Jacques Attali on conspiracy theories in the economic crisis

French economist and author Jacques Attali comments in the weekly magazine L'Express on the conspiracy theories currently circulating as explanations for the global financial and economic crisis: "Every time a major, enigmatic event happens people start looking not only for who's responsible but also, when they're the ones who suffer, for a culprit. And in general they're not content to find a motive, what they need is a conspiracy. The idea never loses its appeal: a conspiracy roots the inexplicable in a secret, cowardly, covert, global and coherent action organised far in advance by a tiny group that pulls the strings from behind the scenes. Hence all you have to do is get rid of the group to solve the problem. Today conspiracy theories are in vogue to explain the economic and financial crisis. ... In fact if there is a plot it's this one: in order to survive, every form of power, every pressure group, even - or perhaps especially - the most moribund, needs to give meaning to what they can't explain."

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