Monthly Archives:September 2008

The Sirens, and others like The Harpies, are mythical creations designed to remind us that all is not what it seems.  Their allegorical presence is there to make us realise that we can be drawn into bad actions as if hypnotised, even though we know and are aware of exactly what is happening around us.

Fortunately, everyone of a certain age has seen the Walt Disney cartoon “Jungle Book” and has a mental picture of the snake Kaa. “Trussssssst in meeeeeee!”, went the snake.  “Trust in meeeeee!” And like Mowgli, the US Congress by it’s vote yesterday rejecting Paulson’s Plan, has woken up! Unfortunately, the rest of the sheep in the money markets haven’t woken to the truth as they’ve been effectively seduced by Paulson saying “Trust in meeee”, “there’s only one solution”, “If you don’t it will be economic armageddon”……….. They are now in a frenzy of worried selling as they think that there’s only one plan, Paulson’s! The trouble with Paulson is that he has a history and that’s what Congress knows. From being assistant to convicted conspirator and perjurer John Ehrlichman during the Watergate scandal in Nixon’s administration to being in charge of and responsible for all the actions at Goldman Sachs, one of the prime movers and profiteers that have created the “Credit Crunch”, he has a very dubious, but profitable past.  Searching for Truth mentions this in this well-worked article from a week ago, here, searching_for_the_truth/2008/09/shameless-cronyism Now, finally, the US Congress has seen that it’s his fault and that his current “plan” is nothing more than a ruse to make him and his bank even more money and power while others collapse and fail.  75% of Congress Republicans saw this “business as usual” ruse in the vote! Paulson has issued his Siren-like warnings that he is the only solution – and he’s been ignored. Hooray! Now let’s see if ineffectual Bush can shake off the parallel with the Tsar in pre-communist Russia and dismiss the Rasputin-like hold that Paulson holds over him … My guess is that people are really prepared to let corrupt practices and the officials that deal in them, fail.   There really does seem to be a large groundswell of opinion behind this.  My guess is that Congress and others are prepared to suffer somewhat so that the real perpetrators are properly punished. Now, because of the hypnotic effect of “The Plan” over the last few days, they have to convince voters, the people, that they’ve done the right thing.  While agreeing in principle, it may take the people a bit longer to wake up and accept the pain while they are preoccupied with the mundane realities of life and looming unemployment. Not everyone has the nice cushion of life in the ruling classes.