fireworks_god said:
Batty Koda said: It's very easy.
A business that;
manufactures cars= productive
sells credit default swaps= unproductive
Drills for oil= productive
speculates on oil= unproductive
Builds houses= productive
Creates collateralized debt obligations= unproductive
There is a definite pattern. I realise you may have misinterpreted what I mean by a productive business. I don't mean a business that is sure to turn a profit, I mean a business that produces a tangible good or service, not a business that plays with digits in an imaginary web of debt and speculation. You don't "hand out" trillions of Dollars/Euros/Pounds you lend them to businesses.
In the same sense that an economy relies on businesses that produce tangible goods and services, it also relies on businesses that facilitate the transfer, accumulation, investment, etc. etc. etc. of funds. I don't think anyone denies that it certainly happens and can happen that things can go sour when it comes to how investments are made and how banks offer some of their services. On the one hand, however, this doesn't take away from the fact that these banks are also essentially accomplishing what you are describing needs to happen, in terms of offering credit to "productive" businesses. On this note, I don't understand the idea that bailing out banks isn't a sensible approach to healing the economy when so many "productive" businesses rely on those very banks already in order to conduct business. On the other hand, banks only operate within the framework of the rules and regulations set for them by government. If government isn't effectively regulating the banking industry, then it's no small wonder when problems arise that threaten the economy as a whole.
Which ties in with my original point. The Greek debt crisis is essentially simply a failure of the Greek government, democratically elected and held accountable (or not) by the Greek population. I believe I recall reading that over the course of just a few years that public spending there increased 50%? How is that tenable without some form of groundswell of tax revenue (which certainly didn't happen?)? To which extent was the Greek government really ensuring that their banking sector was well-regulated and stable? It's no doubt that the global financial crisis has put pressure on practically every country, but you certainly don't see every European country over their head in water. Banks aren't some malignant, malevolent, all-powerful force. They take the form that the respective government shapes for them. And some countries have healthy, normal, stable banks, which don't rely and whose well-being are not threatened by dangerous speculation and dangerous profit-chasing.
The only thing really that I see in the solution you're suggesting here is eliminating banks in general and relying on the government to dispense credit for the private sector. Considering that the disasters created by a banking sector laxly-regulated by governments and by piss-poor financial planning by governments, it really doesn't seem to me to be any kind of solution, and that's setting aside the other question of having a government so invasive in and controlling of the economy. It just seems bad, bad, bad, any way you cut it.
Quote: By a "hyper-inflated bubble" do you mean an economy that produces goods and services that people demand and pays people a wage that allows them to buy those products? What a disater that would be.
No, I mean a hyper-inflated bubble. Economies have foundations and creating some kind of surge with a great influx of cash-flow would necessitate that cash-flow be permanent in order to sustain all of that growth.
"you certainly don't see every European country over their head in water"
Where do you think the term PIGS came from? Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Spain are no different than Greece.
As the Euro crisis continues, we will see that Austria, Belgium, France and the UK are also in the same boat.
It is also important to remember that Greece "cooked" the books with faulty accounting for many years, giving the politicians the green light for more irresponsible borrowing.
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