Stocks were slumping most of the day, but managed to take back much of their losses in the closing minutes.
There is no sustainable recovery.
There cannot be a recovery while the causes of our problems cannot be discussed frankly, for the reasons cited in this intraday commentary here.
We may wish to have one. The statisticians and pundits may paint a rosy picture of one. But most are now aware of the huge discrepancy between what is said and what is done. And their anger is being reflected in the political landscape.
Years of complacent looting and personal privilege have made the plutocrats tone deaf to the message.
The lack of reform of the financialized economy that caused the last two bubbles and crashes will most likely cause the next one as well.
The primary reason is the corrupting power of money in politics, academics, the media, and most of the higher level functions in a society. They are caught, complicit, in a credibility trap.
The contributing reason is the after effects of a sustained draining of income and wealth from the bottom 99% to the top, as a consequence of policy and injustice.
The Banks must be restrained, and the financial system reformed, with balance restored to the economy, before there can be any sustainable recovery.
And none of this can be accomplished without serious political campaign reform to staunch the enormous flow of money as soft bribes into the coffers of the politicians.
Have a pleasant evening.
