No Longer Business As Usual for Forces Of U.S. Capitalism
TWO-AND-A-HALF YEARS have passed since the antiglobalization protesters last dropped their trousers in front of the Georgetown Gap outlet. They haven't changed a bit. But the world certainly has.</br></br>Last time around, columnist Michael Kelly derided the protesters as being "between the last body-part piercing and the first IPO." Mr. Kelly's phrase perfectly captured the moment: At the time, the market religion held such strong grip that Mr. Kelly assumed everyone, including the motley strippers, eventually would succumb to its lure.</br></br>But even as those earlier protesters were shedding their clothing, the Nasdaq was plunging, eliminating the opportunity for 29-year-old kids to strike it rich off their first good idea. Then came Sept. 11, reminding all that security is one thing people aren't willing to leave to the marketplace. And finally came a wave of corporate scandals, in which greed-stricken chief executives were shown to have manipulated the market to boost their own, already obscene salaries.</br></br>Corporate apologists still say the problems are limited to "a few bad apples." But that argument was undercut by revelations that even the business world's most revered icon, Jack Welch, enjoyed a lifetime supply of cut flowers and skybox tickets at General Electric Co. shareholders' expense.</br></br>This weekend, the protesters returned. Their zeal is undiminished. But to a degree many of them still don't recognize, they have won the argument. Capitalism now has the black eye they tried so hard to give it. Writing in the Washington Post last week, Robert Weissman of Mobilization for Global Justice exulted: