The Post-Times

Washington, DC
World Press Association
May 1, 2009

Since the string of attacks by the ‘Robin Hood’ gang last month against people and organizations closely associated with the recent financial troubles, copycat attacks have begun to spring up around the country.

In Philadelphia, the Sunoco refinery was firebombed. In Detroit, the headquarters of GM were attacked, in the middle of the day, with flash-bang grenades; the perpetrators then fired red paintballs at the stunned employees. Across the country, 327 banks have been burned, bombed, or assaulted in some way over the last two weeks.

Unlike the Robin Hood Gang, these copycats have resulted in numerous injuries and 4 dead.

Also unlike the originals, these copycats are indiscriminate in their targets. Anything and anyone remotely associated with the financial sector seems to have become a target of the hostility the general public feels. The Robin Hood Gang was very specific in targeting people for whom there was already a preponderance of evidence as to their participation in creating these problems. Even the attack on the NYSE last week followed that logic as it has been the hedge funds and futures traders that created the oil price bubble, the housing bubble, and who profited off the collapse of those bubbles.

However indiscriminate attacks on people who happen to be working in our financial sector is not vigilantism for they are not criminals, it is just anarchy. It does, however, demonstrate a clear desire among for someone to be accountable for what has happened coupled with a lack of knowledge as to who that should be.

While extralegal activities and violence in general should never be condoned, the popularity of the actions of the Robin Hood Gang is worthy of review. A recent Lugner Poll showed that 60% of Americans agree that the targets of the Robin Hood Gang should be held accountable, 48% agreed with their actions, and only 20% thought they should be tried for treason.

So what are the implications of this? Are these financial criminals group of malicious men who need to be punished so that we can go back to our way of life? Or, as some suggest, is this endemic to our system and requiring a more fundamental response? The Republicans offer the Australian school of laissez faire economics as the answer. The Democrats say Keynesian economics with its heavy reliance on government meditation of the market is the answer. We have been living under a mixture of these two plans for almost 100 years, in which time the stock market has crashed more times than I can count. Every time that the market crashes, the economy crashes.

Perhaps the stock market is the problem.

JD Adler
WPA