Eugene Robinson: Welcome to the Third World, America

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Welcome to the Third World, America

Posted on Oct 10, 2008
By Eugene Robinson


When I lived in Buenos Aires in the late 1980s as a correspondent for The Washington Post, Argentina’s economy was going through spasms of hyperinflation. My office was in the heart of the financial district, where banks and currency traders had electronic signs in their windows showing the value of the Argentine austral against other currencies. When things got really bad, crowds would gather and watch their wealth evaporate minute by minute as the numbers went south.

That’s how I feel these days when I watch cable news and focus not on the anchorpeople but on the hyperactive Dow Jones ticker at the bottom of the screen. Up 100 points, down 200, rallying, retreating, meandering, “looking for a bottom,” falling off a cliff. Another day, another triple-digit decline.

So here’s a question I’d like to ask Barack Obama and John McCain: Is the United States destined to look and feel increasingly like a “developing country”? Is this the way it’s going to be?

I know that our mammoth economy bears little resemblance to Argentina’s, or Brazil’s, or any of the other economies I covered in South America. I know that we’re dealing with a mortgage meltdown and a credit crisis, not runaway inflation. But one thing is the same: The feeling of free-fall into some sort of abyss.

It’s not just the United States that is experiencing a Third World-style economic disaster. Iceland—tidy, rich, Nordic, postcard-perfect Iceland—is scrambling to avert national bankruptcy. Throughout what we used to call the Western world, governments are nationalizing banks, guaranteeing deposits, cutting interest rates and taking other heroic measures to stave off collapse.

I’d like to know how the presidential candidates view this economic crisis, and I don’t want any boilerplate about how American workers are the best in the world. Is this a temporary setback or a fundamental shift? When the volatile markets settle down, as they eventually will, is the United States going to be a poorer nation than it was? Will the next generation of Americans lead lives of less affluence and comfort, rather than more?

I want to know if this is some kind of final reckoning for the way we’ve been living so far beyond our means. Is the bartender finally presenting us the bill for our tab? ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081010_welcome_to_the_third_world_america/?ln

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. It will take 2 generations to repair Chimp's damage.

[n2doc]

2. Funny, there was an op ed in the LA times 2 weeks ago with the same title. n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

3. We - my wife and I - have been living within our means

Saving a small amount along the way.

The problem is that the Republicans in power have been living beyond our means.