by the bootstraps

The Conjurer by Hieronymus Bosch (from: Wikimedia Commons)

"[...] So let's recap: an out-of-control and increasingly unregulated financial industry causes the greatest economic crash since the Great Depression through greed and irresponsible leverage, and then gets bailed out by taxpayers around the world. In the U.S., this is coupled with tax cuts disproportionately benefiting the same irresponsible 'investors' that sent the economy into a tailspin.
     The subsequent recession drives government deficits sky high due to lack of growth and lack of tax revenue, even as the financial industry that caused the mess rebounds to record profitability on the backs of ordinary citizens suffering in deep recessionary conditions.[...]
     When historians write about this period, it will be in terms of amazement at the collective hysteria of elite intelligentsia, combined with shock at the ruthlessness of the titan financiers and the all-too-easy cowing of once proud nations. [...]
     If, that is, there are any historians left by the time the social consequences of all this destruction are finally played out." — David Atkins, Hullabaloo
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