Madonna

More austerity measures will only fuel political and social tensions. Take it from Taki. This will be known as the Lost Decade, with Southern Europe becoming more of a basket case, if that is possible. Global governance sounds like a grand idea, but it is a sucker’s game played by con men and would-be tinpot dictators with a small “d.” We are the cretins whose elite leaders think today’s issues are too complex for our tiny brains, much less our informed consent. Look at the diplomats around Geneva and Brussels in their limos, first-class air travel, and extravagant salaries. Not one of these bums has given up any of their material comforts, yet they demand austerity. And you-know-who pays their expenses.

When I read of a Greek mother begging for some insulin for her diabetic son because she couldn’t afford it—doctors had lucrative deals with drug manufacturers who insist on up-front payment—I came close to losing it. Greece’s fat cats continue to get fatter; not a single crook has gone to jail or even been charged, yet the obese socialist finance minister called Venizelos demands more sacrifices.

Greece will go down, as will Portugal and most likely Italy, then I hope Europe splinters and the euro goes the way of Haiti’s currency, whatever that is. Am I being too pessimistic? I don’t think so.

Take Gstaad’s latest import, Madonna, who dropped by for the holidays with some youngsters in tow who made Michael Jackson look like a gerontophile. Someone sat next to her at dinner and told me she was polite and pleasant. She even skied. Yet it’s people such as her who made their reputation by using decadent images of sadomasochism—extolling barbarism, crudeness, and anti-Christian attitudes—to generate an antibourgeois image. She deprecated and vilified most things that bourgeois people hold sacred, made her millions, and now can relax among us here in Gstaad enjoying our bourgeois comforts. And why not? Our society encourages people to deliberately invert what’s bad to good.