mercredi 25 juin 2008

Contradictions

Up at dawn I put BBC World on and am regaled by the news that there are now 10 million millionaires in the world. The video accompanying the slot is of hundreds of ten pound notes floating down against a red backdrop. The announcer tells me that the estimated wealth of all these individulas is about 30 trillion pounds. He then bobs back up on the screen and cheerily says "Well, it's good to have some good economic news for a change." First reaction is that the geezer must be being ironic. With news like this and this (that strapped British people are trading down and shopping at lowcost stores and that in the US even middle class people are getting their utilities cut off) even the puppets presenting the news must be aware that all is not going well for a lot of their viewers. How can it be good news? It's not, therefore it is a subtle joke. But then again, this is the BBC. We were meant to believe in the WMD legend, that terror and Iraq were linked. So maybe we're meant to believe that the rich getting richer just IS good news - and good news for everyone. This thought pissed me off. I swapped to the French Business channel - where they reported the same news in an even more hysterically happy (and therefore false) way. Then in an economic report - they noted that the Fed has to raise rates but at the same time lower them to stop inflation so as to inflate the economy and to dampen demand so that- what - the millionaires get richer, we suppose.

When will the anger turn political?