Monday 14 October 2013

US shutdown

This is the week that America can go bankrupt, what will be the repercussions around the world?

One often hears that the US shutdown is the result of partisan bickering, that politicians should learn to rise above it and find bipartisan solutions for the good of the nation. Not only the Tea Party, but also Barack Obama is accused of dividing the American people instead of bringing them together. But what if this, precisely, is what is good about Obama? In situations of deep crisis, an authentic division is urgently needed: a division between those who want to drag on within the old parameters and those who are aware of the need for radical change. This, not opportunistic compromise, is the only path to true unity.

Freedom of choice is something that only functions if a complex network of legal, educational, ethical, economic and other conditions exists, the constraints that form the invisible underpinning to the exercise of our freedom. This is why, as an antidote to the populist right wing ideology of choice, countries such as Norway should be held up as a model: although all main agents respect a basic social agreement and large social projects are enacted in solidarity, the economy is thriving, flatly contradicting the common wisdom that such a society should be stagnating.

Back to the question, the world bank has made it clear that there will only be bad news.

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