A test of true character, perhaps, is the extent to which one is prepared to blame oneself. As such, the Western world’s response to this self-made “credit-crunch” has highlighted the hypocrisy of our so-called leaders, their refusal to face reality and, above all, their lack of character.
When sub-prime first hit, Hank Paulson, then US Treasury Secretary, said “this financial crisis was caused to a large extent by a failure to address the rise of the emerging markets and the resulting global imbalances”. Last autumn, European Central Bank boss, Jean-Claude Trichet, argued that “imbalances have been the root of present difficulties”.
Even Barack “Change We Can Believe In” Obama has stooped to play the blame game. “We cannot follow the same policies,” the President said on a recent trip to Asia, “that have led to global imbalances.”
The implication is that sub-prime, and the deepest Western recession in generations, wasn’t our fault. It was entirely unrelated to widespread financial fraud, political myopia and lax regulation. Central banks kept interest rates too low for too long, Western consumers went on a debt-binge and our governments spent like crazy ”“ but all that was nothing to do with us….
You probably find this analysis deeply suspect ”“ illogical and even crass. That’s because it is…..
Obama has decided instead to lash out at China in a desperate attempt to placate a US electorate increasingly mindful of their president’s failings.
The scary thing is that our government, Obama included, is not above igniting a foreign war in the event the economy gets bad enough. Anything to distract from internal corruption.