Sitting on the steps of occupied St
Paul's Cathedral. There's a funky brass band playing. Tents
everywhere. Posters from anarchists, communists, loons of various
descriptions. A couple of people in those masks from V. (Terrible,
self-indulgent film.) There's one or two TV cameras, and a lot of
tourists like me milling around.
The mood is unfocused and idealistic.
The closest thing to a set of demands is posted up on the corner of
the information tent. No to cuts, we won't pay for your crisis, the
system is unjust and must be replaced. A lot of references to
19th-century protest. A strong non-violent vibe. Apparently all
decisions are taken by a General Assembly. (By consensus, if you hadn't guessed.)
 |
| My favourite poster |
Yesterday I bought The Big Short.
It's a great story. If you spend a lot of time reading theorists'
explanations of what caused the Global Financial Crisis – the GFC,
as the jargon of my economic policy class would put it – it's good
to compare them with a journalist's description of what actually
happened. The Big Short focuses on the “heroes” of the GFC, if
they deserve that name: the people who figured out early that the
boom in house prices was unsustainable. They took large bets on this.
Normally, in a market, if somebody bets against something, its price
goes down. One of the puzzles in the book is that this doesn't
happen. There seem to be two markets: one in which a small but
growing number of smart people figure out that many US mortgage loans
will not come good, and another official market in which these loans
are expected, right until the end, to pay out. So, where did the
buyers for the second market come from? The book never answers this
very clearly except to say “idiots in Germany”.
A tent where you can meditate or pray.
A notice up asking people not to drink on site, as requested by the
London Fire Brigade. Inevitably, a sign offering FREE HUGS.
I'm sympathetic with these people's anger, and it's nice to see somebody in London doing something other than shopping. I think they need some
coherent analysis. I'll leave them The Big Short for a start.
