The screwed up State we're in

The State of the Nation, I’m afraid, can be summed up in one word - screwed.

We can flesh things out a bit, but that’s the nub of it. Every strategic step taken over the past decade has ensured that the screwing would be comprehensive.

The crisis isn’t about fiscal problems, the public service or German ambitions - it’s about the mountain of debt created over the past couple of decades in a series of Ponzi schemes run by a completely insane financial sector, applauded by the politicians and the media.

Since 2008, the Great War Against Ourselves - in which the politicians have savagely cut income and services - has drained an already weak economy.

Why did they do that? Because that’s always been the solution to minor recessions - shift the burden to the most vulnerable, allow the wealthy to recover and grow. They applied the same measures to this problem. And when that made things worse they decided that was because the austerity hadn’t been deep enough.

Besides, they can’t think of anything else to do. They and their business sidekicks and academic advisers are very well educated but surprisingly limited in their thinking.

At this point in any assessment of the state of the nation, it’s customary to point out The Way Forward. Unfortunately, the idiots who got us into this mess are still in charge, and the opposition is small and unfocussed. The placidity of the majority may change as the crisis continues, as sacrifice is squandered, hope falters and claims about turning corners become ever more ridiculous.

The majority may at some point employ their anger productively. Or it could go the other way. {jathumbnailoff}