Capitalism and the credit crunch

FT ^ | 09/11/08 | Samuel Brittan

[TigerLikesRooster]

Capitalism and the credit crunch

By Samuel Brittan

Published: September 11 2008 18:33 | Last updated: September 11 2008 18:33

What does the great credit crunch do to the case for competitive capitalism? Many revisionist left-of-centre politicians not only have risked their careers to make the case for market forces, but have also had to jettison their deepest lifetime convictions. Are they now to stand on their heads and say they have been wrong all along? And if they did so, where would they turn? Even if in the end we suffer no more than an average post-second- world-war recession it will still look like a narrow escape owing to the readiness of leaders such as Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, not merely to jettison free-market principles but to take risks with prudence to bail out US corporate bodies. There will be no “glad confident morning” for free-market principles for a long time to come.

/snip

Readers will not be surprised that Mr Cooper traces present difficulties to the rapid growth of credit encouraged by the Fed’s ultra-cheap money policy of a few years ago.

[TigerLikesRooster]

As pointed out by the author, if consumers buy something expecting increased resale value later, coupled with cheap money policy, it will create market destabilizing bubble which could threaten the foundation of entire financial system and economy.

Thos who insist that asset market is no different from ordinary product market should rethink their view, because such a misconception is not only wrong but highly dangerous.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[CyberSpartacus]

Cheap money has nothing to do with capitalism and everything to do with socialism. That was why we used to have a gold standard.

[AndyJackson]

As I argued elsewhere, this one you can't blame on socialists. It is just a bunch of old fashioned crooks running the banks in league with close "friends" at the top of treasury and the FED.

It isn't complicated. It is old testiment stuff - thou shalt not steal.

[mlocher]

I somehow feel like I am the proverbial frog in the pot of warming water. With every little economy "tweak" that gives government more control, the water gets just a little warmer. A degree here, a degree there, no problem since the frog is cold blooded. But sooner or later the pot boils.

Shame on Paulson for the recent bail outs. People that make stupid investments deserve their reward.

[theBuckwheat]

The royal Alan Greenspan said (well after the fact) that he kept interest rates too low for too long. The present financial distress is mainly a the result of a failure of government, first with their always running printing press and second in the lack of sufficient regulation of the mortgage industry.

There is something clearly dysfunctional and mis-structured when the lender doesn't worry about the borrower's ability to repay the loan.

[LomanBill]

[What does the great credit crunch do to the case for
competitive capitalism?]

 

Maybe, for starters, it will wake folks up to the fact that "Capitalism" is only a tool - neither good nor evil until used for good, or for evil. 

 

Communist Chinese Capitalists,  Saudi Islamofascist Capitalists, Technocratic Capitalist Corporations - under control of individuals intent upon normalizing and implementing the homosexual agenda... good or evil?

 

It's time to reevaluate the purpose of the system.

 

Where to start?  How about here:

 

"To Secure These Rights 

governments [systems of governance] are instituted among men"

http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html

 

 

Capitalism is clearly a system of governance - and it is clearly not operating within the scope of the purpose of government that was declared by the writers of the American Declaration of Independence.

 

Want a hint at what the globalist transhuman technoRats have in mind?   Lurk here: https://forums.codegear.com/forum.jspa?forumID=6&start=0

[LomanBill]

>>globalist transhuman technoRats

Should be:

globalist transhumanist technoRats

[DaveTesla]

I have been a Borland developer since the 80’s and
never noticed this part of the forum.

What the hell is this doing on the Code Gear Forum?

[LomanBill]

>>I have been a Borland developer since the 80’s

 

I was Borland TeamB, supporting Delphi, until 2001.  Been a Borland fan and supporter since 1985 and Turbo Pascal.

 

Given what I've seen thus far, I will not, can not, be a fan or supporter of Embarcadero.

 

>>and never noticed this part of the forum.
>>
>>What the hell is this doing on the Code Gear Forum?

 

The off-topic forum has been part of the Borland/Codegear public newsgroups for quite some time.  If you look at the forum's history on Google, you can see it's a cess pool - and you can get a pretty clear picture of some of the current moderator's views by looking at that history as well.

 

I only started looking at the Codegear off-topic forum since Codegear was acquired by Embarcadero last summer.

 

Embarcadero is HQd in San Franciso; and IMHO, the moderating activity on their forum is consistent with the politicaly activist views typically associated with that locale.

 

For example, it's currently Ok for posters to call the Boy Scouts of America "The Hitler Youth", but not for others to retort by providing historical documentation of the homosexual infestations that existed within the real Nazi Hitler Youth.  They also deleted postings documenting that Richard Heinlein's "Bugs" in Starship Troopers, according to Heinlein himself, represent communism.

 

Any discussion associating Nazism and/or Communism with Homosexuality is now apparently verboten there.

 

The off-topic forum appears to have been relatively unmoderated under Borland / Codegear; however, under Embarcadero the forum is being heavily censored - with a bias that is fairly self evident. Go start a topic contrasting the leadership of the German Wandervogel against the Boy Scouts of America and see how long it lasts. 

 

What's going on there essentialy appears to be an implementation of Canadian style "hate speech" censorship - ie. anything critical of, or damaging to, the homosexual agenda will not be tolerated.

 

It truly is a snapshot of the attitudes of the global technoRati activist community.  You'll notice that many of the forum's participants, including some moderators, are not in the U.S. - and it's evident to me that America is generaly held in low regard by many, probably most, of them. To put it bluntly, many of them exhibit hatred of America.

[DaveTesla]

I think I'm gonna be sick.

Although I use assembly and c for embedded I wouldn't
dream of using anything else for windows / Linux but Delphi.

Why does everything I love have to be ruined.

Hey Embarcadero, shut up and code.

[AndyJackson]

The present financial distress is mainly a the result of a failure of government

That didn't help, but a better way to think about it is the Chicago mob with ivy league degrees. This is not socialism. It is good old American montebanks, frauds and swindlers selling snake oil.

[pointsal]

The royal Alan Greenspan said (well after the fact) that he kept interest rates too low for too long. The present financial distress is mainly a the result of a failure of government, first with their always running printing press and second in the lack of sufficient regulation of the mortgage industry.

There is something clearly dysfunctional and mis-structured when the lender doesn't worry about the borrower's ability to repay the loan.

Bet Alan-baby kept his pension....

[LomanBill]

>>I think I'm gonna be sick.

 

Been there, did that.  I have a pretty good idea how you feel.

 

>>I wouldn't dream of using anything else
>>for windows / Linux but Delphi.

 

Linux might be an issue - but for Windows, C# is the clear path.  If you have strong Delphi skills, you'll be able to make the transition to C# fairly easily.  (Thanks Anders)

 

You can get started with C# by downloading Visual C# Express for Free.

 

I always enjoyed supporting Borland, the underdog - In the early days Philip Kahn's antics were a hoot; but those days are long gone and the Borland ship has been pirated by folks whose course I will not stay.   All good things come to an end; and now it's time to put out as much light as possible from the burning bridge.

 

>>Hey Embarcadero, shut up and code.

 

Yep.  It's interesting Delphi was used to E!mpower both Enron and Ameriquest.  I, and others, tried to discuss that fact in the Codegear->Delphi Non-Tech forums (which is what led me to off-topic) - but of course, those messages were deleted too.

 

Morality just ain't popular in the Embarcadero district.