In a nation dominated by the commercial impulse, the anointment of the "king" is very different than the traditional anointment of the royal head of state. There is no travelling, at sometimes enormous loss of life, to the site of the anointment. (The most important work of Joan of Arc having been compelled by the imperative of clearing the English from the road to Rheims, at which Charles VII had to be crowned). There is no need for the high priest to actually place the holy oil on the king's head in the presence of the leaders of society and of the military. At the same time, modern anointments in commercial societies lack the permanence and holiness which are part and parcel of the historical anointment of kings. The role of anointment has shifted to the mass media these days. The media actually performs a role very similar to that of the high priest of old: it FORMALIZES, LEGITIMATES, AND PUBLICIZES the decision of the major power brokers as to who shall be enthroned -- or, to put it more baldly, which figurehead or actual leader is most likely to advance their interests and protect them from their enemies. Simultaneously, there is no holy oil, no religious ceremony, no assured permanency to the anointment. What the media giveth, it can taketh away, just as the real power behind the media, the great power brokers, giveth and taketh. Against the backdrop of this fickle and somewhat unstable society of ours, TIME Magazine serves the function of high priest. And, in accordance with this role, it has anointed BENJAMIN BERNANKE as king. ("Person of the Year.") This anointment is in recognition of Bernanke's immense power, as well as the will of the powers that be that he continue to spearhead the monetary and market policies they favor. The governing elite, traditionally the bastion of sound money and fiscal prudence has altered drastically its traditional stance -- for at least the time being. This reflects 2 primary realities, in our view: --these folk have increased their wealth vastly via the leveraging of debt and the speculation in various markets, instruments, and assets, and now, with the bubble bursts and the crushing pressure on debtors it is DEFLATION which threatens their money, their power, their self-interest. --the parlous condition of the unprecedently indebted public, and the political and social imperative of reducing the debt-generated pressure on mortgagees, consumers, municipalities and states, and other institutional and financial bulwarks of the existing system. The alternative to not reducing this pressure substantially is the radicalization of the masses and the danger of a true social and political revolution. Ergo, Bernanke's coronation. We would, a bit churlishly perhaps, point out that these anointments are both evanescent and of little significance themselves, except possibly as an important contrary indicator. In this spirit we would call to mind the media's slavish worship of "the greatest central banker who ever lived," as Alan Greenspan was reverently termed. It turns out that this idol has now been thrown to the ground and trampled mercilessly by those who but a short time ago hailed him as the Living God. Moneysage 2009 - copyright |
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