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Treatise: Economic theory in crisis by Hatto Fischer

The concept of economy has undergone many changes since Schumpeter said in history the budget has the final voice. John Maynard Keynes attempted to elongate the responsibility of the state by considering state spending as a way to increase demand otherwise not there, by the market, and thus a way to create jobs. But once Milton Friedman established the fact that consumers depend for their behavior not upon their daily, weekly or even monthly income, but on their life income, then the parameters in need to be influenced by government altered.

Economic policy was reduced to fiscal and more precisely to monetary measures with the aim to keep up the money flow. It is done best by keeping the level of interest rate low. Instead of governments, central banks became the key regulator.

In other words, all the prerequisites for the crisis which spilled over in 2008 with banks no longer able to cope with their own deficits stem from this theoretical premise. With it goes a confusion about politics which needs to be distinguished from governmental responsibility.

Besides the interaction between national governments (the European Union here an exception) and a market gone global is not the only thing to worry about. There is as well the need to know what ensures the proper working of the world economy and this not at the expense of sustainable development at local level. Sustainable development is quite a subject matter all to its own.

When wishing to come to terms with the 'economy' nothing is really given, not even the much acclaimed model of Capitalism as the only system which works. It should be recalled the comparison Michael Polanyi did with regards to 'primitive, archaic and modern economies'. In so doing he examined the main claim of modern economy as being the most sophisticated one namely by making 'money' into the key decision carrier. Thus this type of Capitalism claims of being able to handle in an unified manner complexity and fulfill at the same time the demand for individual freedom, and this with ease. Polanyi compared this with a society which follows the reciprocity principle and thereby involves everyone not in exchange of one thing for another but in the decision making process as to what it takes to attain a just society. In such a society each person gives things and services to others according to perception of needs while not bothering about getting something in return. Instead others give to that subject things to survive in society. Such reciprocity society means engagement in redistribution according to needs.

However, it is till today an unanswered question whether the reciprocity model can be considered as a viable alternative to the current market economy which is based on money as decision carrier and which has brought with it all the excesses known as speculation and consumption based on credits to leave nearly unresolvable deficit situations. Above all the tactic has been until now to postpone repayment into an indefinite future while in reality it shall burden like all the nuclear waste of contaminated uranium future generations with no real solution in sight.

Strange as it may sound in view of what is happening in an ever expanding global economy, it was Hegel who stated after studies of Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations' that bourgeoisie society knows only one way to exist, namely by expansion. Every company experiences the same: credits from banks are more easily to be obtained when expanding as if the start up of new business is a sign of a healthy balance sheet. It would be interesting to do some further research, for instance, about the growing fusion in the automobile industry until major companies like Daimler-Benz and GM since they had to back pedal due to international management teams being unable to work out their cultural differences. That dispute spilled over as well into policy differences between museum directors and their respective boards as one side favored opening up more branches such as Guggenheim in Bilbao while others wanted consolidation at home. It seems as if loyalty by a local work force under the paternal wing of a family like company has some advantages over companies with a global management not located in one but in several places at one and the same time. Definitely the conflictual line is defined by who can claim success and thus has the power to propagate new ideas, even if they do not prove necessarily in the end to be at all innovative and in their conservative bend equally a disaster. The records of the three motor companies in Detroit are ample proof of that as they scramble to overcome long neglected reforms. As a matter of fact, it would be a mistake to overlook the management-worker industrial relationship there. There prevails the most old fashioned top down organisation as propagated by management. It leaves the work force still waiting for a sign of respect, in order to have a working climate as free as possible of any hierarchical structuring favoring authority over competence. A testimony to that has been given by Rick Feldman in his book 'At the end of the Line'. More about the fate of Detroit can be followed through the discussions and articles written by Grace Boggs and Shea Howell at the Boggs Centre in Detroit.

European budgets: the matter of transparency in book-keeping

But to come back to the current crisis in 2010 within the Euro zone, in all cases a truthful budget is crucial. This applies to states as well as companies. There can be no accountability without transparency. That is not possible given 'creative accounting'. The latter has become unfortunately more the rule than the exception. Here some crucial points to consider.

 

The European Rationality of Economy: the case of Greece

In view of the EURO coming under severe strain in 2010 due to the various state deficits of member states, including France, Germany and therefore not only Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, the economic historian Louis Baeck would reflect back upon the time when the Euro was created. He experienced then that none of the politicians would really listen to expert advice telling them a common currency without one economic governance is impossible.

Wall mural in the Plaka painted by the Irish man Tom   May 2010

With the Greek debt forcing a new beginning of economic reform in Greece, it should be noted that this is linked according to IMF and EU experts to necessary public administrative changes. Yet this economic approach does not take into consideration theories and practices of public administrations as politicians rarely know how to handle an administrative process. Again it testifies a loss of words when it comes to implement meaningful regulations. Thus a critical review is needed of the harsh measures to be implemented by Greece as demanded by the money lenders.

Positive is merely if done in agreement with the IMF and the European Union, in order to avoid insolvency. Much more preferred would have been that Greek society itself would come up with an agreement that ensures social justice in the application of these measures. It does not. The latter course would involve all in obtaining a practical knowledge what caused the deficit. It would entail every institution taking stock how resources are used, wasted and then deciding collectively as to how a more economical, equally good way of doing things would be possible.

For instance, in such a cultural context the criterion of 'efficiency' would have to be reviewed from several angles. It should not mean firing some while keeping the rest of the staff at a lower salary since social costs would be externalised and no one sure if the unemployed would find another job in a period of crisis. Equally the fact would have to be dealt with that 'inefficiency' is system immanent, a built in causa of types of businesses which live off the public sector labelled as inefficient and hence in need of additional services. This is particular the case in the educational sector e.g. private schools or tutors costing parents a great deal of money just to make sure their children have a chance to enter university requiring especially for key courses like architecture the highest possible grades. The entire system is not merely corrupt, but in the eyes of the children who have to go through such a system 'criminal'. It would ease the financial burdens of families, if they did not have to seek additional private services to what is offered publically. But so far no one wants to touch this golden calf of a dyfunctional public educational system who is in quality often better than its reputation or even myth.

Unfortunately it appears as if in Greece internal agreement is nearly impossible to be reached and thus outside forces are needed to get things done. That was the rationale behind the construction of the Metro in Athens with an American management and two construction firms from France and Germany including only then Greek companies.

All this reflects the very absence of a social contract within Greek society and explains the lack of a true public debate. The latter can be conveyed only by a civil society which is independent from both family and party orientation. The latter is being attempted especially by young people who have become disenchanted with the system. Their disgust erupted on Dec. 6th 2008 when Alexandros was shot. Only some of the older generations were ready to admit that they had neglected to secure a sustainable future for the younger generations. And even if there was this social discord, there did prevail a basic agreement between PASOK under Jorgios Papandreou and the general public of Greece that something needs to be undertaken. This lead to PASOK winning the elections in 2009 with a promise of reform. Immediately thereafter the new government had to confront the state deficit. It had become impossible to hide its size.

After unnecessary delays to rally in time, the European political leadership has finally come through in time to make sure Greece can pay a part of its debts as of 19.5.2010. This time around the Mediterranean country could avoid thereby default. In turn that started a race against time. The Greek government will have to show despite opposition by unions and other parties that the introduced measures can succeed i.e. cut down the state deficit. A positive sign is that in the first four month of 2010 the deficit has been down by 40% when compared with the same period of the previous year. Come July there shall be undertaken the first critical evaluation to see if the government is on target. It would be deemed a success if the state deficit goes down from the current 12 to 14% to 8% by the end of 2010.

The dilemma for the Greek government is how to make these cuts in a climate of recession and still stimulate economic growth. Unfortunately most of the measures reflect merely what a government can do within its given power. That is limited within the Greek state whose bureaucracy is dominated by trade unions who can easily oppose such reform measures. At the same time, everyone realizes more difficult tasks are overcoming general tax evasion and coming to terms with a black economy said to be as much as 40% of the entire market. It will take furthermore some very serious efforts to regain the confidence that Greek reports about the state of affairs no longer follow the art of creative accounting but are indeed truthful accounts and more so realistic i.e. without over statements of positive developments while staying silent about worrying trends.

Verification of needed reforms

For all the reform of European economies to happen not fake but empirical knowledge is needed. However, as Habermas would point out, the epistemology of concepts and categories depends in addition to reliable statistical evidence on a valid 'theory' of both government and the economy. The latter is missing. Therefore, it is as much a crisis of economic theory as the deficit is the consequence of many bad policy choices and over spending on wrong things not only in Greece, but everywhere else.

Much more could be done to enhance an economic use of all resources, otherwise called efficiency. For this economic theory needs to be linked to numerous reforms as identified by Agenda 21, including administrative ones. Sustainability cannot be attained alone in an environmental sense. For this are needed reforms in the economy, society, administration and more so it requires a culture to sustain these reforms as part of a social innovation. Why there is then a lot of opposition to reforms aiming to bring about a greater efficiency, that can only be understood once it is realized that inefficiency is being exploited for the sole sake of making money but in doing so in pursuing goals and methods which offer no solution to the economy.

But to return to the general sense of direction, people feel that all these newest austerity measures hit only the poor and the weakest while those who have benefited the most from such a system of inefficiency stay untouched.

So far measures to alleviate the deficit as proposed by even leading opinion makers like the 'Economist' are but crude and not really to the point. They reflect the usual neo-Liberal stance insofar as competitiveness is linked to a deregulated labour market and low wages of the employees.

Unfortunately there seems to prevail an overall lack of a serious debate about how to combine economic reform with serious efforts to bring about social justice! As long as the sense prevails amongst people that ever more social injustices rather than just measures are reproduced, political and governmental responsibilities shall not coincide. The Social Democrats in Germany realized too late that they had neglected that question for years and thus lost power and conviction in their own political will to shape things. In future, governments will find it hard to reform the public sector while making the private one be more fair and just. Altogether it would have to mean no one takes any longer advantage of inefficiencies but contributes whether in the private or public sector to 'good practices' i.e. a more economical way of doing things and therefore less waste of people, goods, times, energy and money.

Clearly things will only go together once governments and people can work out solutions with a sense of social justice. This requires such legislation is adopted that is consistent and non-contradictory to this demand. It would have to mean in practice that the spirit of the law is respected and not its incompleteness used in an innovative, but negative way to exploit all kinds of loop holes in order to do exactly the opposite.

In Greece the usual mind-set has to alter, in order to get away from the false justification of 'everyone does it' and to come to a general sense that laws are upheld. This would mean as well a reform of the justice system is necessary.

Therefore political measures are needed which can be communicated in such a way that they will enjoy the support of the people. It has to mean that they are done for the right reason. For example, there is a readiness by the Greek people to use this opportunity to correct things. They know too many things have been neglected or ignored for too long a time. That is why both the development of a new economic theory and its implementation can be such a rich experience not only for Greece and Europe, but for all who want to find solutions which work and which do comply to the criteria of sustainable development and social justice.

Economic and cultural agenda for 2020

Important about all these developments is that changes in the basic premises for thinking about Europe and the world is happening. The economy is more forceable back on the agenda while the attempt to give culture an own agenda at European level has failed to convince. The strategy paper for 2020 avoids mentioning culture safe for the usual rhetorical reference to culture as being useful for purpose of innovation and creativity. The latter terms indicate what is taken nowadays into consideration. As shown by the use of these modern jargons, culture is perceived as a new factor of productivity.

However, it makes only sense with regards to the cultural and creative industries. As Bob Palmer pointed out at the conference to celebrate 25 years of European Capitals of Culture, they have become a cultural industry favoring the use of media and communication to convince per image that they are successful. Strategies are reduced to gaining a positive image for marketing purpose on the tourist sector e.g. Liverpool wishing to be perceived no longer as ugly harbor town but as vibrant and exciting city with hope for the future.

A similar case exists with regards to Greece, in particular to its tourist sector. Once the country is perceived through the press as having on the one hand an uncontrollable state deficits due to corruption and over consumption, while on the other hand things are getting out of control, then the image suffers and people stay away from what might have been a desirable tourist destination. Hoteliers claim that they experienced a 60% cancellation in May due to events best expressed in the media by street demonstrators setting cars ablaze and smashing bank windows. The most terrible news to hit the stands was the fact that three people working inside a specific bank burned to death. That happened on the 5th of May 2010 and many called it a similar turning point as had been the shooting of the 15 year old Alexandros on 6th of December 2008 after which the streets of Athens erupted into riots. Then it was a youth rebelling against a corrupt system. In 2010 it is a much more general protest wave against the austerity measures and what people fear lurks behind them.

The business with fear mongering images and the role of the media

The superficial, equally highly focused glance reinforced by images send immediately via satellite to all news channels can easily scare off tourists and harm the Greek economy. Not discussed are the coercive principles behind such image mongering and people unable apparently to express their dissatisfaction other than through highly ritualized street protests.

One example for fear mongering is the title page of the Economist depicted besides demonstrators a dog as if to heighten the dramatic of the moment. But everyone familiar with demonstrations in Athens, and they happen quite frequently, this dog is nearly at all demonstrations. One crazy thing that dog does is to pick up the tear gas cans shot by the police towards the demonstrators and to run off with them.

Naturally, the Economist will know best what is the intention behind the use of such a word as 'contagion' ("communication of disease from body to body" - Oxford Dictionary, p. 262) and to give the entire scene this scarying equally rhetorical question suggesting "your city may be the next one in line".

Unfortunately the media works with visual effects but it is also one sided when it comes to letting images suggest the language of violence. Not shown in the picture are, for example, the police and their tactical methods against demonstrators. But that is an old question about who controls the media to bring across only certain messages to the wider audience both at home and abroad. For sure, people even in Athens will stay away from the centre if they hear there is going to be another demonstration; the same applies to tourists who believe their lives are in danger by such skirmishes in the streets. The real factor of fear is not the known but the unknown and on that basis images get their more subtle messages across.

Everyone knows how effective can be a strike by the rubbish collectors. Naples went through such an experience. Visibility of something amiss is intensified by the smell of rubbish rotting away in streets no longer deemed to be safe not because of the Mafia, but due to health hazards.

These examples say a lot how certain mechanisms work and to what people are most sensitive to. That is reinforced by a press over emphasizing the plainly visible e.g. the broken shop windows after the street riots or the smelly rubbish piling up in the streets. Apparently all what is too readily to be seen excludes or suppresses the 'invisible'. Sigmund Freud pointed out already everyone accepts someone as being hurt if he has an open, even bleeding wound, but no one believes someone to be sick if he appears to be healthy when in fact he is traumatized by all the bombs which exploded around him. It is difficult to link both the visible and the invisible in such a way that political analysis can make sense of the situation but is capable at the same time of going beyond what is being played out at the moment in the streets.

The blame game

The lack of sound political and economic analysis makes people prone to put all the blame if not on the 'system' (even though most of the time they do not know what they are referring to), then on 'politicians' who are to them nothing but liers and thiefs. Anti-politics has been throughout Europe the best school for making sure democracy, in particular the bottom-up process in which people and local organisations learn to articulate priorities for the overall agenda, does not work or get the chance of articulation. Instead of critical analysis a suggestive logic pushes people towards thinking only one solution will work e.g. de-regulation of the labor market so that new investments will come into the country.

The fact that the money givers have not to commit themselves to social justice is an unheard of thing. Democracy in Ancient Greece was brought about only by making sure no single class would gain so much power that they could not longer be questioned in their use of power nor made accountable for what they do with that power. It leaves people exasperated when they see so much injustices creating ever more divisions between the poor and the rich with many people unable to cope and therefore stranded, forlorn and without hope.

Behind all that exasperation prevails still another dimension insofar people think they are not being listened to. That reproduces such anti-political attitudes which can easily become the prerequisite for still further irrational tendencies i.e. Neo Nazism or Racism.

Irrationality prevails when people stick to a position and stay in situations even though negative to them. Many Jews were warned about the pending danger eminating from Nazism but only few would really listen to the advice given, namely to get out before it is too late. In today's world it may be called the economic predicament (as variation of James Clifford's book about the 'Predicament of Culture' in a global world making everything appear to be just the same as elsewhere) that people find only ways of existence which makes their own but also the general situation worse. This includes the car salesman who lives off selling more and more cars even though he knows this goes completely against the environment and does not diminish the dependency upon oil. Even when disasters like the oil spill in the Golf of Mexico forces a change in agenda of the US President, there is still not drawn a lesson out of the models of existence propagated, financed and sustained by all kinds of institutions who depend on the way it was rather than change to alleviate people and the planet of the growing burden of diseconomies of scale.

Yannis Phyllis, director of the Technical University in Chania, Crete said already in 1995 at the conference 'Myth of the City' the greater the economic growth the more waste shall be produced and which cannot be handled in any adequate way. 15 years later we are still coping with the problem of waste to the extent that even less basic water is available, water which is not polluted. There are many more examples to be cited when describing the diseconomies of the global economy.

Naturally to all of this has to be added a kind of disbelief amongst people that politicians and political parties shall bring about positive developments. Common people regard any attempt at reform with great scepticism. They have experienced too often nothing will bring about positive changes in their lives. And there is a growing youth looking for a chance to earn a honest income to become independent and finding as a rule no such chances exist.

Indeed a lot of these unresolved problems burden tremendously the youth of today. No wonder when appeals to reason fail to reach them. Many do not heed even anymore the need for a good education. They have too strong a belief that they cannot find work, and if so, then it shall not be honest work with good pay. That leaves them with very few chances to gain independence within the time span everyone expects of them to become adults who are integrated into society.

Many are not really qualified to cope within the system because the education system does not give them real knowledge. Too often the youth experiences that the system gives them if anything at all, then only negative feed-backs. They see already how their parents and other adults cannot cope due to many kinds of exploitative mechanisms being the underpinning of the system i.e. irregular payments, abuse at work place, no longer hired the next time if they demand their health and pension insurance to be paid etc..

Clearly the majority of people is without any meaningful orientation. No wonder that society finds no way out of the current crisis. Too much has been neglected and especially there is missing human solidarity. As a consequence few share with others an optimistic vision that there is for all a sound and sustainable way into the future.

Economic theory re-visited

Coming back to the economic crisis and therefore of theory, most of the ideas proposed and discussed to restructure and to reduce state deficits do not match with practical needs to combine efficiency with a new economy, one not based on waste nor stifled by too many rules but just and open to everyone. By contrast, jobs are not accessible if without connections or such financial means that certain hurdles can be overcome by some but not by all. Of interest is that the European Commission has designated the year 2010 as the one of combating poverty and social exclusion, but no one speaks about the 'poverty of experience' which explains a lack of articulation when it comes to positive policy recommendations.

Bataille has shown most of the economy along with its high prices stems from the fact that things are not economized but wasted. The Greek education sector is such a case where everyone talks badly about the public educational sector while not mentioning that all of this means a flourishing private education system. Once inefficieny is wanted to become efficient in another way to make money off such a sad state of affairs, then resources are wasted with parents spending a lot more money on education than needed and a youth facing an uncertain future. This is due to the fact that their qualification strategies do not really work out and they end up being qualified for something but which the market does not need apparently. As long as people profit off inefficiency, there will be no real interest to improve in a substantial way the educational system in Greece or found a way out of the general educational crisis most countries find themselves in. This includes Germany as well.

Furthermore, it does not make sense to propose crude measures to alleviate the Greek debt by de-regulating the labor market in order to ensure profits can be made of the investments made just by keeping wage labor costs low. As if this would enhance at the same time competitiveness and improvement in the living standard. Rather in every country a highly qualified work force is needed if the economic future is to be secured. However, these qualified people demand an environment in which their children can grow up in and a political system which works in a transparent way.

Since the WSSD 2002 everyone knows this global world requires sustainable development in both the urban and rural context. There is no way around that such measures are needed that can halt pollution of the ground water or reverse climate change. If this planet earth is to be kept intact for future generations, then some far reaching, indeed visionary solutions are needed to alter the models of existence. This means not more consumption is needed to keep the economy artificially going for that was the invitation into the crisis in the first place. Rather there needs to be attained a sobering down of the kind of organisational strategies which have made products produced by this waste economy into fetishes and trapped people into all sorts of irrational longings as if they would not have no identity if without these kinds of belongings e.g. a car, a house, a holiday trip etc.

Leaving behind Europe as Wasteland

T.H. Eliot spoke as a poet about the wasteland stretching across Europe. In his time he was considered to be too pessimistic. Today, pessimism is needed as counter force to over optimism expressed mainly by salesmen and company managers as if the need for new products needs to be created. In that sense, one band waggon has become soliciting culture to further creativity and innovation as if these human resources are the new factors of production. It stands completely in contradiction to what the German constitution calls 'human substance' and which no human being should be forced to externalize as this is needed to live as a free citizen able to unfold his or her personality and thereby gain in identity. If that creative energy becomes tied into the system then it means a very problematic relationship shall govern that healthy component of people.

There is also something in need to be said to those who argue always for a free market and still more deregulation. As a matter of fact most of the companies live not by the rule of the free market but of state contracts. For instance, the growing trade in weapons is but one of the indicators why companies across the board and in the world wish a more stable demand than what the free market can over. Kenneth Galbraith has pointed out that already a long time ago. In his book 'the New Industrial State' he shows that the economy is based on a sophisticated technology which requires investments well ahead in time. Thus to calculate the risk for such needed investments other than market conform equations are applied. Since capital needs have to be covered by a minimum demand as safety guarantee to ensure costs incurred are covered in advance and this over at least a period of four to six years, because only then the new technologically induced product shall reach the market, companies will not undertake such investment. Only the state can and is expected to step in to cover that extra risk. What are the problems of AirBus or Boeing or other firms, if not that need to have their contract books filled well in advance of delivery.

In other words, technological innovation is undertaken outside any real market orientation. This artificial inducement has resulted in over-production and consequently in over consumption with more waste being produced the higher the technological coefficient enhancing efficiency. Once a company enters the production of anything the state procures such as weapons and deals made to reduce the risks for making these kinds investments, the entire economy becomes one big desorientation. For companies are then no longer dependent upon a real market but upon states who can guarantee sufficient investment returns. By going down that road, companies relate no longer to ordinary consumers or for that fact to real needs. Instead they prefer politicians who use the 'fear factor' to make business work (Michael Moore) according to political needs such as for security. Needless to say they are hardly to be measured needs for no one knows if two or twenty planes will do to safeguard the security of the coast as the case with Greece via Turkey.

In all of this seems to be a forgotten the lesson learned after 1945 that war economies are inefficient. They squander a lot of money and resources. And most importantly, their productivity is linked to the kind of redundancy known as technical innovation. It is an old custom that every time the enemy develops a new weapon system, there is a need on the own side to develop a more sophisticated weapon system. That race for supremacy touches upon security issues which are the springboard for these induced, but more often wrong paths of developments. Here can be cited the tension and conflict between Turkey and Greece. It is just another example of how it drives both countries towards overspending on defense when really in need to upgrade their education and health services.

Also it has not been said very often but as long as Greece is reduced into a semi-colonial state forced to consume the weapons or military equipment produced in France, Germany, Sweden, USA etc., then no one should wonder that such a consuming nation will end up with an ever growing deficit. Yet those who advocate cut backs in spending to overcome low demand would never connect the dots either at theoretical or practical level and recommend a reduction in the defense budget.

Attempt at a true sense for the economy

Clearly no one will be able to apply the term 'economy' within such state of affairs. A true economy would mean an attempt to attain goals with the least possible costs and resources to society. Yet waste is inherently produced by over consumption leading on to over production, the most inherent one being what military expenditure claims to be doing, namely to ensure security is maintained by purchasing ever more planes, tanks, submarines etc. But who can really measure when a satisfactory security level is attained? And it is quite easy to let flare up some local conflict to engulf once again the entire world, if only to keep up the pressure for states not to neglect the security issue. It is an easy game.

Thus the discussion about the economy is in need to be be reflected upon. It can take place at university level, within banks, on the streets and above all within government circles. Yet if common sense is to prevail, then it might be crucial to remind what Descartes defined as sign of a true economy: it does not exclude the connecting element between each person and society while the art of doing things should be realized with a minimum of rules.

Indeed, a sense of economy needs to be applied to the entire bureaucratic prescription as to how life should be regulated. If we are to live and work in a sustainable way, then things in need of regulation should be simplified. It is here where the return of culture into the debate can be predicted for only such an economy works what people can uphold. During the banking crisis in 2008 it was clear no one was capable of understanding these astronomical figures referred to by bankers and politicians. Two years later with the Greek crisis in the fore ground a new, very complicated role to be played by the European Union is emerging in relation to these 16 member states. By using Greece as rallying point something of that financial mess has been made more concrete, or at least so it is thought.

There is one more thing which indicates something is amiss. Jürgen Habermas speaks about the need for 'reasonable publicness'. The vicious press attacks in Germany against Greece indicate that apparent satisfaction can be attained if the abstract can be made concrete. Suddenly invisible Capitalism is transformed into a rogue state but this time it is not Iraq under Saddam Hussein but a member of the European Union and of the Eurozone, namely Greece.

Something else needs to be added: the gain out of things getting even worse. It is like those hedge funds which bet on the crisis only deepening. Obviously all have learned something from crude Marxism which gained validity for it ideological truths by letting things get only worse in the economy. Given such state of affairs a lot more fallacies are reproduced. They are gained out of rumors rather than real knowledge. They do not allow people to face the bitter truth.

Hatto Fischer 19.5.2010

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