Is Pornography Driving Women Kinkier? There you have it Ms Wolf: a heuristically-flawed, inconsistently-proven, vaguely-provocative title for -I guess- your next upcoming article. As Nassim Taleb would add with gusto: more skin in the game, please!
BRILLIANT. Simply brilliant as usual Mr Taleb. And now that you've told us that the emperor is wearing no suit and he's just but an empty name-dropper... What next?
How do we break the collusion-like contract that exists in between policymakers, bankers and lawmen alike? Should we expect a dramatic black swan-type event will force them to bring more skin in the game? Or by knowing the rules ourselves, we should just take advantage of it and play it as a game of poker?
In fact, being this a rigged game as it is, we can certainly admit that the elites have a lot of skin in THEIR game. Hence, it all ends up being a collusive, back-scratching, risk-free, patronizing game. Nothing will change until someone/thing releases Schumpeter's Creative Destruction beast from the "politically incorrect" dungeons.
Brilliant article Mr Skidelsky. Borrowers should also be blamed for not assuming their co-responsibility in this financial mess. Why should those who have not incurred in serious leverage (mortgages, cars, creditcards...) bail out those who have? Banks have seldom forced clients to gobble up debt just for the sake of it. That is a childish bickering, a simplistic interpretation of today's capitalism.
Yet, you fail to draw a strong, compelling argument to strengthen your initial thesis: on the contrary, you expect the soaring inequality to gradually be tamed by applying a classic mix of Keynesian policies. Unfortunately, the West is immersed in a "new normal" scenario, where the financial markets have been sequestered by the trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme cooked by governments and central banks alike. Global central banks' assets now comprise at least 1/4 of all global GDP - up from only 10% in 2002 (Kyle Bass, Hayman Advisors, 2012).
As simple as it is to grasp that a family should not overleverage itself, why on Earth should we allow our governments to break the implicit social contract signed not also in between economic agents, but also with the next generations? The great Alexander Hamilton stated: "A national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing". But not if you owe ¥1,000,000,000,000,000 like Japan! (yes, 15 zeros).
Japan can be a fenomenal example for Western Keynesianists: the lost multidecades, the dwindling, aging population, the "needless dams" and the "roads to nowhere", the unstoppable deflation... yadda, yadda. Long story short, despite relying on a colossal public works spending, Japan's Gini coefficient is still above 0.30; low in OECD standards, but higher than 20 years ago.
Simon Johnson has been advocating for the breaking of the "too big to fail" banks for years, as a natural way of allowing Schumpeter's "creative destruction" of doing its job. Now, extrapolate that to the central banks: it took the US 193 years (1789-1981) to create $1Trn of Gov debt. It then took them another 20 years to add $4.8Trn more. In the last 10 years, a whopping $9.8Trn of debt will crush the US for the years to come.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way out of this mess, but debt restructuring. Only those with strong balance sheets will be willing to invest in a sound economy: there's a wall of cash in corporations and commodity-rich countries alike. Bond vigilantes, beware...
Brilliant article Ms Palacio. "Money comes and goes, but I remain" declared Lee Scratch Perry solemnly. Same with nations. We live in bloody financial times and Catalan bonds (yes, Catalonia issues their own bonds already; they're more independent than what their politicians say) are no safe haven whatsoever. Their spread is as high as ever (900bps) and 2-3 yr bonds trade at a 16% discount. Say hello to my little friend... Catalonia spends 15% more of what they produce. And the regional Government knows that. And they're scared when they see the golden-egg goose's neck at risk. Hence they come up with ludicrously biased scripts were Catalonia is ALWAYS the victim, while the rest of Spain keeps playing the bad guys. In the meanwhile, few large multinationals wants to set up shop in Catalalaland. And this forces the good to leave. "And I remain", moans CIU's Artur Mas. Lads, stay or leave for good. But remember the EU is not waiting you with open arms and the globalized world economy is a vast, cold, remorseless ocean. Be blunt and aks the right question: (IN or OUT); the outcome might surprise friends and foes. And if it is a YES, surely Federalism can be a great outcome for all, not before every peseta is paid back to the other 16 regions. Moderate Catalans deserve the right to know the truth without being pulled into the abyss by short-term, distorted political slogans. "Nationalism" is sooooo old school amics!
"In praise of idleness", as the great Bertrand Russell wrote decades ago. Or in a more updated version: "Mais sambar e menos travalhar" (more samba and less work), as Brazilians like to remind us :-)
Is Pornography Driving Men Crazy?
Is Pornography Driving Women Kinkier? There you have it Ms Wolf: a heuristically-flawed, inconsistently-proven, vaguely-provocative title for -I guess- your next upcoming article. As Nassim Taleb would add with gusto: more skin in the game, please!
More Skin in the Game in 2013
BRILLIANT. Simply brilliant as usual Mr Taleb. And now that you've told us that the emperor is wearing no suit and he's just but an empty name-dropper... What next?
How do we break the collusion-like contract that exists in between policymakers, bankers and lawmen alike? Should we expect a dramatic black swan-type event will force them to bring more skin in the game? Or by knowing the rules ourselves, we should just take advantage of it and play it as a game of poker?
In fact, being this a rigged game as it is, we can certainly admit that the elites have a lot of skin in THEIR game. Hence, it all ends up being a collusive, back-scratching, risk-free, patronizing game. Nothing will change until someone/thing releases Schumpeter's Creative Destruction beast from the "politically incorrect" dungeons.
Inequality is Killing Capitalism
Brilliant article Mr Skidelsky. Borrowers should also be blamed for not assuming their co-responsibility in this financial mess. Why should those who have not incurred in serious leverage (mortgages, cars, creditcards...) bail out those who have? Banks have seldom forced clients to gobble up debt just for the sake of it. That is a childish bickering, a simplistic interpretation of today's capitalism.
Yet, you fail to draw a strong, compelling argument to strengthen your initial thesis: on the contrary, you expect the soaring inequality to gradually be tamed by applying a classic mix of Keynesian policies. Unfortunately, the West is immersed in a "new normal" scenario, where the financial markets have been sequestered by the trillion-dollar Ponzi scheme cooked by governments and central banks alike. Global central banks' assets now comprise at least 1/4 of all global GDP - up from only 10% in 2002 (Kyle Bass, Hayman Advisors, 2012).
As simple as it is to grasp that a family should not overleverage itself, why on Earth should we allow our governments to break the implicit social contract signed not also in between economic agents, but also with the next generations? The great Alexander Hamilton stated: "A national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing". But not if you owe ¥1,000,000,000,000,000 like Japan! (yes, 15 zeros).
Japan can be a fenomenal example for Western Keynesianists: the lost multidecades, the dwindling, aging population, the "needless dams" and the "roads to nowhere", the unstoppable deflation... yadda, yadda. Long story short, despite relying on a colossal public works spending, Japan's Gini coefficient is still above 0.30; low in OECD standards, but higher than 20 years ago.
Simon Johnson has been advocating for the breaking of the "too big to fail" banks for years, as a natural way of allowing Schumpeter's "creative destruction" of doing its job. Now, extrapolate that to the central banks: it took the US 193 years (1789-1981) to create $1Trn of Gov debt. It then took them another 20 years to add $4.8Trn more. In the last 10 years, a whopping $9.8Trn of debt will crush the US for the years to come.
Unfortunately, there's no easy way out of this mess, but debt restructuring. Only those with strong balance sheets will be willing to invest in a sound economy: there's a wall of cash in corporations and commodity-rich countries alike. Bond vigilantes, beware...
Europe’s Regional Revolts
Brilliant article Ms Palacio. "Money comes and goes, but I remain" declared Lee Scratch Perry solemnly. Same with nations. We live in bloody financial times and Catalan bonds (yes, Catalonia issues their own bonds already; they're more independent than what their politicians say) are no safe haven whatsoever. Their spread is as high as ever (900bps) and 2-3 yr bonds trade at a 16% discount. Say hello to my little friend...
Catalonia spends 15% more of what they produce. And the regional Government knows that. And they're scared when they see the golden-egg goose's neck at risk. Hence they come up with ludicrously biased scripts were Catalonia is ALWAYS the victim, while the rest of Spain keeps playing the bad guys. In the meanwhile, few large multinationals wants to set up shop in Catalalaland. And this forces the good to leave. "And I remain", moans CIU's Artur Mas.
Lads, stay or leave for good. But remember the EU is not waiting you with open arms and the globalized world economy is a vast, cold, remorseless ocean.
Be blunt and aks the right question: (IN or OUT); the outcome might surprise friends and foes. And if it is a YES, surely Federalism can be a great outcome for all, not before every peseta is paid back to the other 16 regions.
Moderate Catalans deserve the right to know the truth without being pulled into the abyss by short-term, distorted political slogans. "Nationalism" is sooooo old school amics!
Happiness Is Equality
"In praise of idleness", as the great Bertrand Russell wrote decades ago. Or in a more updated version: "Mais sambar e menos travalhar" (more samba and less work), as Brazilians like to remind us :-)