THE ECONOMIC CRISIS: Capitalist Fools

[nadinbrzezinski]

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
Capitalist Fools
Behind the debate over remaking U.S. financial policy will be a debate over who’s to blame. It’s crucial to get the history right, writes a Nobel-laureate economist, identifying five key mistakes—under Reagan, Clinton, and Bush II—and one national delusion.
by JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ January 2009

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and former Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan bookend two decades of economic missteps. Photo illustration by Darrow.

There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history—a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it’s crucial to get the history straight.

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/stiglitz200901

Worth readying folks because this is coming, and we need to get the history right

yes that includes every president during the last 25 years...

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. One thing is now confirmed, if everybody else were forced to toe the line

and be responsible for paying their way like I have to do, then, according to the experts, the whole world be in an all time economic collapse. Goes to show you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. No, what is confirmed is that the economics that the right believes in

has done it AGAIN... and that we need to go back to a mixed economic system

That includes a safety net

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. No, It's like I said.

[Waiting For Everyman]

5. I wonder sometimes

if some here pay any fucking attention whatsoever to what's happening. The number of people who think this is a responsibility issue, or who are "it's all in our heads" Gramm groupies, amazes me. That is the propaganda being rolled out, in case that wasn't noticed. It's designed to let the perps (the banks) off scott free, instead of being prosecuted for this debacle. Nice to know whose side some are on.

Or is this coming from the fake "I'm better than you because I don't have a problem" syndrome? If so, grow the hell up. Everything isn't about you and your need for gold stars. And every program doesn't have to benefit YOU who are NOT hurting.

No. It's about that the minimum wage should be $20 RIGHT NOW if the 1968 wage had been kept up with, with COLA increases. That's where the REAL minimum wage is TODAY. So every hour, 12.5 million Americans are being ripped off for nearly 2/3 of their pay. Maybe... just maybe... that MIGHT have something to do with why people can't pay bills "on the dot", as some others have the luxury of doing. Maybe if your pay was 2/3 stolen as of tomorrow, you might notice a difference too.

It's about people paying 10-15% interest on mortgages instead of the 5% others pay for the same loan, while banks have zero cost of borrowing what they lend. Yes, 10-15% just might cause some defaults - might cause that for the perfect people too. THAT'S the problem.

Responsible, my ass!!! You're nothing of the sort, or you wouldn't be enabling the international criminals by promoting their talking points. I don't call that one bit responsible.

I can't wait till your job goes out the window. Because I'm really fed up with that attitude.

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. I assume that with your attitude your job is already gone.

That is, if you have ever actually had a job.
What a fine fellow, hoping somebody who simply minds his own fucking business & pays his own way loses his job. Fuck you & go to hell.

[Waiting For Everyman]

8. No, more like my 100% disabled VN vet husband is dead at 59 y/o.

Want to tell me how that's because I'm irresponsible? Or maybe it's because of my attitude? Go ahead.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. It is the economic policies that have been implelemnted by the right

that are leading to this

And YOUR JOB might be next, REGARDLESS of what you do.

That is the truth,

Now this kind of propaganda is no longer flying, 'xept at Free Republic, and lord knows I kNOW you are not a freeper, but that is the only place (or other extreme right wing, libertarian sites) where this crap is still being listened to

For them this is a religion

[cynicalguy1111]

11. but if u raise the minimum wage, who is going to pay for that?

we're already in a huge national debt. the government cant keep making money out of thin air

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Read on bottom up economics,

and how they work

Better known as Keynseian economics

[Enthusiast]

16. Also fed up with that attitude!

Glad you said it, WFE! The system was gamed! The system is being gamed. :grr: :banghead:

[Waiting For Everyman]

17. Hey, Enthusiast. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. kick

[girl gone mad]

6. dupe..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4695254

[Usrename]

9. I think the problem is much more fundamental than all this.

Sure, it's hard to argue with the things the author says, but I think a whole lot is missed.

Perhaps one of the more important root causes of this currency manipulation is that we allow corporations to exist solely for the purpose of making money. Why is that a good idea? I can understand allowing the creation of entities for many other purposes, but maybe we should take a serious look at outlawing those entities that serve no other purpose.

Maybe we need to start looking more deeply at our situation.

[cynicalguy1111]

12. what should we do then? restart everybodys credit to 0?

sometimes i feel were so fucked we cant get out

[Usrename]

14. Like a universal bankruptcy?

I can't see how that would make things too much worse. ;)

[Waiting For Everyman]

15. Reform scores first, but yes, that would be a good idea.

Because some things on credit reports should've never been counted, such as medical bills. Credit scoring needs to be within better guidelines. The scoring companies and credit card companies making up the rules however they want to, isn't working.

And people who have innocently sustained losses in this mess shouldn't carry that around forever, overpaying again because of it.

Btw, hi cynicalguy! :hi: Even though I'm newish myself, welcome!

[cynicalguy1111]

10. there shouldnt have been derivatives

if only they didnt allow overleveraging and passing on of debt

[Selatius]

13. I don't think we'll get the history straight. The odds seem stacked against wisdom.

Is it a fight worth having? Absolutely. Are the odds of winning good? I don't feel that they are.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. St Reagan is about to get a bath in history book's

this is how it works, for those who wonder why I say this

1 gen historians tend to be very positive on a given person or event and give high marks (or really bad marks) to events that happened in their lifetime

Then you have second gen, those who's contact to the actual event was as children off, but a generation removed. They tend to be hypercritical of the first gen, and usually those writings tend to be 180 and finding all the good or defects that were not found by first gen historians,,, given St Reagan has been canonized for all intents and purposes, don't be too shocked if I don't know Iran Contra comes under extreme revision soon, as well sa economic policies.

And you get sort of a balance by third gen, why writings on Hoover are nowhere as critical as they were in the 1930s these days.

Guess where are we with Reagan? You guessed it, second gen