Thursday, December 04, 2008

A Letter from Ukraine

Off topic, but as Japan's leaders flounder about in a vain struggle to find a governmental response commensurate with the worsening economic situation, a little perspective is in order.

The financial reporting of the press of advanced industrial economies camouflages, without malice, the extraordinarily privileged status of the producers of financial and business news--and the primary consumers of such news. The Olympian viewpoint is the default--it is so easy to forget that for most of the world, the movements of prices and the drying up of credit means sudden, unexpected, undeserved catastrophe.

Which begs a question -- what is Japan doing to stabilize and bring balance to the global economy, Francisco?

1 comment:

Jan Moren said...

Well, it seems to have declared war on marijuana lately. Not that it'll help the economy, exactly, but perhaps the focus on the taima-using university student population can distract people from crisis. Or, it'll act as lots of free publicity for marijuana, creating a population too stoned to care about the economy anymore.