Fwd: Forgotten Victims of 9-11

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. >>

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