Silver Lining in Economic Crash: Loathsome Plutocrats Are Losing Their Wealth
I hate this economic crash. I've lost money. And I know that poor people are hurting the most.
The only good news out of all this is that terrible rich people who bankroll some of the worst causes in the world are also being hit hard. For instance, the anti-union casino magnate Sheldon Adelson has lost more money than anyone on earth.
This is the guy who has devoted his life to crushing unions, funding crazy rightwing organizations like Freedom's Watch, and has poured money into efforts to defeat liberals everywhere, support the war in Iraq and get us to attack Iran.
Adelson is not alone. There are thousands of rightwing magnates who have been hit hard. That means less money for their selfish tax-deductible causes designed to promote greater inequality and suffering in the world. Good.
One silver lining in the terrible disaster.
I can't get behind this sentiment. This wipeout still disproportionately affects the poor. I know; I've been poor/sub-poor my whole life. It sucks.
But the Sheldon's of the world that lost a billion don't care about the billion they lost. They care about the power they can exert. And arguably, with this many more poor, out-of-work, and disenfranchised people (and now also disenchanted and jaded), their power will grow. The Sheldon's and FoxNews's will scare and intimidate even more effectively now.
I wish the market crash was Robin Hood, but it's not. It's Katrina hitting everybody.
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How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYsSVNl8xmE
October 11, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Envy always precedes schadenfreude.
October 11, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: And I know that poor people are hurting the most.
How are poor people hurting-- I mean, more than usual? They don't usually have investments and they aren't usually homeowners. If their landlord defaulted and they were evicted-- yes, then I agree, they've gotten the shaft bad. But otherwise they haven't seen any of the losses (not even proportionally) that the upper clases have and aren't at rsk in the way many middle class homeowners and 401K holders are.
October 11, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
To JonF311
Worldwide many of the poor will suffer greatly.
Food shortages, 800,000,000 go to bed hungry
Per capita income for sub-Saharan Africa $480.00 a year
Illness: 21,000,000 died from Spanish flu, Aids the most devastating pandemic in human history
So as the market crashes, we may be headed to the biggest disaster EVER. It will affect every Soul on Earth.
Crime and war will be rampant.
Better get a handle on this crisis, or put your head between your legs, and you know the rest.
October 11, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: So as the market crashes, we may be headed to the biggest disaster EVER.
Hyperbole on steroids. I would respectfully suggest that the Black Death deserves pride of place there, and will continue to hold its place in the face of anything short of nuclear war or some sort of massive astronomical or geologic disaster. Also, WWII certainly has a place in the list of massive calamities.
An economic downturn, even a nasty one, cannot possibly equal those events.
I would also suggest that the world's poorer countries aren't going to bear the brunt of this at all. They don't have enough dogs in these fights (largely because they have no dogs that could be in the fight: being poor is not having anything to lose). This will be a middle class, rich world upheaval, something was true of the Great Depression and most other economic downturns.
October 11, 2008 5:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Experience contributes measurably to wisdom, your comments show you as one who has not learned
“Shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty.” (Prov. 22:3)
In some translations the term inexperienced includes stupid ones
This sound counsel stresses the need to be discerning and alert when faced with potentially dangerous situations.
You are deceiving yourself, and others when you ridicule as hyperbole those who see the calamity.
As you block and run interference against those entrusted to protect the people against fools who cannot or will not recognize the danger.
October 11, 2008 7:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
JonF311 wrote. I would respectfully suggest that the Black Death deserves pride of place there
You’re not going get off that easy, Give me facts. How many died?
How many are projected to die from Aids? I gave you the facts, of how many deaths from the Spanish Influenza.
How many will die as revenue is taken away from the World health Organization as the market crashes, I suppose you’ll finance that one yourself.
Or I suppose when the market crashes you’ll make sure the CDC will be adequately funded.
JonF311 wrote In the face of anything short of nuclear war…. Also, WWII certainly has a place in the list of massive calamities.
What World do you live in, when the poorer nations, on the verge of total anarchy, fight their governments, and gain control of the Nukes. You’ll not be safe. With your logic, your right they’ll not fear Nuclear restraint, they’ll resort to blackmail, and if you don’t believe they’d push the button, your saying the poor have nothing to lose anyway.
JonF311 wrote An economic downturn, even a nasty one, cannot possibly equal those events.
What are your credentials, so that you can positively guarantee that it will not be worse?
JonF311 wrote being poor is not having anything to lose).
I gave you a recent report that stated 800 million people go to bed hungry. And as you and I write our comments, I can tell you what the poor have lost.
Their starving children, their loved ones, as they bury them for lack of food, lack of clean drinking water.
As this market crashes, how much are you going to send to alleviate the suffering by those who have nothing to lose?
October 11, 2008 8:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
The working poor were barely getting by anyway (and they weren't getting by despite the brave face if they lived on Credit Cards...). This thing is no joke.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Nickel-and-Dimed/Barbara-Ehrenreich/e/9780805088380/?itm=1
October 11, 2008 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ellen, You usually give a link, which helps a lot.
So may I give an easy link to others,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude
Schadenfreude is enjoyment taken from the misfortune of someone else. The word referring to this emotion has been borrowed from German by the English language[1] and is sometimes also used as a loanword by other languages.
Philosopher and sociologist Theodor Adorno defined schadenfreude as “largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another which is cognized as trivial and/or appropriate
October 11, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ellen, click on MJ's link and you will see Adelson's picture. No one has ever been envious of that guy.
October 11, 2008 7:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have said this several times, but the truth is worth repeating. This crisis is real. Our economy may not totally crash this time, but eventually it will. There is only one real solution: Massive debt repudiation, government and private. Adam Smith said that no nation has ever repaid its debt. (A few have pretended to pay it by hyperinflation.) There are experts, economists with all the credentials, who are saying this. Michael Hudson at Michael-hudson.com is one. He was one of Kucinich's economic advisors. Several on TPM have said they just don't understand what this crisis is all about. Hudson's writings explain what has happened in the clearest and most persuasive language.
October 11, 2008 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Massive debt repudiation"
Here here! I'm all for that. YEs, of course there's a place for it to some small multiple of a company's worth, but there is NO place for it in any household.
October 12, 2008 1:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Massive debt repudiation . . . .
Far out Far off!*
* I've been waiting weeks to say that.
October 11, 2008 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
You had me worried that you were going to add the third f in that list!
October 11, 2008 9:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a financial hurricane alright, but it arrived at just the right time -- Obama is surfing it right to the White House.
We have a bipolar economy because the conservatives took the economy off it's medication (off it's regulation.)
By election day, a whole lot more people will have gotten it in America that the right is wrong about government being evil.
October 11, 2008 10:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Little late on the discussion, but I wholeheartedly agree with JonF. Poor people are not hurting the most from this. I will, however, concede that this could (will?) be bad for the poor of the world in general, but to include the poor of the US would be significantly hurt by this is untrue.
They don't have any money in the markets, and thus would not lose anything from its loss, though it could have the effect of casting them out of their low-paying jobs.
With the fall of gas prices, I'm guessing that some people are actually getting off a bit better because of it than they would have otherwise. And if the prices of other commodities fall alongside oil (natural gas, etc), it could be better for them even more in that their costs for heating with winter coming on would be less that I'm sure they've already imagined they would be this winter.
October 12, 2008 1:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey Hoppy, Is that a T-shirt? Maybe something with a collar would help.
October 12, 2008 1:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
MJ - you've posted some stupid things before, but this one really takes the cake. Most of the super-rich out there aren't being hit as hard as the middle class. It's the middle class that takes the simple approach and puts their money into equity mutual funds (which are getting clobbered).
The super rich are big fans of tax-free municipal bonds and hedge funds that charge big fees because they are run by super smart people who try to come up with ways to hedge against market disasters like these.
Plus even if you were right, there's a lot of super-rich LIBERALS out there who this would also be hurting. Much harder for Bono to cure AIDS if his stock portfolio is taking a pounding
October 12, 2008 11:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am right.
October 12, 2008 12:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
M.J. The point you are making with this post is a good one. You may be correct, and in my opinion you are. But you are left, left, left. Never, ever right.
October 12, 2008 12:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
True! My political philosophy derives from this speech by FDR. No, I wasn't around for it but once I heard it somewhere, I decided this speech is where I'm at.
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/text/us/fdr1936.html
October 12, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're an idiot if you think there is any silver lining to this. It will hurt the super rich liberals and their causes just as much as it hurts the right
October 12, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish I was as good a Christian as you are. I can couple my sadness for the poor and middle class (including myself) with my sheer joy at the misery of the super rich.
Sorry to hurt your feelings.
October 12, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
what is with the infusion of trolls on the front page lately?
October 12, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink