I didn't have much to do today, so please forgive.
Mr Geither says that his plan for Europe is the last chance to avoid Global Catastrophe.
I would first of all like to know, what is Secretary Geither's definition of Global Catastrophe. I find the words "Global Catastrophe" somewhat like "Totally Awesome" they are bandied about quite loosely these days.
Does he see millions upon millions of starving people in the world? News Flash for Mr Geither, from the Far East to Continental America there are already millions and millions of starving people.
Will unemployment go up? The talking heads say depression era 25% - 30% is entirely possible. Would politicians and administrative figures like Mr Geither lose their jobs? They would be lucky if that is all they lost. Would the obscenely wealthy still be with us? Of course they would. They have been with us since Babylon was the Big Apple of its' day. After all who would employ all the future slaves.
If an additional 50 - 100 million starving people aren't enough to save our wonderful system then of course it will be necessary to fall back on that one tried and true method to kickstart the economy. I speak of course of a good old fashioned World War. Not just something like these little fartsy one country at a time that only dumps 200 - 400 thousand people, I mean the Real McCoy, all inclusive world war, nobody left out. After 50 years or so that should get the old economy going, for those that are left. Of course I don't think an iphone would be high on the priority list of the local fur wearing, cave dwelling population of the day.
I get the feeling somehow that the Geithers and Jamie Dimons of this world don't really grasp the full meaning of poverty. Perhaps for Geither it means the pool man put a little too much chlorine in the water, we all know how annoying that can be don't we? Perhaps it's the thought that they won't have an opening for him at GS or JPM when he retires from the administration. For Mr Dimon it may be the ignomy of having to downsize from a 200ft yacht to a 150ft yacht, I really don't know.
The dictionary gives definitions such as; an overthrowing; to overturn; a tragedy; a disastrous end; overthrow and ruin; calamity; misfortune. this is not an inclusive list but some as you can see can be recovered from, others, not so much, so it would be nice if Mr Geither would give us his definition of Catastrophe.
Personally I have had a reasonable amount of poverty in my life. Starting as a Glasgow Gorbals slum kid during world war ll defined my early years. The most popular toy of the day being part of a dud German incendiary bomb. I remember those happy days with my chums, our arms spread wide and a bit of a dud bomb in each hand pretending to be dive bombers. Our curler headed mothers screaming out of windows at little jimmy or johnny to, "put that bomb down." Ah, those were the good old Monty Pythonesque days.
From those happy, but for me, rather inauspicious times I have managed to keep my head down and, while not wealthy, I can say that I am definitely comfortable. If the market scrubs 25 or 30 G's from my silly little mining microcap adventures, whilst pissed off, I still sleep very well at night.
My point in this last is that although my early years could be considered as poverty years, in contrast to those kids of that time surviving in continental Europe I had it made. It's all relative.
So Mr Geither, once again, what is your definition of Global Catastrophe.
