The Deification of the Market
Two quotes from two different sources peering through the metaphorical lens at the deification of the beast that must be obeyed; namely, The Market.
The governments of the world, of course, bow down to the Market. It is said you can’t buck it. You must prove yourself strong to be trusted. For if you cannot feed the Market with the debt repayments it deserves, it will not pour out its bounty upon you with lower bond rates. If you cannot impress the Market with your country’s virtue, your currency will decline or – if you are in the Euro – you will be required to cut the size of your state. Democracy is no defence – if you cannot meet the Market’s ravenous demands then it will install a new leader for you – one who understands the ways of the Market.
And:
The old God sanctioned the king to act as Christ, and suffer for the benefit of his people before bouncing back; the market-god and its plebeian rival expected the same from government with bourgeois liberty and social justice vying for the role of the holy spirit. Today, worshippers of the omnipotent market and of the masses seem ready to dispense with the services of any government-as-Christ. Salvation will come through the will “of the market” or of the “people” directly materialising itself.
Both of these rather ominous pieces are worth your time to read in full.
Tags: Politics, Religion Society
December 4th, 2011 at 11:22 pm
A Market of bare faced corruption and greed the plunder of the wealth of nations, this fraud is not to complex for the jury to be dismissed and for the pseudo-laissez faire perpetrators to usurp the Judge and carry on regardless.
December 5th, 2011 at 12:16 am
Debt is slavery. We teach it to individuals, and states need to learn it too. States have been taken advantage of and looted, but they were certainly complicit in the same way a poor person who has collected overwhelming debts has been to their own enslavement.
December 5th, 2011 at 12:58 am
Debt and enslavement equivalent hmm… that’s an interesting idea for I.D.S. and no liability placed on the fraudulent and profiteering lender welcome to Slave Market U.K.
December 5th, 2011 at 4:44 am
Er… Another way to view your first quote above is that if countries lie about their finances, spend what they don’t have, and their citizens view tax as optional, then they are justifiably punished by ‘the market’. And in essence ‘the market’ is all of us.
December 6th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
“the market” is all of us? – absolutely, Simian. That’s one of the things I was saying.
“Justifiably punished” by the Market is an interesting concept though. Is the Market moral? Capable of retribution? A judge?
December 7th, 2011 at 12:14 am
Assuming your question is serious Eileen, of course ‘the market’ does not in itself have human attributes. On the contrary, the market does not and cannot make moral judgements. If a player lies, cheats or breaks the rules, and it becomes known, retribution is certain, at the hands of all the other players. There is no judge, no mitigation, no excuses. If you play by the rules and behave rationally, in the long term you prosper. If you don’t, then you won’t.