I was watching an episode of “The View” around the time of the 9/11 anniversary, and during the exchange of reminiscences about that day, Barbara Walters mentioned that at least in the intervening years “we were never attacked by terrorists again, so you have to give George W. Bush credit for that.”
There was a smattering of applause at that remark, but the smug self-congratulatory note felt kind of flat. The truth is that even before the period of grieving lifted, it was America that began exporting the horrors of that day to people across the globe: to Afghanistan and thence to Iraq, and even to our shores, through an increased American military presence in Mindanao on the pretext of chasing after terrorists.
But the “victory” over al-Qaeda that is keeping the United States safe from foreign terrorist attacks has also proven essentially meaningless and worthless. For as recent events have shown, the greatest danger to America, and to the American way of life, comes not from bearded terrorists wearing turbans but from American bankers and financiers in bespoke suits and shiny shoes and armed with nothing more dangerous than briefcases stuffed with bonds and promissory notes.
The collapse of two of the oldest, biggest US financial companies—Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch—as well as the bailout by the US government (at a huge cost to US taxpayers) of insurance giant AIG poses an even greater threat to the security of the US and the future of millions of Americans than even the destruction of the World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon. While a tragedy of incomprehensible proportions, 9/11 is now largely an occasion for national mourning and an annual gathering around a huge hole in the ground in lower Manhattan. The effects of the meltdown on Wall Street, the huge rescue package being pushed by the Bush White House, as well as the financial crises that preceded these, particularly the collapse of the subprime market, will certainly be felt far longer, and its impact will be felt by more people the world over.
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Already, local banks, particularly those with investments in the three troubled institutions, are scrambling to assure depositors that they will be able to weather the storm. But people who rely on banks, investment houses and insurance companies to enhance and protect their savings—retirees, veterans, employees counting on their pensions—and local companies seeking to maximize their capital are trembling in fear of unforeseen consequences.
As in 1997, when news of the Asian currency crisis seemed at first a distant wave of bad news from our neighbors before it grew into tsunami proportions and flooded our shores, we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop, expecting more bad news to come, and just hoping that the news will not be as bad as we fear.
The truly amazing thing about what appears to be a real death-blow to America the Superpower is that it was dealt by some of the seemingly most respectable members of American society. And they were abetted by government regulators who chose to look the other way, in keeping with the spirit of the Bush administration’s benevolence toward the wealthy, reckless and greedy.
As a commentator for Bloomberg observed, “The real kick in the teeth is that the executives who inflicted all this financial pain, who forced unprecedented government takeovers, will walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s up to us—innocent little us—to dig into our pockets, into our futures and into our children’s futures to fix their spectacular errors.”
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From toxic money, let’s go to toxic milk. The tainted powder milk scandal that has killed at least four infants in China and caused thousands more to fall ill has sent ripples through its neighbors. Hong Kong and Macau have ordered milk products from China to be taken off supermarket shelves, and Singapore and Japan have likewise recalled Chinese-made dairy products. Malaysia and Brunei have also imposed a ban on milk imports from China, even if for the moment neither imports milk from that country.
Our own Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) has said it would send staff to Divisoria and other wholesale milk outlets to check whether the milk, tainted with the chemical melamine which affects the kidneys, has been dumped into the country. No Chinese milk brands have been approved for sale here, a BFAD official said, but they are worried about smuggled milk making its way to local consumers.
Given the rampant smuggling of everything, from rubber sandals to Christmas lights, fake drugs and candies from China, the possibility of the toxic milk making its way here is not far-fetched. Regulators play a crucial role here, and not just in licensing or issuing trade permits, but in confiscating and testing all milk products for the presence of melamine and other dangerous ingredients.
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Most heartbreaking were interviews with concerned Chinese parents, many of them with their sick babies in their arms, testifying that they bought the two popular infant formula brands, among the most expensive in China, precisely because they “wanted the best for our child.” What pain it must cause them to realize that it was precisely their dreams for their child that had put them at risk.
That’s the reasoning, too, of Filipino parents who, despite their poverty, shell out precious money for infant formula, thinking that it is the “better” alternative to breast milk. I’m glad that Health Secretary Francisco Duque stressed that breast milk is much better for babies than milk in cans or bottles. No danger of melamine contamination, at least.
