There are a couple of things worrying me pretty intensely about this state of the U.S. economy address from the Fed. Firstly, there seems to still be an unreasonable hope that our economy, which we all remember was propped up by speculative, fake wealth, is going to “make a full recovery.” Does that phrase mean… what? A full recovery to the amount of wealth we enjoyed in about 2007? The amount of growth? It’s not well defined.
Pair that with this recent verdict from a judge presiding over the Madoff case, who was deciding the fate of plaintiffs who wanted Madoff’s fund to pay them every bit of the wealth they believed they’d accrued. The judge essentially told them, “the wealth was never real, so you don’t get a payout.” in light of the Fed’s address, that’s chilling. What if someone decided to tell the U.S. Banking system that they weren’t entitled to the amount of mortgage influx they’re holding over the country’s head because the value of those homes was never real? That’s frightening to think about. Does the Madoff decision make the Fed’s assertion of a full recovery nothing more than hot air?
Add to that The Slavery Footprint, which just launched, and tracks the amount of human pain the viewer’s personal lifestyle created in the form of a job they were forced to do, and couldn’t walk away from. The fact that these people were never paid for their labor, or were paid minimal amounts, means this wealth was even more false, because a person wasn’t accounted for in its creation.
My personal score is apparently 86. Great. What’s yours?
(The Slavery Footprint, by the way, is gorgeously designed and animated in HTM5 and CSS3, using piles of CSS animations.)
ed: the site’s currently overwhelmed with traffic. might try later.