In a message dated 9/4/02 6:00:00 AM, article@mises.org writes:
<< http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1039
Forgotten Victims of 9-11
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
[Posted September 4, 2002)
In all discussion of 9-11, one year later, much attention is given to the
firefighters, police, and emergency workers whose services, as employees of
the public sector, were called on that day. You may hear about the innocents
who died on the airplanes that were hijacked and used as missiles. The
people you won't hear about are those who were specifically targeted and
murdered.
They were, after all, working for the private sector. They were traders and
merchants, people working in the field of economic enterprise. In an ironic
tribute to their value, these people were targeted because the terrorists
hoped to cripple the US economy. It would appear that the terrorists
understood something that even our own elites do not understand.
If you find that observation shocking, consider the current campaign against
business. Though a Republican administration, the Bush administration has
followed the FDR model in subtly and not-so-subtly blaming the private
sector, specifically those in finance and accounting associated with large
enterprises, for the current recession and the gutting of pensions that
resulted from falling stock prices.
These people have been scapegoated for the downturn in the business cycle,
just as the terrorists scapegoated the New York financial sector for what
they see as the belligerence of US foreign policy. Not understanding the
resilience of American enterprise, the terrorists hoped to put a big dent in
American prosperity.
US government elites, however, have for a year attacked the same class of
people while overestimating the extent to which financial markets can be
hamstrung, hindered, and harassed without consequence.
True, the campaign has so far been limited to those individuals and
institutions that can readily be accused of "fraud" even though most of the
issues under consideration are complicated matters of accounting principles
that no jury is competent to adjudicate. Make no mistake, however, the
merchant class as a class is under fire, just as it has been throughout
history during periods of economic downturn.
Congress, of all institutions, has hauled business executives in front of
them to accuse them without trial, asking questions so asinine that they
can't possibly be answered with a straight face. Greenspan himself has
blamed the "infectious greed" of the business class for the downturn in the
markets.
Most outrageously, Bush has drawn an analogy between the 9-11 terrorists and
the American business class! That was the subtext of his remark that "In the
aftermath of September 11, we refused to allow fear to undermine our economy
and we will not allow fraud to undermine it either." Thus did he promise "No
more easy money for corporate criminals. Just hard time…. This law says to
every dishonest corporate leader, you'll be exposed and punished. The era of
low standards and false profits is over."
But look at the names of the businesses that suffer destruction and death in
the 9-11 attacks. They were Deutsche Bank, Fiduciary Trust, Kemper
Insurance, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Cantor Fitzgerald,
Oppenheimerfunds, Credit Suisse First Boston, and others involved in
banking, finance, insurance, accounting, management, and the craft of
trading generally.
These are the companies that invest our savings, provide insurance, trade
currencies, and coordinate prices across borders and markets. They are not
perfect. They are not all-knowing. And during this bear market, many of them
have lost money. But it is they who take the risk to find entrepreneurial
opportunities in markets of all sorts. Even today, as in ancient times,
their craft is wrongly considered ignoble and perhaps even inherently
dishonest. And yet, they are the people who work daily to sustain prosperity
and improve the lot of mankind.
After they were so cruelly attacked on 9-11, the federal government stepped
in to make two great promises, both of which turned out to be lies. First,
the feds assured us that they would bring to justice those who brought those
attacks about. They have not done that. They have violated liberties and
stepped up leviathan, but Osama and his co-conspirators remain at large, and
one wonders whether the government prefers it this way in order to keep us
all constantly afraid.
The second great promise the government made was that it would protect us
and American prosperity from further attacks. And true to form, the same
people have spent the last year attacking business, casting aspirations on
traders and those in the financial industry, rounding up executives, and
deliberately obscuring the difference between boom-market accounting and
outright fraud.
Let us not forget that all this began with a multiple hijacking. And what
has the government done to prevent that in the future? It has vastly
increased the inconveniences for average travelers, which has in turn
bankrupted several airline companies (also private enterprises). These
companies are still not allowed to arm their pilots to protect their
planes—an entire year later! Meanwhile, the US is engaged in a foreign
policy that might as well be designed to incite further attacks.
What lessons have we learned since 9-11? As usual, nothing. What should we
have learned? First, that enterprise has its enemies and these enemies have
no hesitation about using violence to achieve their ends, whether that
violence comes from terrorism, the Justice Department, or the sidearm of the
officially empowered regulator. Second, we should have learned that we
cannot trust the government to give us justice or provide us security.
During this anniversary, you will hear many tributes and much discussion of
the meaning of it all. Keep track, if you can, of all the times when you
hear mention of the occupations of those who died in the World Trade Center,
the vocations to which they dedicated their lives. I wonder whether you will
find any examples at all.
And yet it remains true that those who understand the contribution of
enterprise to civilization must mourn the lost lives of those who worked in
the World Trade Center. We grieve for their lost vocations as well, and we
owe it to them to appreciate anew their contribution to society.
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Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., is president of the Mises Institute and editor
of the highest trafficked libertarian news and commentary site,
Lewrockwell.com. See also his Tribute to Trade, a classic the day after the
original attacks. See also his archive and send mail to rockwell@mises.org. >>
Thursday, September 5, 2002
Fwd: Forgotten Victims of 9-11
Posted in medicine by John Wiley Spiers
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