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roachboy · 02-01-2007, 10:24 AM

i dont see much going on in this move beyond an attempt by a collapsing presidency to regain some footing for itself by shifting into a transparently hollow populist mode.

this is not to say that questions of exorbitant executive pay is not a problem--it is simply an expression of class warfare republican style, during which you (a) define the state as irrational so (b) roll back its regulatory functions while (c) floating this ridiculous fantasy that markets are somehow "rational" so that (d) when things politically are going well, actors who operate within a key conservative demographic can take anything and everything they can with the understanding that (e) when things head south politically, there will be a certain hollow bluster on this whole process that the conservatives--whose economic ideology lay behind this grotesque state of affairs in the first place--can use to position themselves as representing the interests of "the people" on economic matters.

the response from the corporate side of things is predictable, and i think that ace (who i do not agree with, but who is consistent) sums up pretty well: "whaddya talking about? this is the private sector. buzz off."

and that is where things stand.

i dont see anything like a revision of the underlying economic ideology that the neo-hooverites have been working since the 1970s in well-funded think tanks, and since reagan as an element of public ideology. given that, i dont see anything beyond posturing in the bushstatement. well, posturing and an index of the sense of political implosion that must finally have reached the well-protected surface of the planet george w. bush lives on.

when you start to see american conservatives ditching their disastrous but sound-byte friendly neoliberal economic ideology, maybe i'll start taking this sort of thing seriously. but there's no sign of that: no amount of damage seems to falsify it; no amount of human suffering and squandering of resources seems to impact upon it; no coherent analysis from the right is out there that calls their own economic philosophy into question--so this gesture is nothing more than that.

02-01-2007, 10:24 AM	#8 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	i dont see much going on in this move beyond an attempt by a collapsing presidency to regain some footing for itself by shifting into a transparently hollow populist mode. this is not to say that questions of exorbitant executive pay is not a problem--it is simply an expression of class warfare republican style, during which you (a) define the state as irrational so (b) roll back its regulatory functions while (c) floating this ridiculous fantasy that markets are somehow "rational" so that (d) when things politically are going well, actors who operate within a key conservative demographic can take anything and everything they can with the understanding that (e) when things head south politically, there will be a certain hollow bluster on this whole process that the conservatives--whose economic ideology lay behind this grotesque state of affairs in the first place--can use to position themselves as representing the interests of "the people" on economic matters. the response from the corporate side of things is predictable, and i think that ace (who i do not agree with, but who is consistent) sums up pretty well: "whaddya talking about? this is the private sector. buzz off." and that is where things stand. i dont see anything like a revision of the underlying economic ideology that the neo-hooverites have been working since the 1970s in well-funded think tanks, and since reagan as an element of public ideology. given that, i dont see anything beyond posturing in the bushstatement. well, posturing and an index of the sense of political implosion that must finally have reached the well-protected surface of the planet george w. bush lives on. when you start to see american conservatives ditching their disastrous but sound-byte friendly neoliberal economic ideology, maybe i'll start taking this sort of thing seriously. but there's no sign of that: no amount of damage seems to falsify it; no amount of human suffering and squandering of resources seems to impact upon it; no coherent analysis from the right is out there that calls their own economic philosophy into question--so this gesture is nothing more than that. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 02-01-2007 at 10:27 AM..