How far are we through the economic crisis? Some fools probably thought it was 80% of the way, whereas now are discovering that it's less than halfway. Martin Wolf sagely points out that a "double-dip recession" would require the first dip to have come and gone, which was never really the case. So lets call it a "single-trench recession" (aka a depression). Meanwhile, we entertain ourselves by competing for the silliest micro-explanation for this most macro of shit-storms, the latest being 'sexio-economics' (the perfect complement to Catherine Hakim's risible 'erotic capital'), just as a sufferer from tooth-ache flicks through back issues of Hello in a dentist's waiting room and tries to ignore the pain.
Science and Technology Studies has made an artform of discovering the micro in the macro, including the design of new mediations between the two. Consider Andrew Barry and Lucy Kimbell's 'Pindices' artistic experiment, which offered the public a choice of badges, containing various declarations of civic participation, such as "I obeyed the law", "I shopped ethically" and "I protested". As the project explains:
The badges were arranged in 2m-high plastic tubes which from a distance resemble physical bar charts. As people take the badges, the levels in the tubes vary presenting an aggregate view of political activity.
They are each given a different colour, and unpopular forms of political activity remain glaringly obvious, as the tube remains more full (see the image above).
Why not adapt this experimental device, and install an equivalent near Canary Wharf tube station, with badges specially designed for people working in financial services. The text on the badges could read:
- I paid the legally-mandated level of income tax
- I passed on an interest rate cut
- I used customer savings in order to make a loan
- I advised someone not to buy a derivative because I had no idea what was in it
- I recognise that I work for a semi-nationalised industry
And so on. Watch as these buttons get snapped up, creating new norms to behave in a vaguely civil manner, and nudging us out of the financial mess we're in! It's similar to how all footballers are now required to wear 'Kick it out' anti-racism badges on their shirts. Alternatively, the badges that have not been selected will remain glaringly apparent, highlighting the refusal of the financial services industry to take any responsibility for its public impact. Adapting another piece of wonk wizardry, anyone with an entirely badgeless lapel will then be required to travel to and from work wearing a day-glo jacket.
John Gray, who has rarely been confused with a ray of sunshine, thinks that we're barely started on this crisis. I'm starting to feel the same way, as our neo-Hooverian chancellor digs in his heels...
Posted by: Dick Pountain | September 06, 2011 at 08:10 PM
Western consumers are retrenching because they have to thanks to unemployment, debt and fear of job loss. Western Governments are retrenching because they have big debts, have an ideological mental bloc about deficit spending and have internalised the neoliberal idea that states are like households (except when it comes to corporate welfare spending). Western corporations are sitting on cash and cutting real wages at every opportunity. So there is no demand in the system to make it grow. Yet if it grows in the usual way, the environment is damaged further. The obvious thing to do is Green Infrastructural Investment on a huge scale, as recommended by Krugman, Sachs, and eco-Keynesians on all sides. Yet there is no political majority or willpower in the West for this strategy. Instead, we are more likely to get a rerun of the early 1930s, minus any prospect of a new FDR in the USA. Accordingly, I agree that we could be barely out of the starting gate with this crisis.
Posted by: IanC | September 06, 2011 at 09:05 PM
And why have the politicians bought into the neoliberal consensus? A few out of intellectual conviction, a few out of personal greed, but most because they need corporate funds to get re-elected. Campaign finance reform is as important as financial regulation reform (and just as far away)
Posted by: Dick Pountain | September 06, 2011 at 11:34 PM