Okay, time for a rant. I had dinner with friends and we discussed current events. Conclusions...
(and remember that I'm the proponent of venture capital, entrepreurial-driven, non-state controlled capitalism...)
-Based on empirical evidence, the current global economic system is designed so that the rich get richer, the poor get more and more impoverished. Commodity prices are at a 22-year low with no end in sight. We want to sell them value-added products and services, but what will we let them sell us in return?
-The developed, aging world (hello, baby boomers) will depend on developing countries (most of the planet's population) to support them in their declining years. But, the developing countries are becoming more and more impoverished and will be less able (or willing) to do so. Something has to give. At the recent IMF meeting in Washington, you could sense the anger coming from the Latin American finance ministers in the face of their powerlessness to stop the lemmings in NYC, London, Tokyo, Geneva and Bonn from screwing their countries once again.
-If the US Fed Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25%, we would all scream bloody murder. But, in response to a panic by US/European investors, brokerage houses and hedge funds for the super wealthy, Brazil is told that they must raise their IRs from 20% to 40% or foreign capital will flee because they demand a higher risk premium because Russia (that bastion of capitalism) defaulted on their bond payments. 20%!! to 40%!! Can you imagine such rates in the US? And, we think this is fair.
-In addition, we solemnly tell Brazil to adopt an austerity program, deeply cut Social Security and dramatically increase their unemployment rate. In the US, if a politician even mentions the slight possibility of a Social Security cut, the voters (i.e., senior citizens), they are immediately voted out of office. An austerity program in the US? Get real. We're the fattest, laziest slobs on the planet who specialize in sitting in front of the boob tube watching junk for 6-7 hours/day. We're preaching austerity programs to others? Beyond hypocritical.
-And we wonder why various countries (Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Russia and possibly Brazil) are thinking about imposing currency controls and opting out of the alleged "free market" system to try to cope with "hot money" running around and around and around the planet destabilizing societies for what redeeming purpose?
-Yeah, we should separate out our investment and political values. But, ultimately, it is immoral to look the other way when the system we promote is causing so much suffering in the world.
-If you want to disagree, give me empirical evidence, not theory or jargon. Yes, a proper economic system should allocate scarce capital and resources to their most efficient uses and a market-driven system tends to do the best job in generating this info. But, it just doesn't seem to be working for 90% of the planet.
Well, back to your regularly scheduled program... |
