This honest blogger, who has had a long career in the financial services industry, is very well connected to the elite of US society. She reports on recent conversations she's had with others who also are well connected that may illustrate how the ruling elite view the current economic collapse. Smith provides us with the rare privilege of sort of eavesdropping on a few of their conversations.
Normally, I don’t report on anecdotes from my immediate circle, but a set of conversations in less than a 24 hour period suggests that even those comparatively unaffected by the crisis are bracing themselves for the possibility of sudden, large-scale, adverse changes. And that sort of gnawing worry seems to be growing in New York despite being buoyed by TARP funds and covert bank subsidies.What I find so interesting is that people close to the ruling class look on the future as portending ominous events while mainstream media pour reassuring messages to working people that this is just another economic cycle and things will be fine (we are winning our wars, the Gulf is being cleaned up, no climate change that can be proved, etc.) if we just tighten our belts a bit.
