"The Left, with Marx its original prophet, has always warned
that, as a system, capitalism strives to turn us into automata and
our market society into a Matrix-like dystopia. But the closer it
comes to achieving its aim, the nearer it gets to its moment of
ruin, very much like the mythical Icarus."

Not exactly known as a hotbed of mad dog leftist sentiment, the German newsweekly Der Spiegel recently published a long piece on the failed arrogance of the Bush years, the loss of American prestige around the world, the economic miscalculations and missteps since Reagan, the hubristic greed of Wall Street. All this and more in a five part article that includes:

* Part 1: America Loses Its Dominant Economic Role
* Part 2: Bush's Failed Leadership
* Part 3: Wall Street's Central Values: Avarice and Greed
* Part 4: Irrational Exuberance
* Part 5: 'One Can See that We Are on a more Solid Base'

Blunt and scathing, it provides a fascinating overview, a centrist European critique of the current global economic crisis, its antecedents and its likely unfolding, distinctly placing blame on the Bush II regime. Too long to re-blog, I link to it here.

On the cover, "The Price of Arrogance", with the Statue of Liberty holding aloft a smoldering torch.