William Greider  Recent Articles  Who Governs Globalism?  For at
least a generation the U.S. has propped up the global economy by
absorbing the world's surplus of goods. That's not good for the
U.S. or its trading partners.  The Great S&L Clearance  During
the past decade, the public dialogue surrounding the federal
government's regulation of the financial system has been shallow
and morally smug and, above all, blind to the emerging realities
of deep disorder. Despite the pattern of recurring financial
crises, most commentators have clung to the comforting bromides
of laissez faire taught by the Reagan era. For each new episode
of calamity, they offered evasive explanations that usually
blamed the victims -- first the farmers caught in a deflationary
collapse of debt, then Texas and the other oil states, next the
savings and loan industry, and the largest brokerages of Wall
Street itself. Throughout this medley, some of the largest
commercial banks have themselves occasionally veered toward the
brink.