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You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / #OWS / Open Thread: Lecturing the Crony Capitalists

Open Thread: Lecturing the Crony Capitalists

by Anne Laurie|  October 27, 20115:32 am| 28 Comments

This post is in: #OWS, C.R.E.A.M., Jump! You Fuckers!

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I’d actually love to see Nicholas Kristoff’s latest suggestion implemented (possibly by Stephen Colbert?):

Whenever I write about Occupy Wall Street, some readers ask me if the protesters really are half-naked Communists aiming to bring down the American economic system when they’re not doing drugs or having sex in public.
__
The answer is no. That alarmist view of the movement is a credit to the (prurient) imagination of its critics, and voyeurs of Occupy Wall Street will be disappointed. More important, while alarmists seem to think that the movement is a “mob” trying to overthrow capitalism, one can make a case that, on the contrary, it highlights the need to restore basic capitalist principles like accountability.
__
To put it another way, this is a chance to save capitalism from crony capitalists…
__
When I lived in Asia and covered the financial crisis there in the late 1990s, American government officials spoke scathingly about “crony capitalism” in the region. As Lawrence Summers, then a deputy Treasury secretary, put it in a speech in August 1998: “In Asia, the problems related to ‘crony capitalism’ are at the heart of this crisis, and that is why structural reforms must be a major part” of the International Monetary Fund’s solution…
__
So I’d like to invite the finance ministers of Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia — whom I and other Americans deemed emblems of crony capitalism in the 1990s — to stand up and denounce American crony capitalism today…

Heck, I’d settle for Colbert (or Matt Taibbi) reading Kristoff’s column to Larry Summers on live television. Not that it would dent Summers’ colossal self-esteem, but I want the bloated toad to be forced to defend himself in front of an unsympathic audience for once in his miserable career of Ever Upwards Fail…

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Reader Interactions

28Comments

  1. 1.

    Samara Morgan

    October 27, 2011 at 5:50 am

    Not that it would dent Summers’ colossal self-esteem

    Again, you totally fail at understanding aspies.
    We have no self-esteem, and the concept of self-esteem is irrelevant to us.
    At least as adults. :)
    We are obsessives that exist at least part-time in an alternative logic/math dimension.
    We are Abnormals.

  2. 2.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    October 27, 2011 at 5:53 am

    @Samara Morgan: We who?

  3. 3.

    Samara Morgan

    October 27, 2011 at 6:11 am

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): we aspies, carrion eater.
    unless you are this Raven.
    i allus thot he was so super-hawt.

  4. 4.

    A Mom Anon

    October 27, 2011 at 6:12 am

    @Samara Morgan: Please hush. You do not speak for all people with Asperger’s. I get tired of this crap. It’s not an excuse to be a jerk,and the idea that “aspies”are devoid of empathy or emotions or their feelings can’t be hurt is a lie. Stop it. And tell that to the 18 yr old in the next room at my house who struggles daily with a world where he doesn’t fit because no one will give him a chance. Just knock it off.

  5. 5.

    Samara Morgan

    October 27, 2011 at 6:16 am

    @A Mom Anon: like i said ADULTS.
    i recommend therapy.
    it worked for me.

    aspies are not “devoid” of any of those things. but Larry Summers doesnt have self-esteem–that was my point.
    i dont have self-esteem.
    it is impossible to “shame” either of us into behavioral norms.
    and aspies dont reason emotionally like other humans.
    thus the abnormality.

  6. 6.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 27, 2011 at 6:21 am

    @Samara Morgan:

    i dont have self-esteem.

    Well, this sentence proves you don’t have self-awareness, that’s for sure.

  7. 7.

    A Mom Anon

    October 27, 2011 at 6:21 am

    @Samara Morgan: Alrighty then Dr Morgan. I’m going to bed,I’m working nights and weekends for awhile and I think I’ll just step off before I get too angry to sleep.

  8. 8.

    mikeinqueensland

    October 27, 2011 at 7:03 am

    Or maybe just read it to Obama, who appointed and continued to support him…just a thought, since Summers is off on his sinecure already…

  9. 9.

    mikeinqueensland

    October 27, 2011 at 7:06 am

    Hey Samantha, the vitriol and sterile judgmental tone of your post suggests that maybe the therapy did work in the way you think it did…RESPECT….

  10. 10.

    mikeinqueensland

    October 27, 2011 at 7:09 am

    @samara morgan: reading the disdain and vitriol in the tone of your comment, disrespecting the valid experience of others, suggests that the therapy you avow might not have been as effective as you think it was…

  11. 11.

    JPL

    October 27, 2011 at 7:10 am

    One of the leaders of Occupy Atlanta was on the news last night and the movement plans additional rallies. The person interviewed (didn’t catch his name) appears to suggest they might change their direction and vent their anger at the mayor. IMO, that might defect from the overall problems in our society that rewards unearned income more than earned income.

    OT..Does anyone care that the Madoff’s attempted suicide? Am I suppose to have empathy for the crook?

  12. 12.

    TheMightyTrowel

    October 27, 2011 at 7:23 am

    @JPL: SAT2SQ: their mothers and no.

  13. 13.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 27, 2011 at 7:37 am

    @Samara Morgan: Support for your assertion that Summers has Asperger’s?

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 27, 2011 at 7:38 am

    @JPL:

    Did you see Luckovich this morning?
    http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/?cxntlid=sldr_hm

  15. 15.

    eemom

    October 27, 2011 at 7:41 am

    @JPL:

    one of the sons succeeded at suicide a while back. Did something new happen?

    btw, I am not usually up at this hour. So this is how the other half lives….

  16. 16.

    bjacques

    October 27, 2011 at 7:51 am

    @JPL:

    They probably took too many pills and barfed them up. Common mistake. For her, a little sympathy, and at least she’s alive. For Bernie and their son, who helped run the scam, none.

    I’d rather see them live out their lives as many of their victims are doing it: broke and vulnerable to the insults life regularly visits upon the poor.

    Welcome to 99 Percentland, lady. We hope you like it, as you will be here a very long time.

  17. 17.

    JPL

    October 27, 2011 at 7:56 am

    @eemom: Bernie and his wife Ruth took pills Xmas eve before he went to jail. Their failure is costing the state and federal government a lot of money for incarceration, imo.

    @SiubhanDuinne: The cartoon was spot on. Hopefully, someone places it on the Mayor’s desk. Although Reed didn’t call out names, he pointed out that his officers didn’t use tear gas and such. I suppose he is trying to make himself feel better but in reality so what. Police officers are not suppose to attack peaceful protesters. They just did what they are paid to do.

  18. 18.

    Nutella

    October 27, 2011 at 7:58 am

    @bjacques:

    Actually Mrs Madoff worked much more closely with the scam than either of the sons. She is a broker herself so should have noticed (and undoubtedly did notice) that the company was handling millions of dollars and making no trades.

    Didn’t the DoJ foolishly let her keep the multi-million dollar condo? So she’s still rich, too.

    No sympathy for her is required.

  19. 19.

    eemom

    October 27, 2011 at 8:04 am

    @Nutella:

    nor for most of the “victims”, already rich greedy assholes who should have known better.

  20. 20.

    bjacques

    October 27, 2011 at 8:42 am

    @Nutella:

    Ah. In that case, some advice: down, not across.

  21. 21.

    Amir Khalid

    October 27, 2011 at 9:34 am

    @Samara Morgan:

    i recommend therapy.
    it worked for me.

    Me, I’m not so sure about that.

  22. 22.

    Samara Morgan

    October 27, 2011 at 9:43 am

    @Amir Khalid: Brother, it worked for ME.I was’ nt having therapy for others.
    @Omnes Omnibus: its common knowledge among his colleagues.

    Gotta use this opportunity to recycle my favorite Larry anecdote:
    Summers was doing a meeting with a friend of mine at a hedge fund where they both worked, and he was drinking a diet Coke as he talked. I mean that literally: as he talked. Coke was pouring out of his mouth and onto his shirt, and Summers showed no outward recognition that this was happening. Needless to say, to my friend this was fascinating to the point of seriously distracting from the substance of the meeting.
    __
    After the meeting, my friend emailed a colleague to say: I just finished a meeting with Larry, and he left with his shirt covered in diet Coke. The colleague emailed back: the last time I had a meeting with Larry, he left with cheese in his nose.
    __
    This guy is absolutely brilliant. But it’s not obvious to me we want someone with Aspergers running Treasury.
    __
    — Noah Millman · Nov 10, 08:52 AM · #

  23. 23.

    El Cid

    October 27, 2011 at 9:59 am

    At the time of the Asian Financial Crisis, also caused by rampant speculation (currency), the US-advised response via the IMF etc was austerity. (Tim Geithner played a role in the IMF advice to Indonesia, though apparently not so crucial in terms of formulating the general approach.)

    Once again, the elites recommended austerity in response to crises provoked not by gubmit spendin’, but by wild investor parties.

    The IMF response was such a disaster in Indonesia (though, on the plus side, inspiring so much popular chaos that the US-installed and -backed generational tyrant Suharto was overthrown) that they apologized and admitted that this analysis was wrong.

    This was the great brilliant wisdom of the West in condemning “crony capitalism,” i.e., the crony capitalism of foreign and primarily U.S. and European investors.

    They [i.e., the lordly Western establishment economist brilliant types] can shove this talk straight up their ass [when it comes to the AFC].

  24. 24.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 27, 2011 at 11:15 am

    @ m_c: Common knowledge won’t cut it. Any evidence of a diagnosis or an admission?

  25. 25.

    Samara Morgan

    October 27, 2011 at 2:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: /yawn
    its empirical data, dude.
    My point is Summer doesnt have “colossal self-esteem” like AL says.
    he doesnt care.
    and neither do i.

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 27, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    @m_c: It is circumstantial evidence at best. What you cited was the opinion of one non-professional. I don’t see how you suggest that it is reliable, empirical evidence of anything. Neither scientists nor lawyers would try to make that argument.

  27. 27.

    Samara Morgan

    October 28, 2011 at 12:16 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: idc.
    i just grabbed one, but theres plenty more if you wanna search.
    im just saying AL is fulla bulshytt when she talks about Summers “colossal self-esteem”.
    there is ZERO evidence that he gives a shit, and neither do i.

  28. 28.

    THE

    October 28, 2011 at 12:43 am

    @Samara Morgan:
    Something you might find interesting.

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