Posted on 06/17/2012 8:05:24 AM PDT by tcrlaf
What makes it unsustainable is Gov't intevention in capitalism, not capitalism itself.
“There is something systemically unsustainable in western capitalism...”
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Specifics?
Examples?
Maybe we ought to let capitalism actually WORK, relatively unencumbered, before we make blanket, academic statements.
“I am graduating with an MBA from a prestigious american university at the end of the year and I’m mad as hell.”
... About the ridiculous tuition you paid? Or that you bought into the prestigious thingy? Sorry, target rich environment, that post was.
“Now that the criminal negligence and moral lapses in public and private leadership are so obvious to me, and yet remain so elusive to many of my classmates I am very pessimistic about the next decade.”
Next decade is amazingly bright - in Asia. Go west, young man! More initial public offerings are happening in Asia than in the USA and London combined (so I’ve heard). Our country is being choked by loss of liberty, over-regulation, freeloading bums, non-elected rule-making weasel agencies, over-taxation and lack of balls by those elected. In the meantime, Asia continues to rise. Go to Singapore. Good luck.
Greece will eventually leave the Euro. So will Spain. So will anther biggy by the time this is over.
Re; “can they form a coalition to govern?”
I surely don’t know but Zerohedge has a map up that is interesting and this comment:
“Finally throwing a monkey wrench in all coalition creation plans is the following:
•Pasok’s Diamantopoulou announces it would not join coalition government with ND if Syriza is not in
Needless to say, Syriza would not join in a coalition whose core premise is everything Syria strives to abolish.”
True to an extent.
Back when all banks were local institutions that only used depositors’ money for local investment, living standards universally rose.
But now the global interconnectedness of the markets allow for profits to be made in far away places where externalities are only felt by the local stakeholders and not felt by the investors or shareholders. In this environment Government is the only entity powerful enough to regulate financial behavior since relying on moral judgement has proven ineffective. And unfortunately the regulation has been written by interest groups and congressional staff unqualified to provide substantial oversight.
Once again, I like capitalism but I love and crave competence the most.
It's that simple. When writing the American constitution our Founders were very preoccupied with finding the right amount of democracy for the republic as democracies always turn into tyrannies as the people learn they can get more from voting than from working.
The Peruvian economist, DeSoto, has a good book about what is
missing in expecting free trade capitalism to alone establish prosperity.
http://www.demographia.com/bk-desoto.htm
It is admired by many for its insight.
The Greek people are a wonderful bunch. The nation has taken a wrong turn many decades ago. It expects things from government that only can be given a the cost of ruination. The bill has arrived and they hope to not pay.
Perfect.
The blog I linked to earlier is now "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable "...
Same dynamic happened in colonial times.
Sure, things can get over-extended and the end result of taht will be the implosion of business engaged in such. That's a characteristic of free trade...it creates its own winners and losers depending on how consumers respond.
Yes, competence is great and is a characteristic (of course) to be desired in all peoples in all walks of life.
Capitalism is more of practical theory on the operation of society in general. As a philosophy directing the operation of society which includes the competent as well as the incompetent it is superior to others.
“I am graduating with an MBA from a prestigious american university at the end of the year and I’m mad as hell.”
“... About the ridiculous tuition you paid? Or that you bought into the prestigious thingy? Sorry, target rich environment, that post was.”
I said it that way trying to emphasize that most of my classmates will be going into the some of the largest private leadership roles having been educated by the people that are the cause of many of the problems.
(also, I am here on 50% scholarship and grants.)
Yes I did come here because I wanted more access to the brightest minds and biggest institutions. But now that I’m nearly done I’ve committed myself to a non-profit management career where the mission is the bottom line not eps.
“Next decade is amazingly bright - in Asia. Go west, young man! “
Absolutely not. That is more of the same. Exporting this behavior globally while chasing money around the world until it’s all gone will leave the WHOLE world (instead of half of it) in this predicament. I’m sorry if I don’t want to sacrifice all the people, history, tradition, and art I love in the name of profit.
All of our “brightest minds” can’t be on one side of the stakeholder/shareholder gap.
I like capitalism, but I love competence.
You sound like a TFer (Ticker Forum).
Stop the looting! Start prosecuting! We want the Greeks to tell the EU to stuff it, like Iceland did.
http://ekloges.ypes.gr/v2012b/public/index.html?lang=en#{"cls":"party","params":{"id":57}}
“The Greek people are a wonderful bunch. The nation has taken a wrong turn many decades ago. It expects things from government that only can be given a the cost of ruination. The bill has arrived and they hope to not pay.”
You hit the nail on the head.
And when I say “there is something systemically unsustainable in western capitalism” I specifically mean the way pain is felt and the way risk is mismanaged.
Your post makes me wish FR had a “like” button.
Capitalism without any moral underpinnings invariable devolves into the nasty stew we see before us. Of course socialism devolves into a nasty stew even faster, since the recipe is for nasty stew.
Sanity. Thank you. There's all too little of it anymore, even here.
In the days before banks with national scope, e.g., late 1920s in the United States, a single bank failure would destroy the economy of an entire community. Spreading risk across the entire country since the 1930s and around the world in the 21st Century protects locals from the bad decisions of other locals. As with other attempts at risk management, the model has to account for “common cause”, which has not been dealt with comprehensively yet (see the economic crisis of late summer 2008 and subsequent legislation). When only a few people can quantitatively calculate financial risk, they tend to make the same assumptions and thus introduce systemic risk where the intention is to disburse risk.
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