I have been nauseated by mainstream media's orgy of coverage regarding this latest elite sex scandal. I knew that they were hiding the real story behind their salacious focus on the sex details. I've been waiting for someone to come through with a sensible analysis of this incident--that involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn, one of capitalism's most powerful figures. This author from my own State of Washington has provided it.
Of course, I don't for one micro-second condone such behavior, nor do most people. But human beings are complex creatures. We are all made up of good and bad characteristics. Bad behavior is quickly discouraged, even punished, by one's peers among ordinary people. But where you have vastly unequal power relations among people, those with less power must often suffer the "slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune"--chief among these "outrageous misfortunes" is living in a class structured society.
Therefore, the arrest and public humiliation of this powerful capitalist did not make any sense to me. This does not happen in the real world unless powerful people stray from the party line of the ruling class. Ruling class people have always screwed working people with impunity throughout history both literally and figuratively, as they continue to do today, probably more than ever.
The IMF chief certainly has enemies in high places who will be cheering his predicament. He had recently broke-free from the "party line" and was changing the direction of the IMF. His road to Damascus conversion was championed by progressive economist Joesph Stiglitz in a recent article titled "The IMF's Switch in Time".
