George Packer comments in the New Yorker on the creative theories of the far right wing bloggers during this election cycle, and how they quickly move from supposition to obvious truth.

Wading for a few minutes through the sewage of these Web sites reminds me uncannily of the time I’ve spent having political discussions in certain living rooms and coffee shops in Baghdad. The mental atmosphere is exactly the same—the wild fantasies presented as obvious truth, the patterns seen by those few with the courage and wisdom to see, the amused pity for anyone weak-minded enough to be skeptical, the logic that turns counter-evidence into evidence and every random piece of information into a worldwide conspiracy. Above all, the seething resentment, the mix of arrogance and impotent rage that burns at the heart of the paranoid style in politics. ….The problem isn’t lack of education—it’s that of a self-isolating political subculture gone rancid.

Apropos of the previous post regarding Mr. Soros’ reflexivity theory, Andrew Sullivan quotes Alan Greenspan testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, October 23, 2008.

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms. I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.”

Author: George Soros
Publisher: PublicAffairs (May 5, 2008)
ISBN: 1586486837 available at amazon.com

The current financial crisis in the United States is different than previous crisis of the 80’s and 90’s. Financial authorities and market participants cannot recognize the far reaching consequences because they have fundamental misconceptions about the way that markets function.

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