Writes: Christopher Hitchens

What are the main principles of a banana republic?

A very salient one might be that it has a paper currency which is an international laughingstock: a definition that would immediately qualify today’s United States of America.

We may snicker at the thriller from Wasilla, who got her first passport only last year, yet millions of once well-traveled Americans are now forced to ask if they can afford even the simplest overseas trip when their folding money is apparently issued by the Boardwalk press of Atlantic City.

But still, the chief principle of banana-ism is that of kleptocracy, whereby those in positions of influence use their time in office to maximize their own gains, always ensuring that any shortfall is made up by those unfortunates whose daily life involves earning money rather than making it.

At all costs, therefore, the one principle that must not operate is the principle of accountability. In fact, if possible, even the similar-sounding term (deriving from the same root) of accountancy must be jettisoned as well.

Just listen to Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as he explained how the legal guardians of fair and honest play had made those principles go away. On September 26, he announced that ‘the last six months have made it abundantly clear that voluntary regulation does not work.’ Now listen to how he enlarges on this somewhat lame statement.

It seems to him on reflection that ‘voluntary regulation’ … [ MORE ]