European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

The Onion does the Anglo Disease

by Jerome a Paris
Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 11:35:17 AM EST

Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In
WASHINGTON—A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.
"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."
The current economic woes, brought on by the collapse of the so-called "housing bubble," are considered the worst to hit investors since the equally untenable dot-com bubble burst in 2001. According to investment experts, now that the option of making millions of dollars in a short time with imaginary profits from bad real-estate deals has disappeared, the need for another spontaneous make-believe source of wealth has never been more urgent.
(...) The manner of bubble isn't important—just as long as it creates a hugely overvalued market based on nothing more than whimsical fantasy and saddled with the potential for a long-term accrual of debts that will never be paid back, thereby unleashing a ripple effect that will take nearly a decade to correct."

A worthy contribution to the Anglo Disease series.

Demand for a new investment bubble began months ago, when the subprime mortgage bubble burst and left the business world without a suitable source of pretend income. But as more and more time has passed with no substitute bubble forthcoming, investors have begun to fear that the worst-case scenario—an outcome known among economists as "real-world repercussions"—may be inevitable.
"Every American family deserves a false sense of security," said Chris Reppto, a risk analyst for Citigroup in New York. "Once we have a bubble to provide a fragile foundation, we can begin building pyramid scheme on top of pyramid scheme, and before we know it, the financial situation will return to normal."

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The Onion does the Anglo Disease | 48 comments (48 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

To poemless (4.00 / 9)

This is why it's called the Anglo Disease. The delusion is a lot stronger in the UK and the US, and it has included a lot of mocking of the declining French and the stodgy Germans during the happy period of the bubble cycle.

I will not change the name, and I'm happy it actually annoys people (on dKos too). Hey, it even pissed off Armando, so it has to be a good name!

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 11:37:30 AM EST

Re: To poemless (none / 1)

"Anglo" does not actually mean "UK and US." It's not a place but an ancestry, and one that most Americans do not even claim, if we're to accept your assertion that it is something to do with "English" but not "German." Of course, these "Anglo" people seem to have come from Germany originally, but equating Anglo and German would destroy your argument. And I do think most people think "English" when they hear "Anglo." But 8 years ago English ancestry only accounted for 8 or 9% of the American population. And it's been, like over 200 years since we were English colonies. Yet less since we were, uhm, French or Spanish territories...

But if you insist on using linguistically inaccurate and racially charged terminology, that's your prerogative.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:14:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

It is indeed my prerogative (none / 0)

I think most people will understand "Anglo" pretty well, and I'm happy with the meaning it conveys, however incorrect it may be, in theory, linguistically.

Populism over policy? In that case I think the two go together.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:18:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 1)

"Anglo" is a racial identifier in the US, which means it won't go very far with liberal Americans. The title handicaps you immediately.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 07:36:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 0)

Except that J sees pissing off Americans as a sign of success. NrN should be a lot of fun...

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 10:46:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 0)

Since when did Anglo or English for that matter become a race? I'd say those are not races but ethinicties. It would have been racial if he had called it the white disease or negro disease or whatever, and then I imagine people would have had good reasons to be upset.

But maybe the Dutch disease is racist too according to the PC people?

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

by Starvid (arvid.hallen at gmail.com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 04:24:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 0)

We had someone claim that "anglo-saxon" was as offensive as calling the French "frog". Go figure.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 04:29:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 1)

it's a karma-round from the brits calling condoms 'french letters' for years, or 'french disease' for gonorrhea.

kidding aside, focussing on the name is like the finger, not the moon.

remove and respectfully trash the package and enjoy the crunchy truth within!

in PC terms, poemless is right, i don't think the gravity of the situation demands that kind of purity, that's all.

of course if a better name were offered...

till then, we have to work with the best name we have so far, not the name we wish we had (that didn't tweak anyone), but don't have yet.

there's even a case to be made that the offensive quality might act as a barb, ensuring that the message holds on better.

or, you might lose some too, who would rather there were a less offensive name. the great unknown...

"These days, there's nothing more ridiculous than the truth." Leonard Pitts Jr

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 06:37:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (4.00 / 2)

Well, there is an academic term for what's going on: Financialization but it doesn't quite pack the same punch.

Financialization is a relatively new term used to discuss the emergence of a new form of capitalism in which financial markets dominate over the traditional industrial economy. Greta Krippner of the University of California - Los Angeles has written that "financialization" refers to a "pattern of accumulation in which profit making occurs increasingly through financial channels rather than through trade and commodity production." In the Introduction to the 2006 book Financialization and the World Economy, editor Gerald A. Epstein wrote that some scholars have insisted on a much more narrow use of the term: the ascendancy of "shareholder value" as a mode of corporate governance; or the growing dominance of capital market financial systems over bank-based financial systems.
Financialisation may be defined as: "the increasing dominance of the finance industry in the sum total of economic activity, of financial controllers in the management of corporations, of financial assets among total assets, of marketised securities and particularly equities among financial assets, of the stock market as a market for corporate control in determining corporate strategies, and of fluctuations in the stock market as a determinant of business cycles" (Dore 2002)
More popularly, however, financialization is understood to mean the vastly expanded role of financial motives, financial markets, financial actors and financial institutions in the operation of domestic and international economies. In his 2006 book, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, American writer and commentator Kevin Phillips presented financialization as "a process whereby financial services, broadly construed, take over the dominant economic, cultural, and political role in a national economy." (page 268). Philips consider that the financialization of the U.S. economy follows the same pattern that marked the beginning of the decline of Hapsburg Spain in the 16th century, the Dutch trading empire in the 18th century, and the British empire in the 19th century

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 07:55:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 1)

aka liquify assets and skedaddle...

"These days, there's nothing more ridiculous than the truth." Leonard Pitts Jr

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 11:46:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 1)

Well, we do have other names for it. "Rape-and-run capitalism," "neo-feudalism" and "gangster capitalism" come to mind. But they are hardly any less offencive and they don't convey the source of the threat nearly as well.

- Jake

Your representatives may not listen to you. But they do read your e-mail.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 02:23:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: It is indeed my prerogative (none / 0)

Second Gilded Age has been suggested. But now the Robber Baron "captains of industry" have been replaced by an anonymous management class of CEO-types in grey suits.

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jul 21st, 2008 at 06:52:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 0)

Huh? I understood it to be a reference to language? An anglicism, for instance, is a (usually pejorative) expression for an idiom or sentence structure adopted and/or translated (usually poorly) from English. An anglophile is someone whose cultural orientation is towards the English-speaking world (who is, if you will, a part of the English language's sphere of soft power; compare: Francophile).

It would seem to stand to reason that an Anglo Disease would be a disease originating in and/or mainly afflicting the English-speaking world and/or the English language's sphere of soft power.

- Jake

Your representatives may not listen to you. But they do read your e-mail.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:36:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 1)

I'm using the following definition(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo

The term Anglo is used as a prefix to indicate a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the phrases 'Anglo-Saxon', 'Anglo-American', 'Anglo-Celtic', and 'Anglo-Indian'. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to a person or people of English ethnicity in the The Americas, Australia and Southern Africa. It is also used, both in English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries, to refer to Anglophone people of other European origins.
Anglo is a Late Latin prefix used to denote "English-" in conjunction with another toponym or demonym. The word is derived from Anglia, the Latin name for England, and still the modern name of its eastern region. Anglia and England both mean "Land of the Angles", a Germanic people originating in the north German peninsula of Angeln.

In the United States, Anglo refers to White Americans who are not of Hispanic or French descent.

I too originally assumed Jerome's uasge was in reference to the English speaking world. That would at least make more sense. But a lot of people outside the US and UK are native speakers of English. And a lot of native speakers of English would be confused to find they are effectively "Anglo." Like, say, African-Americans.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:44:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 4)

I believe that the word Anglo is (should be) really a shorthand for the Anglosphere.

This is my first comment here, but I've lurked
for a little while :). My understanding of the Anglo Disease concept is
that it affects primarily the countries which share strong cultural and legal
links with the US at this stage.

If the US is considered the epicentre of the disease (for obvious economic reasons),
then the similar language, similar legal systems and strong political links
favour the spread
of the disease to countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia...

By contrast,
the barrier to entry into other countries is higher precisely due to different
legal, language and political realities, which affect the ability of companies to easily
expand without changing their operating methods, which affect the ability of politicians
to easily copy pieces of legislation from other countries, and which allow individuals to easily
make business connections.

I also think the racial interpretation is really irrelevant, but not actually worth addressing
in the terminology. Metaphorically, the Anglo(sphere) Disease (like many real diseases) is
contagious, and is a strong hazard to anyone who
lives within its economic reach, so it makes sense to label it by its cultural source.

--
$E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$

by martingale on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 11:52:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 3)

Welcome to European Tribune, martingale!

I hope you quit lurking for good!

"Ne te courbe que pour aimer..." René Char

by Melanchthon on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 01:34:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 2)

That's my understanding as well: it's a cultural term.

It addresses the circles of power in the US and the UK, regardless of ethnicity, as seen from non-English speaking countries (France, Germany Spain, Italy but also Russia, India, etc).

For USians, it may indeed have other meanings or even sound completely inadequate. But, well, this is not the first time words have different meanings on both sides of the pond.

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 05:01:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Woot! (4.00 / 4)

Welcome to (posting at) European Tribune!!

The core of evil is a lack of empathy

by Nomad on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 05:23:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 2)

I often hear anglo used as a term for white people in general.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:42:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 0)

I think that is its current standard, slangy meaning in the US, mostly used to differentiate between recent immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, and the "white" majority. I only ever hear it used in the context of race relations IRL. Which is what has lead me down this path. Because this economic issue, which I'm in agreement with Jerome about, isn't really a matter of race. And in America, French heritage is considered "White." So that's when I started looking into what the term "Anglo" is supposed to mean.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:51:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I actually know that (none / 0)

And I also think that this angle works. Not all poor people are black or otherwise non-Anglo, and not all Anglos are outside poverty, but the rising inequality built into the current system certainly hits the non-Anglos a lot more than the Anglos.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:54:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I actually know that (none / 1)

Absolutely. No one's going to argue that fact. But then, I don't know what your point is. Because a few lines up you are saying US and UK are Anglo, but French and German are not. You are making the argument that these countries are distinguished from each other by their economics. Which is fine, but these countries are no longer defined by race. Now you are making the argument that within one country, races are distinguished from each other by their economic welfare. Again, true. But true of most countries too, I think. Dark skinned people generally get the short end of the stick regardless the economic system they live in. So ... what makes this "disease" "Anglo?"

I'm not just arguing for the sake of argument. I really am wanting to understand what you're talking about when YOU say "Anglo." To me it sounds either ethnically distinct, when it isn't actually an ethnic matter, or like some outdated slang to refer to part of the world which you still see as implicitly connected, but whose inhabitants don't necessarily agree with you on that matter.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 01:39:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 0)

From wiki :
An ethnic group is a group of human beings whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry.[1] Ethnic identity is also marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness[2] and by common cultural, linguistic, religious, behavioral or biological traits.[1][3]

French and German ancestry in the US means to be anglo, but while they may share same common genome pool, their culture is pretty different nowadays. And the focus of the anglo disease (propensity to take debt is at least one key point) is kind of a cultural habit.
And while Afro-Americans often claim to have a different subculture than the American mainstream culture, I have never heard, that German, French, English, or Italian ancestry is taken as something giving enough input to form an own subculture (Irish is debatable).

But as I understand anglo-disease it is anyhow a country disease (because influenced largely by regulatory framework, overvaluation of real estate), not a person disease.

by Martin (weiser.mensch(at)googlemail.com) on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 10:11:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 3)

William Buiter calls it the North Atlantic financial crises.

Rien n'est gratuit en ce bas monde. Tout s'expie, le bien comme le mal, se paie tot ou tard. Le bien c'est beaucoup plus cher, forcement. Celine

by UnEstranAvecVueSurMer (holopherne ahem gmail) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:27:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 0)

Well, not all North America is the United States, and in Canada, the term anglo very definitely means what you say it does.

Freiheit ist immer Freiheit der Andersdenkenden

by redstar on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 01:06:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 1)

I don't know how I feel about all the recommends for a comment in which I am called out by name like this.

Is this place turning into DKos?

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 02:59:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'm not calling you out (none / 0)

but responding in a visible way to a point you made on the topic of "Anglo Disease" in other threads (where I did not necessarily respond).

You don't like the label; I defend it while acknowledging some of your points; why do you feel any hostility in this?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 03:19:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 3)

I'd always understood "Anglo" as short for "Anglo-American" as short for "Reaganite-Thatcherite" as short for "Imperialists and all reactionaries are paper tigers"

If they don't like it in dKos, well, tough. They are all Americans, and even left-wing Americans are convinced that their native country is the soul of star-spangled goodness, sometimes led a little astray in its naive benevolence. They can't tolerate criticism of fundamentals, in whatever form. And dKos is not predominantly left wing.

by PIGL on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 05:35:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

oops....at 0530h, I missed typing a key word (none / 1)

For "even left-wing Americans" I meant "even many left-wing Americans"

(ducks)

by PIGL on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 05:40:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 0)

I'm going to add two more things.

The first is, I wonder if Jerôme's critique of "the Anglo disease" is even aimed primarily at UK and USA? I think these two countries are essentially immune to effective criticism of the fundamentals of the political and economic system that has evolved in recent decades (the history is surely much longer than that, and in the USA, relates to a long-noted love for the short con). If I were Jerôme, my aim would be to combat the triumphal and relentless drive of the UK and USA to export their corrupt and destructive model to the rest of the world.

The second is, the Province of Ontario announced earlier this week that they will establish protected areas in their northern boreal regions, in the amount of about one-quarter million square kilometers. This is a much bigger deal for me than the collapse of empires or financial houses of cards.

by PIGL on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 08:42:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 2)

You asked if I were offended by this.

Well, the first part is not so much offensive as it is frustrating. My point was, just because people who define themselves against us use this term as some kind of slang they intuitively understand the meaning of, it does not mean that 1) it is linguistically accurate or 2) intuitively understood or accepted by those you are labelling. I don't even know what "Anglo-American" means. English American? White American? And what does being English, or white have to do with "Imperialists and all reactionaries are paper tigers"? Why not call it the "Reagan Thatcherite disease?" Because it is an economics matter at its core.

You and Jerome both say, if we don't like it tough. It's not the damned theory I don't like. It's the label. It has nothing to with intolerance of criticism. Is being "Anglo" the criticism hurled at us? No. Our system of finance is, and rightly so! I may be a commie, but even the most jingoistic American today will admit, yes, this economy is totally effed up due to some questionable practices. But that is precisely how many people here react when caught in a bit of a muddle. If an American points out your flawed logic, you can dismiss it as American whining and stubbornness. I frankly only care because, like everyone here, I'm betting the world would be a better place if people actually listened to Jerome. And Americans won't listen to him on this topic if he starts off up front by 1) labelling them with bizarre and inaccurate racial lingo from the Middle Ages and 2) saying "tough I don't care if it pisses you off." Because, uhm, that just normally doesn't work when you are trying to get people to see the light, to listen to you, to join your cause. Yes, sometimes you will piss off people for the right reasons. But pissing them off alone is not a signal of success or righteousness. Just ask all the people GWB has pissed off!! I think I will call this inability to accept that I am right and you are wrong "European Disease." Yeah, I know you're Canadian. But whatev. Vast generalizations and outdated historical associations are apparently given free reign on this blog nowadays. Plus, if I'm mad at you, it's my prerogative to call you whatever I want.

Now, that sounds kind of immature, doesn't it? Yes, it does. Because it is. Honestly, no one appreciates J more than I. No one wants people to listen to him more than I. Plus, I am personally indebted to him for any number of things, making me the last person who should go off on him. But we can all love Jerome and help him fight the good fight and retain our freedom to correct him in those very rare instances when he is not entirely correct or not making the best use of an opportunity. It's ok. If no one were willing to criticize him, he'd end up like Stalin, mad with power.

And really, you just can't go around saying things like "They are all Americans, and even left-wing Americans are convinced that their native country is the soul of star-spangled goodness, sometimes led a little astray in its naive benevolence. They can't tolerate criticism of fundamentals, in whatever form." and expect anyone in my country to listen to you. The minute people make generalizations like that about Russia, I smell a fish. Even if they are true. Because it's a lazy thinking borne of frustration. Its propaganda that fills up the holes in its logic with demonization of "them." We all think we're so immune to these things. That's America's Achilles heel - thinking we are immune to the problems that beset other nations, even when we display the same poor judgement. But no one is. If you think just because you are at ET or progressive or well-educated or even just right, you are immune, you are wrong. No one is right about everything. And no one is wrong about everything. This urge to see everything in black and white/ us and them/ good and bad ... it gets on my last nerve.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 06:37:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 2)

I agree with many of your points. However, what I do not understand, why your reaction NOW? Jérôme started using The Anglo Disease' in June 2007, and since then in a series of almost 50 diaries. I think at that point of time your comment would have been very helpful and the term could have been easily changed. But now as even newspapers are starting to use this term it is difficult and to me doesn't make much sense to change an more or less established term, which for many now is associated with the economic problems in the English speaking world.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 02:17:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (none / 1)

P.S. sorry, not all of those almost 50 Diaries were writen by Jérôme.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 02:28:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: To poemless (4.00 / 2)

Sorry, I originally brought it up in an open thread: Because I just now realized why I was turned off by the term. I'm slow.

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 10:39:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (4.00 / 2)

Great Stuff!

So when does the ET Think Tank get Think-Tanking? Will you co-ordinate with other Progressive Tanks, and who are they?

Once again, Great stuff, Jerome.

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 12:20:34 PM EST

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (4.00 / 2)

Mainstream the Onion! It should be picked up by the NYT and the FT. Its the most cogent critique I have seen.

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer@yahoo.com) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 01:53:20 PM EST

Picked up... (4.00 / 4)

The Onion should replace the NYT and the FT! for rational human life to survive.

Right techno?

_Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena._

by metavision on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 02:43:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (none / 0)

You know we are really screwed when there is no discernible difference between satire and "news".

Around Austin the Onion often sells in newsracks by the daily papers. It's headlines ofen are more accurate about our reality than the "news". For Americans, I say plant your garden, store a years worth of dry rations, and exercise your 2nd ammendment rights while you can. All three are probably going to be necessary for survival in the coming months.

by Geonomist on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 02:50:38 PM EST

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (4.00 / 2)

They sell The Onion there? Here it is free. And usually in a pile on the floor next to The Reader, also free and also the best local paper in town.

Also, it's not shocking that The Onion (or any satire, like the Daily Show, etc.) is the best place for news. Satire is refuge for the truth, has been since the days of court jesters, esp. when the truth is unpopular.

However, I do remember when The Onion became "not funny anymore."

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 02:57:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (none / 1)

Oh dear, I had never seen that one before. It makes your blood freeze.

by Deni on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 05:56:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Actually there is a difference (4.00 / 2)

The Onion is a lot closer to reality than the traditional media on the economic situation.

This article is not satire, it's just a fictionalised account of reality.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 03:16:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The sound bite (4.00 / 3)

I understand the need to make it catchy for the concept to spread and not being anglo, the ´anglo disease´ rolls off my back, I guess.

However, after reading about the Martinsa-Fadesa bankruptcy in detail, yesterday, and seeing the tanned and suited Martin in the papers, I came up with a more realistic and depressing name:

"Good Ole Boys Syndrome"

The Martin guy has been reading the fool times and the jurinal, every paper and business lobby has announced the melt-down for over a year and he and his boys´ club have had time to act, but didn´t! At least not in the public interest.

His hair is intact, his suit and his tan, also, and I´d bet he has been securing his money somewhere else all this time. Now he and his tanned golf buddies from the banks, can cry a river for taxpayers´ relief!

Dammed GOB clubs! All of them, from Greenspan on down to the last wannabe. They were incompetent and unqualified for their posts to begin with, they were placed there by cartel pressure, but instead of learning something, they end up being, at best, deer-in-the-headlights at the first sign of trouble.

The GOB club sometimes... includes women, (like Thatcher, or Madrid´s Aguirre, or Rice), but not often and all of them defile descriptions of gender, or humanity by their actions. So, being honestly serious, at least among us, let´s call them by their name.

_Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. --Charu Saxena._

by metavision on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 03:44:13 PM EST

Re: The sound bite (none / 1)

A more accurate diagnosis...

"This is nothing compared to how Putin rigged Eurovision."

by poemless on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 03:54:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The sound bite (4.00 / 2)

Not really. Good ole boys, or good ol' boys is a charged phrase, insinuating rural white, typically racist bastards, and it would be redundant to say that they are KKK members. That they were able to form networks within the military and legal and non-rural businesses only slightly diminishes the rural roots.

I vote for Greedy Anti-Social Bastards Disease, and can live with Anglo. Objecting to Anglo because it derived 100s of years ago from a germanic tribe is like saying that the Irish shouldn't use Celtish since that tribe had its roots in the central EU mainland. On the other hand, us middle-class white folk know exactly what anglo means vis à vis not hispanic, not afro-a, not any minority, can include include brits, but not minority brits, etc. Us with the presumed inherent privileges, I suppose, or the right to gripe about it when others take them away...especially as we are becoming a minority ourselves.

It's a wonder that people wonder why the aristocracy lose their heads in revolutions.

by siegestate (siegestate or beyondwarispeace.com) on Wed Jul 16th, 2008 at 06:56:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (4.00 / 3)

Personally I also think of Anglo = WASP, which is not untrue, but does interject a racial angle into the matter.

Sort of like the expression the "White Man's burden."

I don't have a better or more helpful suggestion, other than the "Wall Street/City Disease" because what we're talking about has nothing to do with race, but is the product of a smallish socio-economic clique.

by Lupin on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 03:29:40 AM EST

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (4.00 / 2)

I've always understood WASP pretty much as Wikipedia defines it:
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term originated in reference to White Americans of Anglo-Saxon descent, who were Protestant in religious affiliation. However, the term does not have a precise definition, and can be used to describe greatly differing groups.^[1] It initially applied to people with histories in the upper class Northeastern establishment, who were alleged to form a powerful elite. Working class whites in the U.S. are generally not referred to as "WASPs", even if they are Protestants of Anglo-Saxon descent.^[2] The word white is redundant, since Anglo-Saxons -- whether in the strict or popular sense of the term -- are always white.

I.e. the acronym is far more a marker of social and economic privilege than a racial/religious reference, no matter what its expansion might be.

So, could someone be WASPy without being Protestant, or while not being white? Maybe the first, but less likely the second. Thus, one can probably say there to be a racial component. However, while it may be necessary, it is hardly sufficient. And I think you would also find, that it is quite a bit more difficult to find WASP-like privilege in non-whites. Its a privilege that derives from many generations of belonging in the favoured socio-economic segment, particularly excluding the nouveau-rich. (How vulgar they are! No refinement from generations of good breeding!)

Equating Anglo with WASP is however a mistake. The best description I have heard is still the comparison to Dutch-disease. There was nothing Dutch about the Dutch-disease. As in, it had nothing to do with the nationality or ethnicity in particular. It was just the Netherlands found itself in the situation where it could contract an over reliance on a particular resource and its extraction, and suffer the consequences.

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Thu Jul 17th, 2008 at 06:25:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (4.00 / 2)

You know you're in trouble where you get the most accurate analysis from The Onion and Comedy Central.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Jul 18th, 2008 at 04:30:44 AM EST

Re: The Onion does the Anglo Disease (none / 1)

"The satirical weekly The Onion describes itself as ' America's finest news source' — and for the last few years that has been the literal truth." – Paul Krugman, in the introduction to The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century.

A book I recommend, by the way. Even though Krugman is a bit more enamoured with the Clinton years than I am and even though he has an IMO somewhat naïve expectation that politics is a game of honest, gentlemanly debate over the topics of interest to the state of the nation...

I recently re-read it, and started putting little red stickers on every passage that seemed more interesting than when it was written, in light of the subprime meltdown: Offhand mention that there might be a housing bubble forming (there's even an explicit - and more or less approving(!) - reference to Greenspan trying to make one "to replace" the dotcom bubble!) and that sort of things. I ran out of little red stickers before I finished the book...

- Jake

Your representatives may not listen to you. But they do read your e-mail.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sun Jul 20th, 2008 at 02:36:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The Onion does the Anglo Disease | 48 comments (48 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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