Subscribe to Dollars & Sense magazine. Recent articles related to the financial crisis. Asia and the Meltdown of American FinanceFrom the fine MRZine site, Japan scholar R. Taggart Murphy provides a breezy, accessible discussion of some important history:Asia and the Meltdown of American Finance by R. Taggart Murphy The boardrooms and finance ministries of Seoul, Bangkok, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur are today filled with a fair degree of schadenfreude at America's troubles. Schadenfreude is not a very nice emotion; Theodor Adorno once defined it as "unanticipated delight in the sufferings of another." But asking Asia's business and governing elites to repress shivers of pleasure at the meltdown of the American financial system is probably demanding more than flesh and blood can bear. The spectacle of the politicians, pundits, and academics of Washington and Chicago thrashing about in attempts to justify the vast amounts of money being shoveled at their, um, cronies on Wall Street is just a little too rich. Particularly since much of the money will have to be borrowed from the very people who a decade ago at the time of the so-called Asian Financial Crisis were being pooh-poohed for their "crony capitalism," "opaque" banking systems, "incestuous" government-business relations, not to mention their supposed absence of transparent financial reporting, good corporate governance, or accountable executives and regulators. But the glee in seeing the United States hoisted by its own petard must surely be mixed with a good deal of apprehension. Not only because Asia cannot escape this crisis unmarked. But because the crisis could conceivably force Asia's elites to engage in the open political discussions they have largely avoided until now -- discussions about the kinds of economies they expect to shape in the wake of the American debacle; discussions that carry with them all kinds of risks. Read the rest of this post Labels: Bretton Woods agreement, currencies, financial crisis, Monthly Review, R. Taggart Murphy Please consider donating to Dollars & Sense and/or subscribing to the magazine (both print and e-subscriptions now available!). |
