Home » Opinion » Opinion Columns
Trouble ahead as we fan the frenzied flame of greed
By Wan Lixin |
August 6, 2009, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE year ago, nearly everyone was condemning Wall Street greed.
Cynics said: "This is too good a crisis to be wasted," for a crisis is an attempt at correction.
Some believe that, in the absence of American extravagance, the world must shift to low growth ?? how pessimistic we tend to be.
The US investment banks are reporting strong quarterly earnings, thanks to American taxpayers.
Last year, the nine biggest banks in Wall Street gave out US$33 billion in bonuses.
In China, academics are explaining why some bubbles actually benefit the economy, a view encouraged by government permissiveness towards skyrocketing asset prices.
Instead of taking advantage of the crisis to force long overdue structural adjustments, we are sacrificing anything for glowing statistics.
American investment bankers are clearly not the only people guilty of greed.
A few thoughtful people do see something wrong.
Their warnings are not heeded, as a rule.
Sun Yong is vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers' Association.
In his "Financial crisis and the cultural trap" (June 22, Wenhui Daily) Sun points out that now that the US has virtually outsourced all its manufacturing to the rest of the world, it simply needs something to pay for its imports of premium goods.
Weapons, high-tech and movies can sell, but they are all limited in their own ways.
Until the geniuses on Wall Street began packaging junk bonds and then flooding the world with them.
He believes the current crisis is essentially a frenzy when numerous people rush to the market in their "rational" pursuit of profit.
"When the frenzied flame of greed flares up, the price of extinguishing it would be heavy indeed!"
As we can see now, everyone is trying to fan the flames.
Sun also points to collateral damage, more far-reaching, in the spiritual sphere.
Thousands of years of human civilization have arrived at a consensus that wealth is created by labor, and humans need to acquire their necessities by work.
Wealth could be obtained through political power, war, theft or gambling, but these were once frowned upon.
Today the best people are engaged in the game of moving wealth from others' pockets to their own, while still cleverly staying on the right side of the law.
It is a very corrupting influence, sending a very strong message to young people.
Philosophy professor Yu Wujin from Fudan University strikes a similar tone in his "On the cultural maladies of the financial crisis" (June 23, the Wenhui Daily).
Yu sees the crisis as a comprehensive one, because financial derivatives meet with approval from the population at large.
"These financial innovations infinitely excite the latent consumption, stimulating production and invigorating economic life," Yu writes.
Yu goes on to say that the desire to consume is not directly excited by the financials, but by the omnipresent advertisements.
The ads on TV, radio, newspapers, posters by the road and on the highrises create a "virtual reality" that controls the behavior of the masses.
But for consumerism to prevail it needs more complicity.
Corresponding to consumerism is a kind of nihilism that denies any values that transcend consumption.
Consumption is seen as the sum total of modern human existence.
Yu believes that without getting at the roots of the crisis, there is little chance of our working out an effective cure for the crisis.
There will be troubled times ahead.
Cynics said: "This is too good a crisis to be wasted," for a crisis is an attempt at correction.
Some believe that, in the absence of American extravagance, the world must shift to low growth ?? how pessimistic we tend to be.
The US investment banks are reporting strong quarterly earnings, thanks to American taxpayers.
Last year, the nine biggest banks in Wall Street gave out US$33 billion in bonuses.
In China, academics are explaining why some bubbles actually benefit the economy, a view encouraged by government permissiveness towards skyrocketing asset prices.
Instead of taking advantage of the crisis to force long overdue structural adjustments, we are sacrificing anything for glowing statistics.
American investment bankers are clearly not the only people guilty of greed.
A few thoughtful people do see something wrong.
Their warnings are not heeded, as a rule.
Sun Yong is vice chairman of the Shanghai Writers' Association.
In his "Financial crisis and the cultural trap" (June 22, Wenhui Daily) Sun points out that now that the US has virtually outsourced all its manufacturing to the rest of the world, it simply needs something to pay for its imports of premium goods.
Weapons, high-tech and movies can sell, but they are all limited in their own ways.
Until the geniuses on Wall Street began packaging junk bonds and then flooding the world with them.
He believes the current crisis is essentially a frenzy when numerous people rush to the market in their "rational" pursuit of profit.
"When the frenzied flame of greed flares up, the price of extinguishing it would be heavy indeed!"
As we can see now, everyone is trying to fan the flames.
Sun also points to collateral damage, more far-reaching, in the spiritual sphere.
Thousands of years of human civilization have arrived at a consensus that wealth is created by labor, and humans need to acquire their necessities by work.
Wealth could be obtained through political power, war, theft or gambling, but these were once frowned upon.
Today the best people are engaged in the game of moving wealth from others' pockets to their own, while still cleverly staying on the right side of the law.
It is a very corrupting influence, sending a very strong message to young people.
Philosophy professor Yu Wujin from Fudan University strikes a similar tone in his "On the cultural maladies of the financial crisis" (June 23, the Wenhui Daily).
Yu sees the crisis as a comprehensive one, because financial derivatives meet with approval from the population at large.
"These financial innovations infinitely excite the latent consumption, stimulating production and invigorating economic life," Yu writes.
Yu goes on to say that the desire to consume is not directly excited by the financials, but by the omnipresent advertisements.
The ads on TV, radio, newspapers, posters by the road and on the highrises create a "virtual reality" that controls the behavior of the masses.
But for consumerism to prevail it needs more complicity.
Corresponding to consumerism is a kind of nihilism that denies any values that transcend consumption.
Consumption is seen as the sum total of modern human existence.
Yu believes that without getting at the roots of the crisis, there is little chance of our working out an effective cure for the crisis.
There will be troubled times ahead.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
