Chickens come home to roost as the credit crunched bite back
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009It was only a matter of time before Jo Public decided they were going to do and say something about the now almost cliché “credit crunch” cop out that we all seem to hear so often. Credit crunch has become a by-word for excusing any manner of transactional inactivity as if in a shruggy shoulder kind of “we’re all screwed by the financial system” sort of way.
Everyone is complaining that they’ve got too much month left at the end of the money, folks have seen their life savings disappear faster than you can say Lehman Brothers, and the skeletons of a greedy and unscrupulous financial sector are surfacing at the top of the sea so fast, it’s almost like someone down there is chucking them loose with a machete. businesses of all manner are struggling to meet cash flow requirements and sales targets, forcing redundancies and business failures.
Last week may have seen the manifestation of the ordinary person’s anger, frustration, anxiety and fear that is brewing and simmering below the surface, as the so called economic experts and gurus, as well as world leaders continue to dither, fumble and engage in significant intellectual masturbation under the guise of saving the world’s economic order and financial infrastructure. It’s not uncommon to hear news of another world leaders, or financial ministers G8 or G20 meeting, or some EU organized meeting where dignitaries and experts just seem to do little but threaten us with a solution to this economic mess. A mess which I might add that for lack of a better explanation, they have been perpetrators of, either knowingly or by the incompetence of their inaction and omission.
A few examples of the manifestation of this frustration by the public:
- Last week in the UK, wild cat strikes erupted all over the country, prompted by a decision to bring in hundreds of Italian and Portuguese workers as contractors in favour of British workers, for a £200 million plant at the giant Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire. Unions claimed British workers never even saw the job applications, let alone get a chance to compete for the jobs.
Protestors at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire – UK - In France last week, over a million people united in protest in a strike that highlighted their dissatisfaction with the way the French government were handling their economic woes. Most people in France are angry that the banking and financial sectors got a get out of jail free card worth billions of Euros, while the ordinary man on the street and his business continue to languish. Not that France is a stranger to mass strikes and protests, but this one last week was sanctioned by over 75% of the union movement.
French protestors in Paris at last week’s strike - In Russia, protesters are calling for the head of Vladimir Putin and the resignation of his government. The economic slowdown in Russia is triggering a wave of public discontent that most political commentators fear will destabilize Russia. Following the success of last week’s protests, the communist opposition party is threatening to mobilize masses around the country to express their anger and dissatisfaction about the economic slowdown.
Managing strikes and street protests, Russia style
If there’s anything you learn from strike action and protests, its that it provides an environment for a snowball of activity to easily take hold and assume a life of its own. This is a constant factor that doesn’t change – evident right from the first known strike in history by workers of the Royal court of Pharaoh Ramses III of the 20th Dynasty in 12th century BC in ancient Egypt, to the brazen tactics of the sailors in London in 1768 who ”struck” and sabotaged the sails of ships at dock in protest (incidentally, the derivation of the term strike) – through to the teamsters in the 1930s wielding pipes and clashing with armed police in the streets of Minneapolis, to the more recent strikes of yesteryear that have brought public services to its knees.
In most if not all of the examples of strike action of recent generations, governments, authorities and employers have had some control and leeway in developing solutions that would talk down the strikers and protesters into considering acceptable arrangements for their grievances. What is glaringly obvious, and actually very dangerous in this case, is that governments, industry and whoever might care to call themselves a stakeholder haven’t got tangible solutions that will get us all out of this self inflicted quagmire.
Most of the so called experts, politicians and economic advisers are spending enough time navel gazing and plotting solutions in their smoke filled conference rooms in the bubble of 5 star hotels in the west, that its hard to see how they continue to muster the nerve and the audacity to stand in front of cameras and proclaim to the world that they’re fixing the world’s economy. Forget the fact that most of these punks had a hand in getting us credit crunched in the first place. As for fat cat bankers of the city and wall street who think this is just a blip and continue to live like it’s a cycle that is natural and will correct itself, the words arrogance and impunity come to mind – but I digress. This is not the post to dedicate to our anally retentive banking fat cats.
What is worrying is that it will only be a matter of time before the anger, anguish, frustration, anxiety and desperation of the people who have to face high food and fuel costs, stare at unemployment’s ugly face, and battle with the constant dilemma of finding new and legal ways to feed their children –will explode up onto the street with the citizenry of the world demanding that their governments do something about it. Some will say that this explosion of public anger is not a badthing after all – its our taxes being shafted in the name of fixing the economy.
Matter of fact, it’s already happening in scenarios that people may not necessarily connect, but the scenarios are part of the bigger picture of public discontent.. Case in point, the situation with teachers in Kenya, who don’t even know whether they’ll be paid next month – let alone get arrears in salary owed to them, while bandits and crooks masquerading as Kenyan members of parliament defy all expectations of convention and refuse to pay tax – and even legislate their refusal to do so. Did I mention that these punks are the highest paid legislators in the world taking home over US$17,970 a calendar month each, tax free and while teachers can’t even buy lunch at school, pay for their transport and feed their families?
