Guardian UK: When smalltown USA turned on 'Fraud Street'

[marmar]

When smalltown USA turned on 'Fraud Street'
Americans have watched with horror as financial chaos has spread across the country, choking the economy and threatening to plunge the country into recession. Last week they turned their anger on the administration as it battled to put together a rescue package.

Paul Harris in Pennsylvania, Ruth Sunderland and Heather Stewart The Observer, Sunday September 28 2008



Demonstrators protest the proposed 700 USD billion Wall Street bail out at the bull stature near Bowling Green Park in the Financial District in New York. Photograph: Nicholas Roberts/AFP

It was the week that an angry Main Street finally fought back after a decade when the financial masters of Wall Street were seemingly invincible. As President George Bush looked straight into the television cameras last week and spelt out to the nation the economic peril facing America, the fury and fear were mounting in millions of homes.

'Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic,' Bush warned. He sketched out a scenario of failing banks and plunging share prices which would savage retirement plans and put millions out of work. It was a terrifying scenario. Having waged two wars that are not yet over, Bush faced the final legacy of his tumultuous two-term period in office: the possible collapse of the American economy.

But the action he was calling for stuck in the throats of the American people. The administration's planned $700bn bail-out for the financial sector has outraged and appalled many on the country's Main Streets. It has led to anger on the left of American politics, shocked at such aid to wealthy bankers when the millions of families losing their homes get little direct help. At the same time many on the right have expressed equal disbelief, watching in amazement as the previously free-marketeer Bush suddenly embarked on the biggest government intervention since the Great Depression.

The US media have turned on Wall Street like a pack of wolves. 'Fraud Street,' screamed the banner scrolling beneath the concerned features of Fox Business Network's Liz Claman, who told viewers: 'You know what? I think the American public deserves some answers.' Time magazine declared that the nation's current troubles were 'the price of greed'. 'Blame greed,' echoed the Chicago Tribune. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/28/wallstreet.useconomy

[avaistheone1]

1. Fraud Street - how appropriate.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. A bizarre paragraph in that - 'Aussie reporter blames Michael Douglas'

At the United Nations, an Australian reporter accosted the actor Michael Douglas during a press conference and demanded to know - with a straight face, mind you - whether he felt any responsibility for the crisis because he delivered the line 'greed is good' as the character Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street. 'Are you now saying, Gordon, that greed is not good?' the reporter asked.

'I'm not saying that,' a bemused Douglas replied. 'And my name is not Gordon. He's a character I played 20 years ago.'

One or two people seem to have lost grip on reality.

[Hannah Bell]

3. "Blame greed..." Yes, blaming "greed" is very convenient for all concerned.

Strange when someone is raped we don't say "blame lust," & when someone is murdered we don't say "blame anger".

It's only financial crimes where we're directed to put it down to human nature.

[ingac70]

4. Not all murders are the result of anger...

and not all rapes are the result of lust, but all financial crimes are the result of greed.

[Hannah Bell]

5. financial crimes aren't the result of "greed." but that's a good talking point for those who wish to

mystify the populace.