Why the world hates America
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The big news this week is that in the US the Democrats have retaken the House. After 12 years of going straight, the Dems in the House are about to take up their sordid old trade – cracking safes and cracking heads. The business of Congress is simple: breaking budgets and breaching the dignity of civilised society. Now, at least in the House – the outcome in the Senate is still in doubt as I write – the Democrats get to lead the gang. Why? What have the Republicans done wrong? The vote was a vote against the war, say the news reports. The war has cost as many as a million dead and as much as $2trn in expense, to say nothing of the damage to America’s military power and her position in the world.
We recall when the news of September 11th spread around the globe. In our office in Paris, French friends and colleagues came up and told us how sorry they were… and how they supported us. “We all feel like Americans now,” they said. In Britain, the Queen ordered the band to play the Star Spangled Banner. Guardsmen at Buckingham Palace wept upon hearing the news. Even Yasser Arafat gave blood. The whole world stood with us then.
And now? “In my lifetime, I have never experienced around the world and in Britain such loathing and contempt for America,” writes Gavin Esler in the Daily Mail. “At a local school in London, I gave a talk recently on world affairs… When I mentioned that I was concerned about a possible war with Iran over the Iranian nuclear program, more than half the pupils said they were more likely to believe the Iranians than the Americans. Can you believe it’s really come to this?” Esler goes on to reflect on what a great job the Bush administration has done of greasing the ‘Axis of Evil’ so it can roll on to wherever it is going. North Korea has managed to get a nuclear bomb, under the US’s watchful gaze, while America has actually helped Iran achieve all of its most important foreign policy objectives. Bush removed Iran’s biggest rival in the region, Saddam Hussein, and neutralised its biggest enemy, Iraq. In destabilising Iraq, the US also helped to extend the Shia revolution and expand Islamic funda¬mentalism. Mission Accomplished!
But now US voters are fidgeting. Fifty three per cent say the war in Iraq isn’t worth fighting. And fifty five per cent tell pollsters their wages aren’t keeping up with inflation. It is this last item that catches our eye; the typical American probably doesn’t care much about the war, but he does care about struggling to stay even. Meanwhile, at the other end of the wealth curve, this news from the art market: David Geffen, of Hollywood fame and fortune, bought a Jackson Pollock painting for $140m. This follows the near-purchase of a Picasso by hedge-fund manager Steve Jacobs for $139m. Everyone falls for something. While the cheap suits go for the latest fads in mortgage lending – ‘Neg Ams’ and ‘IOs’ – the expensive suits plump for Picassos and Pollocks.
But the difference is that the rich have real money. “Big bonuses seen again for Wall Street,” says The New York Times. “Never in the history of Wall Street have so many earned so much in so little time,” adds Bloomberg. “Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc and Bear Stearns Cos are about to reward their employees with $36bn of bonuses. That’s a 30% increase from last year’s record. “The average windfall at the five largest US securities firms will be enough to buy a $165,000 Bentley Continental GT.” From London comes similar news: “Expectations have been bolstered by a study predicting that the average bonus would rise 18.2% this year,” says The Business, “and that 4,200 City employees would receive a bonus worth at least $1.9m”. So choice London properties are soaring. The best restaurants are full. And the rich are congratulating each other on what geniuses they are.
But elections aren’t decided by geniuses. They’re decided by the masses. It’s the average man who decides them. And the average American is by definition poorer and more ignorant than at least 150 million of his countrymen. His mortgage is being reset. His house has stopped rising in price. He owes more than ever. He has less disposable income than he had 30 years ago. If he doesn’t get a break soon, he’s going to go sour. And now come the election results. The Republicans are being punished for something. Was it the war that ruined them, or the ruin they’ve brought to America’s average householders? We don’t know. Either way, getting voted out of office – with a million dollar pension – doesn’t seem a just reward. A firing squad would be getting off easy.
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