In today’s online version of the paper, WSJ writer Jon Hilsenrath blames you for the poor “recovery.” Here’s a brief excerpt of the story headlined “A Letter to Stingy American Consumers,” edited only for brevity:
Dear American Consumer,
This is The Wall Street Journal. We’re writing to ask if something is bothering you. The sun shined in April and you didn’t spend much money… You have been saving more too. You socked away 5.6% of your income in April after taxes, even more than in March. This saving is not like you. What’s up?
We know you experienced a terrible shock when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008 and your employer responded by firing you. We know stock prices collapsed and that was shocking too. We also know you shouldn’t have taken out that large second mortgage during the housing boom to fix up your kitchen with granite countertops. You’ve been working very hard to pay off this debt and we admire your fortitude. But these shocks seem like a long time ago to us in a newsroom. Is that still what’s holding you back?
Do you know the American economy is counting on you? We can’t count on the rest of the world to spend money on our stuff. The rest of the world is in an even worse mood than you are. You should feel lucky you’re not a Greek consumer.
The Federal Reserve is counting on you too. Fed officials want to start raising the cost of your borrowing because they worry they’ve been giving you a free ride for too long with zero interest rates. We listen to Fed officials all of the time here at The Wall Street Journal, and they just can’t figure you out.
Damn. That is some heavy handed moralizing bullshit, no? This is amusing on a number of levels.
First, Jon Hilsenrath is the Federal Reserve’s mouthpiece at the WSJ. They feed him information to telegraph to the market in advance of an official announcement. They call this journalism in the 21st century. So unofficially, what he says is a reflection of establishment opinion. And guess what? They have utter contempt for you. The headline (probably chosen by editors) literally calls you ‘stingy.’ The savings rate of 5.6 percent is substantially lower than it was in the 1970s, when saving peaked at nearly 12 percent.
They even have the cojones to say the Federal Reserve has given you free ride up until now by letting you go into debt without interest. Their view is you should be spending money, even if you don’t have it, because they know how well you’re doing better than you. This arrogance is really what government control of the economy has always been about, but rarely is it laid so bare.
Second, there is an unstated presumption that economic growth is the only way to fill that empty space in their heads roughly shaped like a soul. They can imagine nothing beyond endless harvesting of the natural world. All wealth, without exception, comes from this process. Therefore, the belief in growth as the only means to validation is really an ideology of mass destruction, on par with any sci-fi villain you can imagine.
The comments section is a must read. Though there are a few idiots who talk up the Obama administration’s healthcare reform and other moronic statements, most people seem to see this for what it is: the Fed sees itself as our owners and is basically yelling “bad dog” at us. Here’s a few of our favorites:
The prospect of public executions was a common theme. From PissedOffAmerican:
Greetings, Clueless Wall Street Apparatchik.
Apologies for not spending more. Truly, I am very sorry that I didn’t start this project earlier.
I am currently saving to buy some lumber for a scaffold, then will need to spend some more $$ for a steelworker to fabricate the blade. Once my resulting Guillotine is functional, I will be sure to bring it to Wall Street for some testing.
Care to volunteer?
Guy wrote:
I have lost faith in the system The crooks were reward with trillions in print money for breaking the financial system. The people responsible for justice were rewarded with 8 figure jobs from the crooks running the banks. The same crooks are still running the same crooked mega banks. I didn’t receive a dime from the printed trillions! Savers have been STOLEN from for 7 years. I don’t happen to be a IPO ZERO revenue company sitting on a billion in stock. PEOPLE KNOW THE FED HAS BEEN BOUGHT! Please explain the punishment meted to those that broke the financial system! We have a CRONY ECONOMY… People know it is another BUBBLE.
But none put it more succinctly than Charles:
Dear John EFF OFF AND DIE
