Dutch De Telegraaf in “Obama’s Land or McCain’s Land,” we read:
Obama was previously a community worker, fresh out of Harvard. “But in the United States, one does not win elections with that,” they say there. Perhaps it is the same with McCain‘s POW experience in Vietnam, where he really learned to love America. It is thus really hawk against dove, right against left, red against blue, anti-abortion against liberalism.
Both parties have nominated unlikely candidates, who want to bring an end to the polarization in Washington and to the influence of big money. Obama shows understanding towards opponents of abortion. McCain wants to have Democrats in his cabinet. The campaign also reflects a changed America. The influence of citizens, united by the Internet, has never been greater.
Traditional stereotyping is being pushed to the side: Obama stands for a “post-racial“ generation that has left discrimination behind. And Republicans have launched a feminist icon with their working anti-abortion-mother Palin.
There are sufficient signs to believe that it is possible that America will take a step forward with the next president.
Finally, this compendium would not be complete without mentioning an outrageous and hilarious (assuming the two adjectives can co-exist) article in Russia’s Pravda (The same newspaper that claimed John McCain was an Egyptian. Apparently Pravda confused the Panama Canal Zone with the Suez Canal Zone–see “Can Egyptian Born McCain Be President?”)
The candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States of America, whose experience in small town politics, mothers´day [sic] dos and the local hockey club is her claim to fame, threatened to open the gates of Hell by attacking Russia in the event of another invasion of Georgia in a televised interview on ABC (shown today). One question for this self-opinionated upstart: Do you know what a nuclear holocaust is?
Sarah Palin, Mrs. Nobody know-it-all shrieking [sic] cow from Alaska, the joke of American politics, plied with a couple of vodkas before letting rip in front of incredulous audiences while McCain coos in the background, cuts a ridiculous figure as she strives to be taken seriously.
So Sarah Palin, Mrs. Hockey Mom housewife-cum-small-town gossip merchant and cheap little guttersnipe, suppose you shut up and allowed real politicians and diplomats to do their work? Threatening Russia with a war is perhaps the most irresponsible thing anyone could do at this moment in time. Have you any idea what a nuclear holocaust is? Have you any notion of the power of Russia’s armed forces? Did you know that Russia has enough missiles to destroy any target anywhere on Earth in seconds?
And have you not forgotten, you pith-headed little bimbo from the back of beyond, that small detail about the slaughter of Russian citizens by Georgians, which started the whole debacle? So next time suppose you keep your mouth shut and while you’re at it, make sure the members of your family keep their legs shut too. Your country has enough failed mothers as it is.
For those who have stuck with me this far, there is one redeeming piece in the Pravda article: a picture, and it is not of Sarah Palin.
Exasperation over the standard of debate in the U.S presidential race is definitely global, and in ‘Old Europe,’ this exasperation centers on how sex and religion insert themselves into a debate that ought to be about better public policy.
“What I don’t understand is all the fuss about Sarah Palin. She, the clueless, internationally inexperienced Governor of the pygmy state of Alaska has been chosen by John McCain to be the Vice President of the United States, and all the media can get animated over is the fact that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is expecting a child?”
“Why should I be at all interested in their husbands or wives, their mothers or children?
What does it matter if Palin’s husband was driving drunk, if her teenage daughter’s sex is good or bad, or whether Barrack Obama’s stepfather taught him to box in Indonesia? Why during an out-sized mass-gathering in Denver, do I have to witness Obama’s two little daughters standing in the spotlight waving like little dolls whose batteries are about to run out? Why should whether John McCain and his wife Cindy are happy be relevant?
“As far as I’m concerned, Sarah Palin’s children might not have sex at all, John McCain could be single and Obama’s children could play at home with their slot cars. They could all be bad husbands or wives, frequent brothels and subsequently lie to their families about it.”
How representative of the Iraqi population are his views? It’s very hard to say. But we do know that he is regularly published in this Sunni-leaning daily published in Baghdad.
“Apart from the minds of those polluted by demagogic, despotic speeches and whose views are so set in stone that they chant absurd slogans against the United States of America - knowledgeable and realistic people unequivocally agree that America is the most important strategic ally of Iraq, which offers the Iraqi people the greatest of golden opportunities.
In the entire history of the Iraqi people, nothing compares to the opportunity now offered by America’s presence on our soil, with all of its scientific, industrial, administrative, political and military strength. What more could the Iraqi people ask than the opportunity afforded by the greatest nation on the face of the earth? The United States of America, with her outstretched hand, is offering to assist Iraq in many areas of development and construction.”
Continuing with our effort to present how the rest of the world is sizing up John McCain’s vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, this is the latest prognostication by one of Germany’s leading columnists, Thomas Klau.
“We knew from his biography that John McCain was a daredevil: since his childhood days, his mother Roberta assures us, rebellion and risk have been his elixirs of life.”
“With a single stroke last week, McCain demonstrated that his apparent prudence was just a shell, and that his penchant for risk-taking and all-or-nothing gambles would provide the real background music for his presidency.” Read the rest of this entry »
Many of us have gotten used to viewing the Russian press as a kind of tamed animal, for the most part parroting the Kremlin line on all things political. So it was with some surprise that I came upon this article written by a Swiss journalist stationed in Moscow.
“If the Kremlin is comfortable in its [Army] boots, the Russian press is tormented the day after Moscow officially recognized the independence of the two separatist republics of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. … A prime reason for concern: the economic consequences of deteriorating relations with Moscow’s Western partners.” Read the rest of this entry »
What lessons - if any -can one glean about the direction of the Republican Party from its embrace of an ultra-conservative working mother with a daughter pregnant out of wedlock? According to Jordan Mejias of Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, it may indicate a change in course best highlighted by harkening back to the infamous Dan Quayle-Murphy Brown episode of 1992.
