Mad as Hell

Kali and anger - they go well together. This blog post looks into the missing anger in the Great Recession.

In the old movie "Network", a TV anchors flips out on air and encourages viewers from Atlanta to Baton Rouge to open their windows and scream: "I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" (more below the embedded clip)



I got reminded of this recently when listening to the wonderful rant of Karl Denninger, "The Ticker Guy"'s blog radio boradcast last week (if you're short on time, fast-forward to 14:00):



Not surprising that we don't get this from MSM. It's more surprising that few in the radical media have picked up on this stuff. The stuff is all around: see TheDailyBail.com, an excellent "viral citizen agitprop" website. Critical analysts with a wide variety of credentials are shouting till they're hoarse - from blogs and from international conferences alike - and being interviewed on a regular basis in the NY governor's Bloomberg TV. At the same time, direct action activists such as The Yes Men (which I love), Democracy Now! and KPFA miss the mark, miss the boat by under-covering the current wave of social injustice and social protest.

It's like they reversed roles - 3 days after unemployment soared to 10.2%, Democracy Now! could only find an economist at Societe Generale (!) to comment on it:

“It is obviously psychologically damaging. And I think it is likely to go up a little bit further, given that we’re already at 10.2 percent and the type of growth and the type of employment trends that we anticipate over the next few months. You know, it is quite possible that we might even test the post-war record high of 10.8 percent at some point early next year.”

Psychologically damaging? if this was being uttered by a Goldman Sachs exec or a GM manager, wouldn't leftists scream murder? And likely to go up a little bit further? someone, please tell Amy Goldman about shadowstats.com, which claims the real unemployment rate is 22%.

In past crises, activists were ready to capture the spirit of the time - seize the time to support the needy with advice and organizational help, and rally them to create social pressure. But that world is gone. We now live in a strange kind of world where radicals downplay the estimates of public misery and side with The Man's stats. Where is the "anger that brings change"? The vacuum is filled by financial analysts attacking The System with populist slogans.

One thing is good about this. I like my revolutionaries to give me good investment tips.

(Another example of stuff that makes financial commentary sound like the people's progressive voice comes from Gold Radio: Mike 'Mish' Shedlock on mortgages on HoweStreet.com)