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Last update - 12:31 28/09/2008 A very sick empire By Haaretz Editorial Tags: israel news It is said that in 1929, when the stock exchange on Wall Street collapsed, hundreds of speculators jumped to their deaths through the windows of the Manhattan skyscrapers in which they worked. In reality, only a few suicides actually occurred. The real blow was felt three years after the stock exchange fell, when a large-scale crisis in the banking sector plunged the U.S. economy into an economic depression that nearly lasted until the end of the decade. In 1932, the number of suicides in the U.S. reached a record high. Nobody is committing suicide now on Wall Street. Those who are not economists are treating the chaos in Congress and the collapse of the financial institutions as just another event. The absurdity is that in 1929, a minority within a minority of U.S. citizens invested in the stock exchange. In 2008, almost every American worker is invested either directly or indirectly, and is thus affected by the ringing collapse of the banks, insurance houses and investment firms. Thus it is difficult to understand the indifference in which this past month's economic developments have been received. After three days of tense negotiations, the U.S. Congress this past weekend blocked an emergency bailout plan proposed by the treasury. In fact, it was the Republicans who opposed the series of measures approved by President George W. Bush. Meanwhile, another banking giant collapsed - Washington Mutual. The repercussions of these developments are immediate and painful also for Israel. Losses in the stocks and bonds market hurt investors as well as anyone putting aside money for retirement. The forecast for the intermediate term is no less threatening: higher unemployment, less growth, a drop in the standard of living, a decline in the real estate market. The situation here is as it is there. Advertisement The United States, the largest political, economic and military superpower since the Roman Empire, is undergoing an existential crisis. In economic terms, the scope of the crisis is the largest since Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered the White House. In ideological terms, it is the largest since the Civil War. The house of cards that rests on the pillars of financial witchcraft - lies based on the assumption that what goes up will continue to go up, and that one may extend loans on an unlimited basis and not have to pay them back by the end of the month - came crashing down before our very eyes over the course of the past year. The layer that is now collapsing with the nationalization of mortgage and insurance companies together with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, is the one which serves as the foundation of the financial system in the U.S. and its capitalist ideology. Capitalism is not dead, yet the way it was practiced in America this past decade is fading away. The emergency unit treatment that the U.S. government is now proposing is highly problematic. The rescue plan being championed by the treasury secretary includes the same troublesome measures of the kind that gave birth to the crisis, yet it appears that there are not that many options available. America is on the path to decline, together with those who shared in the fraudulent belief in free credit. How ironic it is that the president during whose term the credit bubble burst and the crisis hit, is the son of the president who promised a new world order. That promise is being realized, yet in a manner not intended by Bush senior. In November, a new American president will be elected. The challenge awaiting him is monumental - to heal the empire, whose arteries are becoming clogged having just undergone a heart attack. The time has come for America to rediscover the best it has to offer - the creativity, the industriousness, the freedom and the strength for innovation that made it a role model for the rest of the world. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Asleep at the wheel Sharon told 1973 probe that IDF top brass was clueless in Yom Kippur War. Laughing at Hitler Clips parodying film The Downfall make their way onto the Web.   1.   Everything Will Be Okay... 09:59  |  Yosemite 28/09/08   2.   Outlaw GREED! How? That`s your business. But the only solution. 10:02  |  S 28/09/08   3.   Time for the United States to build up a REAL democracy.... 10:11  |  Swiss (Dino) 28/09/08   4.   A full recovery is impossible but so what 10:31  |  Afikoman 28/09/08   5.   You could have said the same in 1930 11:12  |  ScotGuy 28/09/08   6.   The USA survived the Savings & Loan fiasco fine. 11:39  |  PETER SM 28/09/08   7.   For Afrikoman, on the coming dollar collapse # 4 11:41  |  Clickfool 28/09/08   8.   Bush 1st socialist president in USA 12:31  |  leon 28/09/08   9.   SWISS The US citizens can vote for whom they please. 13:27  |  PETER SM 28/09/08   10.   While the American tax payer groans, there will be golden 13:45  |  lakshmi 28/09/08   11.   Clickfool one minor detail, for why the US will remain number one 14:34  |  Emir 28/09/08   12.   clickfool sterling is far sicker 14:42  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   13.   clickfool "the vast increase in the american national debt" 14:44  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   14.   clickfool "only the eurozone is big enough to absorb" 14:48  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   15.   swiss dino america had no racist government 14:53  |  swisswatch 28/09/08   16.   swiss dino "it is troubling when parties call each other 14:55  |  swisswatch 28/09/08   17.   It`s a realignment of powers. India, China, Russia 15:20  |  Robert 28/09/08   18.   #5 ScotGuy-You could NOT have said the same in 1930 15:32  |  John Syracuse 28/09/08   19.   This Was NOT Capitalism 15:50  |  MIKE 28/09/08   20.   PETER SM -#6 wrong 15:53  |  John Syracuse 28/09/08   21.   #3 Swiss (Dino) 16:04  |  Jim 28/09/08   22.   For Brighton Rock, with his usual comprehension problem # 9 16:21  |  Clickfool 28/09/08   23.   The United States of America.... 16:57  |  David Nigel Braham 28/09/08   24.   #3 Swiss...actually it`s time to stop 17:04  |  Lynn 28/09/08   25.   USA survival 17:07  |  Howard 28/09/08   26.   #9 brighton rock 17:15  |  Jim 28/09/08   27.   Seems quite obvious 17:23  |  Danite 28/09/08   28.   #10 swisswatch 17:26  |  Jim 28/09/08   29.   Swiss - You Are Riding on the US Economy Like Everyone Else 17:29  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 28/09/08   30.   Clickfool revels in the fall of the mighty... 17:35  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 28/09/08   31.   Not so fast Mr. Burston 18:45  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   32.   Coping with Reality 18:49  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   33.   #24: If Reagan Deregulation is at Fault, Clinton Sure Benefited 19:04  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 28/09/08   34.   #26 Mark Lincoln 19:09  |  Laugh Riot 28/09/08   35.   #3, Swiss Dino, I strongly agree 19:30  |  newageblues 28/09/08   36.   Some of the roots of American prosperity are strong 19:46  |  newageblues 28/09/08   37.   For Emir #11 20:10  |  Clickfool 28/09/08   38.   Barack Obama-Joe Biden 2008 20:12  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 28/09/08   39.   Another man with comprehension problems # 30 20:14  |  Clickfool 28/09/08   40.   Bailout 20:20  |  mike 28/09/08   41.   America a very sick empire 20:28  |  n_erber 28/09/08   42.   For Mark Lincoln # 32 21:02  |  Clickfool 28/09/08   43.   Tomorrow`s stock markets 21:09  |  Clickfool 28/09/08   44.   USA banana republic is kaput........ 21:29  |  Daniel 28/09/08   45.   Without question this is one of your very best efitorials. 21:38  |  Sarah 28/09/08   46.   clickfool if the american national debt 21:39  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   47.   clickfool "only the eurozone is big enough 21:45  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   48.   Peter SM 21:48  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   49.   Not quite obvious Danite 21:51  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   50.   clickfool "usa funny money" 21:51  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   51.   clickfool i would not wish you to mislead the site 21:54  |  brighton rock 28/09/08   52.   #7 Clickfool 21:54  |  Yonatan 28/09/08   53.   Laugh Riot 21:56  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   54.   Ovadiah ben Avraham 21:59  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   55.   john syracruse is from arabia 22:02  |  abendego 28/09/08   56.   Pure twaddle 22:02  |  Mark Lincoln 28/09/08   57.   john syracruse habibi it is certainly true that the 22:05  |  abendego 28/09/08   58.   It`s amazing 22:07  |  Yonatan 28/09/08   59.   john syracruse habibi 22:09  |  abendego 28/09/08   60.   john syracruse ya habibi 22:19  |  abendego 28/09/08   61.   #44 Daniel, Obama is no different it seems 22:21  |  Mark B. 28/09/08   62.   john syracruse your problems with america 22:21  |  abendego 28/09/08   63.   Thoughts for Clickfool 22:22  |  Morris Valentine 28/09/08   64.   John Syracuse The USA has the capacity to reinvent itself 22:23  |  PETER SM 28/09/08   65.