<\/p>\n
On the Economic Meltdown
\n(Enrique Amador)<\/p>\n
The past is just that, something gone. It is not a creation of the present, it is not a result of the present. The past is not going to change… isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s not, unless we\u2019d have a time machine and we could go to the past and change the facts (like Michael J. Fox in \u201cBack to the Future\u201d). As long as we don\u2019t have this machine, the facts are unmovable. But I won\u2019t say that they are unchangeable. Why? Because the past acquires meaning according to how we reconstruct it now, how we reconfigure it in the present.<\/p>\n
We know the facts that lead us to the global crisis, and the documentary (Inside Job, 2010) recapitulates many of them:<\/p>\n
It first tells us when the \u2018bomb\u2019 went off:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Sept 2008 the investment bank Lehman Brothers was forced to declared bankrupt
\nand the collapse of the world\u2019s largest insurance company, AIG triggered a global crisis
\nthat cost tens of trillions of dollars, rendered 30 million people unemployed and double the national debt of the USA\u201d.<\/p>\n
And then goes back to reconstruct from the beginnings:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis crisis was not an accident, it was caused by an out of control industry.<\/p>\n
It all started in 1981, when the Ronald Reagan administration started a 30 years period of financial deregulation.<\/p>\n
Ronald Reagan appointed Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve (America\u2019s Central Bank), who then was reappointed by Clinton and Bush.<\/p>\n
The deregulation continued under Clinton with Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin (former CEO of Goldman Sachs) and economist Larry Summers (Harvard Economics Professor).<\/p>\n
By the late 1990s, the financial sector had consolidated into a few financial gigantic firms, and the Clinton administration help them grow even larger.<\/p>\n
in 1998 Citicorp and Travelers merged to form the larger financial services company in the world. The merger violated the Glass-Steagall Act, a law which prevented banks with consumer deposits from engaging in risky investment-banking activities. Greenspan said nothing and the Federal Reserve gave them an exemption for a year during which they got the law passed. It cleared the way for future mergers.<\/p>\n
The next crisis came at the end of the 90s. The investment banks fuelled a massive bubble in Internet stocks which was followed by a crash in 2001 that caused $5 trillion in investment losses.<\/p>\n
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency created during the depression to regulate investment banking had done nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n
[…….]<\/p>\n
And concludes its analysis:<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the US, the banks are now bigger, more powerful and more concentrated than ever before\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor decades the American financial system was stable and safe. But then something changed.
\nThe financial industry turned its back on society, corrupted our political and academic system, and plunged the world economy into crisis. At enormous cost we\u2019ve avoided disaster and are recovering. But the men and institutions that caused the crisis are still in power and that needs to change. [….] It won\u2019t be easy, but some things are worth fighting for\u201d.<\/p>\n
This are the facts that are assuming meaning as we are now analyzing and discussing them.<\/p>\n
Everytime when I get caught discussing many small details and things I tend to be very wary.<\/p>\n
A couple of years ago, when the new Batman movie (The Dark Night) came out I get caught in some of these \u2018passionate\u2019 discussions: the action was very well choreographed, it had nice effects, the actor who played the bad guy did a very good job, Batman had some \u2018human characteristics\u2019, etc. After minutes of this \u2018intercambios\u2019, I just remember that it was not a good movie. But nobody was talking about that. They were too busy analyzing the details.<\/p>\n
I had a very good friend in Spain who loved to play basketball. He had a corn in his feet and the more he played the more big his feet\u2019s corn was. He was in no pain, but as a consequence of the corn he developed a funny walk. As time went on, he started to complain of back pains. To alleviate the pains he made weekly appointments with a therapist; they proved very helpful and after each session he almost didn\u2019t feel pain and thus could continue playing basketball. Nevertheless he never get rid of the corn and continue to suffer from pains all his life.<\/p>\n
The russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), is considered one of the greatest of all times. Which was his secret? Dedication, sacrifices, passion, long 10 hours practice days… these are hardly secrets to anyone. But he possessed one quality that made him sublime: He had an ability to \u2018vision\u2019 the totality of the music piece, he saw the whole, like an extended map in front of him. He didn\u2019t neglect the details, but he didn\u2019t get caught up in them. As Glenn Gould (another not less greater musician) commented after seeing him perform in one of his recitals:
\n\u201cWhen listening to Richter we gain the impression that we are discovering the work anew, and often, from a quite different perspective that we\u2019re accustomed to. The first time I saw him perform, musical details which I\u2019d previously considered ornamental were given the appearance of organic elements. I was witnessing the union of two supposedly irreconcilable qualities: analytical calculation revealed by a spontaneity akin to improvisation. And I realized at that moment, as I have many times listening to Richter, I was in the presence of one of the most powerful communicators the world of music has produced in our time\u201d<\/p>\n
The basketball player Magic Johnson was considered the best player of the NBA during many years. Why was this? In what consisted his magic? I claim that it was precisely in this \u2018vision\u2019 of the totality; he was able to see the whole game, the whole court, to know always where everyone was (though he didn\u2019t need to really look) and anticipate his movements. That made him magic.<\/p>\n
The conclusion of the documentary is that we should fight to change the people and the institutions in power, since they are the main responsible for the crisis. It says that it will be difficult but it\u2019s worth fighting for it.<\/p>\n
But is it the worthiest change to fight for? To change this people and institutions will eradicate the problem? Or it will be like my friend, taking massages to alleviate the back pains originated in his feet. Maybe this people and institutions are not the problem, they are not the corn, just the back pains; they are simply an expression of the problem. Maybe the problem is the system.<\/p>\n
As Slavoj Zizek wrote:
\n\u201cTo put it in the old fashioned Marxist terms, the central task of the ruling ideology in the present crisis is to impose a narrative which will place the blame for the meltdown not on the global capitalist system as such, but on secondary and contingent deviations (overly lax legal regulations, the corruption of big financial institutions, and so on)\u201d\u00b9<\/p>\n
That this documentary won the Oscar should make us think too. We may not look at the message that the documentary communicates us; we may rather look at the documentary as the message itself (\u201cThe media is the message\u201d \u00b2). Or was it not the system rewarding a movie that criticizes the system (but just by pointing fingers and \u2018distributing\u2019 the blame) in some way \u2018fishy\u2019? Is it possible that maybe this way of the system to accept the critics and even rewarding them is the best way to assure that the system itself will continue? We may alleviate the pains, but don\u2019t look at the corn…<\/p>\n
Should we look where the fingers are pointing us or should we try to look from another perspective: visualizing the whole piece like Richter; seeing the whole court like Magic Johnson; or to put it in lacanian terms looking awry?<\/p>\n
The danish philosopher S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard felt that his time was not a time of action, but of understanding and reflection, and even used the parable of a suicide:
\n\u201cNowadays not even a suicide kills himself in desperation. Before taking the step he deliberates so long and so carefully that he literally chokes with thought. It is even questionable whether he ought to be called a suicide, since it is really thought which takes his life. He does not die with deliberation but from deliberation\u201d.\u00b3<\/p>\n
He also criticized the enlightment time he was living as over reflective in \u2018Fear and Trembling\u2019:
\n\u201cWhat our age lacks is not reflection but passion\u201d.4<\/p>\n
I think that without deliberation we are taking a way that it may slowly drive us to global suicide in this 21st century.
\nIn my opinion our age lacks passion too, but above all, much more reflection.<\/p>\n
————————————————————————
\n\u00b9: \u2018First as Tragedy, then as Farce\u2019 (Verso, 2009, page 19)
\n\u00b2: \u2018Beyond Culture (Edward T. Hall, 1976, page 15)
\n\u00b3: \u2018The Present Age\u2019 (Harper Perennial, 2010, page 3)
\n4: \u2018Fear and Trembling\u2019 (Penguin books, edition 2005, page 47)<\/p>\n
Sobre el Colapso Econ\u00f3mico
\n(Enrique Amador)<\/p>\n
El pasado es simplemente eso. Algo que se ha ido. El pasado no es una creaci\u00f3n del presente, no es un resultado del presente. El pasado no va a cambiar… \u00bfno es as\u00ed? S\u00ed, a no ser que tuvi\u00e9ramos una m\u00e1quina del tiempo para poder viajar al pasado y cambiar los hechos (como Michael J.Fox en \u201cRegreso al Futuro\u201d). En tanto que no poseamos esta m\u00e1quina, los hechos son inamovibles. Pero yo no dir\u00eda que son \u2018incambiables\u2019. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9? Porque el pasado adquiere significado de acuerdo a c\u00f3mo lo reconstru\u00edmos y lo reconfiguramos ahora, en el presente.<\/p>\n
Ya sabemos los hechos que nos llevaron al colapso econ\u00f3mico del a\u00f1o 2008, y el documental \u2018Inside Job\u20191 enumera muchos de ellos:<\/p>\n
Primero nos cuenta el momento en el que \u2018estall\u00f3 la bomba\u2019:<\/p>\n
\u201cEn Septiembre de 2008 el banco de inversiones Lehman Brothers fue obligado a declararse en bancarrota y unido a la quiebra de AIG, la mayor compa\u00f1\u00eda de seguros del mundo, desencadenaron una crisis global que cost\u00f3 decenas de trillones de d\u00f3lares, dej\u00f3 a m\u00e1s de 30 millones sin empleo y dobl\u00f3 la deuda nacional de los EE.UU.\u201d.<\/p>\n
Luego el documental va atr\u00e1s en el tiempo para reconstruir la historia desde el comienzo:<\/p>\n
\u201cEsta crisis no fue un accidente, fue causada por una industria que estaba fuera de control.<\/p>\n
Todo empez\u00f3 en 1981, cuando la administraci\u00f3n de Ronald Reagan empez\u00f3 un periodo de 30 a\u00f1os de desregulaci\u00f3n financiera.<\/p>\n
Ronald Reagan nombr\u00f3 como director de la Reserva Federal (Banco Central de Am\u00e9rica) a Alan Greenspan, quien despu\u00e9s ser\u00eda reelegido por Clinton y Bush en sus mandatos.<\/p>\n
La desregulaci\u00f3n continu\u00f3 en la \u00e9poca de Clinton con el secretario del tesoro Robert Rubin (el antiguo director de Goldman Sachs) y el economista Larry Summers (Profesor de Econom\u00eda en Harvard).<\/p>\n
Hacia final de los a\u00f1os 90, el sector financiero se hab\u00eda consolidado ya en unas pocas firmas enormes, y la administraci\u00f3n de Clinton las ayud\u00f3 a crecer a\u00fan m\u00e1s.<\/p>\n
En 1998 Citicorp y Travelers se fusionaron para constituir la compa\u00f1\u00eda de servicios financieros m\u00e1s grande del mundo. Dicha fusi\u00f3n violaba la ley Glass-Seagall, una ley que prohib\u00eda a los bancos su participaci\u00f3n en inversiones arriesgadas con los ingresos de los consumidores. Greenspan no dijo nada y la Reserva Federal les concedi\u00f3 un a\u00f1o de exenci\u00f3n, durante el cu\u00e1l se las arreglaron para pasar una nueva ley que abri\u00f3 el camino no s\u00f3lo para esa fusi\u00f3n, sino para fusiones futuras.<\/p>\n
La siguiente crisis lleg\u00f3 a finales de los 90. Los bancos de inversi\u00f3n crearon una enorme burbuja especulativa en acciones de Internet a la que sigui\u00f3 un desmoronamiento que caus\u00f3 5 trillones en p\u00e9rdidas de las inversiones.<\/p>\n
La Agencia Federal (SEC: Comisi\u00f3n de Valores y Bolsa de Los Estados Unidos) creada durante la depresi\u00f3n para regular las inversiones de los bancos no hab\u00eda hecho nada\u201d.<\/p>\n
[…….]<\/p>\n
Y el documental concluye su an\u00e1lisis:<\/p>\n
\u201cEn los Estados Unidos, los bancos son ahora m\u00e1s grandes, m\u00e1s poderosos y m\u00e1s concentrados de lo que hab\u00edan sido nunca\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDurante d\u00e9cadas el sistema financiero americano fue estable y seguro. Pero despu\u00e9s algo cambi\u00f3.
\nLa industria financiera dio la espalda a la sociedad, corrompi\u00f3 nuestro sistema politico y acad\u00e9mico y hundi\u00f3 a la econom\u00eda mundial en una crisis. Con un enorme coste hemos evitado el desastre y nos estamos recuperando. Pero los hombres y las instituciones que causaron la crisis todav\u00eda est\u00e1n en el poder, y eso necesita cambiar. […] No ser\u00e1 f\u00e1cil, pero vale la pena luchar por algunas cosas\u201d.<\/p>\n
Estos son los hechos que van asumiento significado seg\u00fan los analizamos y los comentamos.<\/p>\n
Cada vez que me descubro discutiendo muchos peque\u00f1os detalles y cosas tiendo a recelar.
\nHace un par de a\u00f1os, cuando sali\u00f3 la nueva pel\u00edcula de Batman (El Caballero Oscuro) me encontr\u00e9 envuelto en algunas de estas \u2018apasionadas\u2019 discusiones: la acci\u00f3n estaba muy bien coreografiada, ten\u00eda unos magn\u00edficos efectos especiales, el actor que interpretaba al Joker lo hizo muy bien, Batman ten\u00eda algunas \u2018cualidades humanas\u2019, etc. Despu\u00e9s de un buen rato aprisionado en estos \u2018intercambios\u2019, record\u00e9 que la pel\u00edcula no era buena. Pero nadie estaba hablando de eso. Todos estaban demasiado ocupados analizando los detalles.
\nTen\u00eda un buen amigo en Espa\u00f1a al que le encantaba jugar al baloncesto. Ten\u00eda un callo en el pie y cuanto m\u00e1s jugaba m\u00e1s grande se le hac\u00eda. No le dol\u00eda, pero como consecuencia del callo empez\u00f3 a caminar de forma rara. Con el paso del tiempo empez\u00f3 a quejarse de dolores de espalda. Para aliviar los dolores empez\u00f3 a ir al masajista un d\u00eda por semana y le fue bien. Despu\u00e9s de cada sesi\u00f3n los dolores desaparec\u00edan y pod\u00eda seguir jugando baloncesto. Aun as\u00ed nunca fue a extirparse el callo y sigui\u00f3 sufriendo dolores durante toda su vida.
\nEl pianista ruso Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), est\u00e1 considerado como uno de los m\u00e1s grandes de todos los tiempos. \u00bfCu\u00e1l era su secreto? Dedicaci\u00f3n, sacrificio, pasi\u00f3n, d\u00edas de 10 horas de pr\u00e1ctica al piano… todo esto dif\u00edcilmente es un secreto para nadie. Pero Richter pose\u00eda una cualidad que le hac\u00eda sublime: Ten\u00eda la habilidad para \u2018visionar\u2019 la totalidad de la obra musical, percib\u00eda el conjunto, como si fuera un mapa extendido delante de \u00e9l. No descuidaba los detalles, pero no se perd\u00eda en ellos. Como Glenn Gould (otro gran m\u00fasico) coment\u00f3 despu\u00e9s de ver a Richter en un concierto:
\n\u201cSiempre que se escucha a Richter se tiene la impresi\u00f3n de descubrir una obra por primera vez, y normalmente desde una perspectiva bastante diferente a la que uno est\u00e1 acostumbrado. La primera vez que lo vi tocar, muchos de los detalles musicales que previamente hab\u00eda considerado como simples adornos cobraron la apariencia de elementos \u00f3rganicos. […] En ese momento me di cuenta de que estaba en presencia de uno de los m\u00e1s poderosos comunicadores que el mundo de la m\u00fasica hab\u00eda producido en nuestro tiempo\u201d.<\/p>\n
El jugador de baloncesto Magic Johnson fue reconocido como el jugador m\u00e1s valioso de la NBA durante muchos a\u00f1os consecutivos. \u00bfCu\u00e1l era su secreto? \u00bfEn que consist\u00eda su magia? Yo afirmo que era precisamente ese \u2018visionar la totalidad\u2019; Magic Johnson era capaz de ver todo el campo, todo el juego, siempre sab\u00eda donde estaban los dem\u00e1s (aunque parad\u00f3jicamente no tuviese que mirar para ello) y era capaz de anticipar sus movimientos. Esa era su magia.
\nLa conclusion del documental es que debemos luchar para cambiar a los hombres y las institucines en el poder puesto que son las responsables de la crisis; dice que sera dif\u00edcil, pero merece la pena.
\n\u00bfPero es realmente el cambio por el que m\u00e1s merece la pena luchar? \u00bfCambiar a esas personas e instituciones erradicar\u00e1 el problema? O m\u00e1s bien ser\u00e1 como mi amigo, recibiendo masajes en la espalda para aliviar el dolor originado en sus pies. Quiz\u00e1s esas personas e instituciones no son el problema, no son el callo, tan s\u00f3lo los dolores de espalda; son simplemente la expresi\u00f3n del problema. Quiz\u00e1s el problema es el sistema.
\nComo escribi\u00f3 Slavoj \u017di\u017eek:
\n\u201cPara ponerlo en viejos t\u00e9rminos marxistas: la tarea principal de la ideolog\u00eda gobernante en la presente crisis consiste en imponer una narrativa que atribuya la culpa del colapso econ\u00f3mico no en el sitema capitalista en s\u00ed mismo, sino en desviaciones secundarias y contingentes (regulaciones legales demasiado poco estrictas, la corrupci\u00f3n de las grandes instituciones financieras, etc.) \u201d2<\/p>\n
El que este documental ganase el Oscar tambi\u00e9n deber\u00eda hacernos pensar. Quiz\u00e1s no deber\u00edamos mirar tanto al mensaje que el documental nos comunica, sino en su lugar mirar al documental como el mensaje en s\u00ed (\u201cEl medio es el mensaje\u201d 3)
\n\u00bfO acaso el sistema recompensando a una pel\u00edcula que critica al mismo sistema (aunque s\u00f3lo sea se\u00f1alando cabezas de turco y distribuyendo la culpa) no es de alguna forma \u2018sospechoso\u2019? \u00bfEs posible que esta manera del sistema de aceptar las cr\u00edticas e incluso recompensarlas sea la mejor estrategia para asegurar que el sistema vaya a continuar? Puede que aliviemos los dolores, pero que nadie se fije en el callo…
\nDebemos mirar hacia donde nos se\u00f1alan todos los dedos o por el contrario hacerlo desde otra perspectiva: visualizando la obra entera como Richter; viendo todo el campo como Magic Johnson; o para ponerlo en t\u00e9rminos lacanianos \u2018mirando al sesgo\u2019?
\nEl fil\u00f3sofo dan\u00e9s S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard sinti\u00f3 que la \u00e9poca que le hab\u00eda tocado vivir no era una \u00e9poca de acci\u00f3n, sino de entendimiento y reflexi\u00f3n; incluso us\u00f3 la par\u00e1bola del suicidio:
\n\u201cHoy en d\u00eda, ni siquiera un suicida se mata con desesperaci\u00f3n. Antes de llevarlo a cabo delibera por tanto tiempo y tan cuidadosamente que literalmente se asfixia en el pensamiento. Es hasta cuestionable si deber\u00eda llam\u00e1rsele un suicidio, puesto que es realmente el pensamiento el que se lleva su vida. No muere con deliberaci\u00f3n, sino de la deliberaci\u00f3n\u201d.4<\/p>\n
\u201cDe lo que carece nuestra \u00e9poca no es de reflexi\u00f3n, sino de pasi\u00f3n\u201d.5<\/p>\n
Es posible que sin deliberaci\u00f3n nos estemos encaminando lentamente a un suicidio global en el siglo XXI.
\nEn mi opini\u00f3n nuestra \u00e9poca tambi\u00e9n carece de pasi\u00f3n, pero sobretodo, de mucha m\u00e1s reflexi\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
————————————————————————
\n\u00b9: Charles Ferguson: \u201cInside Job\u201d (2010)
\n\u00b2: Slavoj \u017di\u017eek: \u2018First as Tragedy, then as Farce\u2019 (Primero como tragedia, despu\u00e9s como farsa) (Verso, 2009, page 19)
\n\u00b3: Edward T. Hall: \u2018Beyond Culture\u2019 (Anchor Books, edition 1989, page 15)
\n4: S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard: \u2018The Present Age\u2019 (La \u00e9poca presente) (Harper Perennial, 2010, page 3)
\n5: S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard: \u2018Fear and Trembling (Temor y Temblor)\u2019 (Penguin books, edition 2005, page 47)
\n(Todas las traducciones hechas por Enrique Amador)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the Economic Meltdown (Enrique Amador) The past is just that, something gone. It is not a creation of the present, it is not a result of the present. The past is not going to change… isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s not, unless we\u2019d have a time machine and we could go to the past and change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001002,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1316","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1316"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1319,"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1316\/revisions\/1319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empanishproductions.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}