In US the big lenders are now out in the cold. The lobbyists from Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, once close buddies of the Clintons and the Bushes, are now history as Democratic politicians at least look elsewhere. So maybe there is something of that change happening under the Obama administration.
Unfortunately there’s rather less sign of post-Blairite politicians in the UK moving away from being lobby fodder. They need to top up their modest incomes by selling their soul to the devil whether the nuclear power, gm crops or arms industries they’ll be there with their boots blacked for sure. Hoon and Hutton and Hewitt, all at it and not a sign of embarrassment. And we haven’t looked at the Tories who we came to expect to be at the trough in the natural order of things. New Labour’s motto was “we can always be better at being Tories than you” and so they all proved from “the Great White Shark” Tony Blair, through My Lord Mandelson (didn’t he want to put himself up for leader of the new New Labour? What slipped there?) all seeking to earn a bob or two while the rest go unemployed, lose their homes and generally slum it. In the US the old guard Clintons, at once jealously guarding their privacy and parading their considerable newly found wealth, show their contempt fro those caught up in the mess that resulted from the sort of policies they once pursued.

Caution rules whether the newly capped oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico is a total success. Personally I have mixed feelings of admiration for those who grappled with this enormous problem, which seemed incapable of a solution and complete scorn for the executives of a company that allowed profits to override proper precaution in the first place.
A Guardian article on the oil spill is rather less optimistic and sees no end to the saga. Until we see a world where people are considered first and the profit motive is relegated then we are likely to see many repeats of this kind. The lesson that it will cost rather more to clear up, does it lead to a more sober approach. Capitalism seems always to revert to kind not minding how labour is exploited even if it involves slave and child labour. Elected governments actually facilitate companies to move around their operations to benefit the business without regard for those employed. So unemployment leading to the breakdown of communities becomes more acceptable. This is progress? Victorian times was seen to be characterised by Dickensian figures and we suppose that we have progressed. Doesn’t look that way as right wing governments proceed with draconian cuts resulting in increased unemployment, loss of public services and regressive taxation.