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October 2009 · Readings · Previous · Next   PDF

To each according to his greed

By Slavoj Zizek

By Slavoj Ziûek, from First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, to be published this month by Verso.

The only truly surprising thing about the 2008 financial meltdown is how easily the idea was accepted that its happening was unpredictable. Recall the demonstrations that throughout the last decade regularly accompanied meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank: the protesters’ complaints encompassed not only the usual antiglobalization motifs (the growing exploitation of Third World countries, etc.) but also how the banks were creating the illusion of growth by playing with fictional money and how this would all have to end in a crash. It was not only economists such as Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz who warned of the dangers ahead and made it clear that those who promised continuous growth did not really understand what was going on under their noses. In Washington in 2000, so many people demonstrated about the danger of a financial collapse that the city had to mobilize 3,500 local policemen. What ensued was tear–gassing, clubbing, and mass arrests. The police were used to stifle the truth.

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SEE ALSO: Banks and banking; Capitalism; Capitalists and financiers; Class consciousness; Financial crises; Government policy; 2001-2009; Social conflict; Socialism

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