Crisis? What Crisis?

Apparently there's a bit of a kerfuffle going on in the financial markets. In fact, one commentator went so far as to say: "The President isn't working properly." That was me, just now. Dubya seems to think the market isn't working, but from what little I can remember about macroeconomic theory the market, being an emergent property of any politico-economic fiscal system, from simple barter to the London Stock Exchange, is working exactly as you'd expect.

A market is where goods and services are exchanged, and the point where supply meets demand is called the "price". Keep the supply short, by for instance neglecting to build any basic council housing and selling off what there is, while the population climbs inexorably higher, and the demand will skyrocket, sending prices into orbit. People will lie, cheat and lie some more to get a foot on the property ladder: "Oh, yes, we can afford to pay twice our annual salary every month, after all we'll be selling this place for a vast profit in the very near future." "That's no problem, I'll get a vast commission by selling you this highly desirable shoebox. Then I'll run away."

One of the reasons for having a government is to govern people's activities. The clue is in the name. I'd argue that the act of government includes protecting the weak from the strong, the poor from the rich and the stupid from the cunning. In this, the Bush and indeed the Blair/Brown administration have clearly failed.

Now we find poor, homeless people sleeping in the street outside expensive, empty houses. Banks and building societies are collapsing right, left and centre. And as long as Bush and his ilk are prepared to bail them out with taxpayers' money - your money, my money - it will continue to worsen until we suddenly find that overnight the US, the UK and the EU have become third world countries like Zimbabwe and the Sudan.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying we should lynch the ringleaders and torch their homes and possessions, after all how could we even be sure who those millionaires and billionaires are? It would be all too easy to organise a flash-mob in every major city and hunt the fuckers down like animals, but that would be wrong. Fun, but wrong.

Perhaps it would be in their own best interests if the law were to make a lasting example of the financial and political leaders who are ultimately responsible for this mess by jailing them for fraud. Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like they've taken people's money and given them nothing back in return except for broken dreams. And none of your "open prison" crap, I'm sure there's plenty of room to spare in Guantanamo Bay.

/rant