> I've contributed to a retirement stock account for 35 years, but I still don't know what my investment does for the businesses whose stocks are in my account. The only investments that clearly support a business appears to be venture capital and the IPO. Subsequent stock sales just repay and enrich earlier stock holders and don't go to the business.
> If this be true, there seems to be no benefit to society of hedge funds. Every dollar sequestered by a hedge-fund investor is a dollar removed from the pool of ordinary investors. Can that possibly support the businesses whose stocks are traded by the hedge fund? Why, then, would the inventors of the hedge fund be awarded the Nobel Prize in economics? Why was that hedge fund bailed out during the 1990s?
> I raise these questions because reporters and policy makers seem to care about the index-fund prices. Stockholders like me care for personal reasons. Is there an objective reason, that is a national interest in the index-fund prices?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Reaganomic Crisis
* Few individuals or businesses are unscathed by the economic crisis. Republican law makers, encouraged by Fox News lemmings, are insisting on the very Reaganomic formulae that got us here--out of work, losing money and in debt. Even if tax cuts were to stimulate, it would leave us with the same vulnerabilities and competitive disadvantages, with nothing to show for the additional debt.
* The fundamental and irreversible problem with the economy (ours and the world's) is that all the goods and services needed by the population can be provided by a declining fraction of the population, this as technology increases efficiency. Conscientious workers and well run companies are weakened by competition for providing goods and services and bankrupted by modest reductions in demand for them, as occurs when consumers behave more rationally.
* A satisfactory distribution of economic opportunity can only be achieved artificially by policies with that as a goal, ie by anti-Reaganomic policies.
* We should use this crisis as an opportunity to make adjustments that will be needed eventually when the earth cannot support the wasteful American way of life or the extension of that way of life to developing countries. Specifically, a substantial portion of the stimulus spending should go to wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as improved energy efficiency (cars, buildings, transit).
* The fundamental and irreversible problem with the economy (ours and the world's) is that all the goods and services needed by the population can be provided by a declining fraction of the population, this as technology increases efficiency. Conscientious workers and well run companies are weakened by competition for providing goods and services and bankrupted by modest reductions in demand for them, as occurs when consumers behave more rationally.
* A satisfactory distribution of economic opportunity can only be achieved artificially by policies with that as a goal, ie by anti-Reaganomic policies.
* We should use this crisis as an opportunity to make adjustments that will be needed eventually when the earth cannot support the wasteful American way of life or the extension of that way of life to developing countries. Specifically, a substantial portion of the stimulus spending should go to wind, solar and geothermal power, as well as improved energy efficiency (cars, buildings, transit).
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Reagan-Bush Revolution
* On or about Jan 19, 2009, a 93-year-old WWII veteran froze to death in his Michigan home. His local government had turned off his electricity. On his kitchen table was an electric bill clipped to a large amount of money. He was $1000 behind on his electric bill.
* Will he be the last casualty of the Reagan-Bush revolution? Probably not, since Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, Steve Gill, Phil Valentine, George Will and others still have a vast following of self-righteous, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-intellectual Kool Aid drinkers.
* Why would people of good will support a movement that enlarged the number of Princeton graduates sequestering billions by shuffling paper on Wall Street at a time when the need for Wall Street paper shufflers was actually diminishing? Why would ordinary workers support a movement that encouraged multi-state retailers to off-shore suppliers for pennies per item? Why would economists justify a movement that concentrated wealth in a tiny fraction of the population, that perpetuated a plutocracy, that made war on the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid? Don't economists know that a healthy economy needs people down there who can afford what they need?
* On or about Jan 19, 2009, a 93-year-old WWII veteran froze to death in his Michigan home.
* Will he be the last casualty of the Reagan-Bush revolution? Probably not, since Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist, Rush Limbaugh, Steve Gill, Phil Valentine, George Will and others still have a vast following of self-righteous, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-intellectual Kool Aid drinkers.
* Why would people of good will support a movement that enlarged the number of Princeton graduates sequestering billions by shuffling paper on Wall Street at a time when the need for Wall Street paper shufflers was actually diminishing? Why would ordinary workers support a movement that encouraged multi-state retailers to off-shore suppliers for pennies per item? Why would economists justify a movement that concentrated wealth in a tiny fraction of the population, that perpetuated a plutocracy, that made war on the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid? Don't economists know that a healthy economy needs people down there who can afford what they need?
* On or about Jan 19, 2009, a 93-year-old WWII veteran froze to death in his Michigan home.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Israel / Gaza
* Cal Thomas, in his Jan 4 column, condemns Hamas as Nazi-like, as the Nazis of modern times. He espoused the invasion of Gaza that is now underway, that he hopes will be pressed to total victory. Judging from his earlier writings he believes that the western Judeo-Christian civilization can better vanquish the middle-east jihadists if Muslims are dehumanized as Islamofacists.
* I don't admire mullah government, Wahhabi madrassas, female oppression and terrorist tactics more than does the next Euro-American, and I have no patience for the word "infidel"; but, looking over the sweep of history from the 4th century to the present, I see much to justify some modesty on our part. We Judeo-Christians have committed the greatest crimes--senseless wars, impulsive invasions, slavery, female oppression, colonialism, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the domination and exploitation of nearly every other nation on earth. Our wasteful ways are almost entirely responsible for despoiling the planet, leaving an impoverished environment for future generations. Our sense of entitlement is boundless.
* If the self-righteous Cal Thomas could imagine himself as a Gazan, displaced from his ancestral land, crowded in a virtual concentration camp, blockaded from the outside world, and experiencing daily deprivation and humiliation, he might see Hamas as analogous to Comanches or Apaches resisting domination by the more technologically advanced and better organized European tribes.
* Israel needs a brave new paradigm for peace as do we.
* I don't admire mullah government, Wahhabi madrassas, female oppression and terrorist tactics more than does the next Euro-American, and I have no patience for the word "infidel"; but, looking over the sweep of history from the 4th century to the present, I see much to justify some modesty on our part. We Judeo-Christians have committed the greatest crimes--senseless wars, impulsive invasions, slavery, female oppression, colonialism, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the domination and exploitation of nearly every other nation on earth. Our wasteful ways are almost entirely responsible for despoiling the planet, leaving an impoverished environment for future generations. Our sense of entitlement is boundless.
* If the self-righteous Cal Thomas could imagine himself as a Gazan, displaced from his ancestral land, crowded in a virtual concentration camp, blockaded from the outside world, and experiencing daily deprivation and humiliation, he might see Hamas as analogous to Comanches or Apaches resisting domination by the more technologically advanced and better organized European tribes.
* Israel needs a brave new paradigm for peace as do we.
Monday, November 24, 2008
If Carter had won
> From time to time, I wonder how America and the world would have evolved had Jimmy Carter won a second term. The Reagan revolution wouldn't have occurred, and Bush Sr might have had two unrevolutionary terms followed by a couple of Clinton terms.
> Policies and programs to address world overpopulation and reproductive health wouldn't have been interrupted by a gag rule. More manufacturing and middle-class jobs would still be in the US. More of our citizens would have assets, savings and comfortable retirements. Less wealth would be concentrated in a plutocracy and gambled in hedge funds, collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. More banks would be solvent.
> Most of our electricity would be from solar and wind energy, and more of our transportation would be electrically powered. Energy efficiency/conservation would be advanced. Our trade imbalance would be much smaller, so less of the US would be foreign owned. Our government debt would be far less than the 13 trillion that now makes us vulnerable to mistakes or blackmail by foreign governments or sovereign wealth funds.
> In summary, our policies would reflect common sense rather than Reaganomic myths and slogans.
> Policies and programs to address world overpopulation and reproductive health wouldn't have been interrupted by a gag rule. More manufacturing and middle-class jobs would still be in the US. More of our citizens would have assets, savings and comfortable retirements. Less wealth would be concentrated in a plutocracy and gambled in hedge funds, collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps. More banks would be solvent.
> Most of our electricity would be from solar and wind energy, and more of our transportation would be electrically powered. Energy efficiency/conservation would be advanced. Our trade imbalance would be much smaller, so less of the US would be foreign owned. Our government debt would be far less than the 13 trillion that now makes us vulnerable to mistakes or blackmail by foreign governments or sovereign wealth funds.
> In summary, our policies would reflect common sense rather than Reaganomic myths and slogans.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Unpatriotic Reaganomics
* A mature and intelligent person inquired of my bumper sticker, "No more Republican/Reaganomic Kool Aid". I discovered that most people don't realize that the economic paradigm under which we struggle is a contrivance of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher beginning after 1980, an economic experiment with a dubious rationale, not the natural order.
* The pillars of Reaganomics are: 1) deregulation to unleash commercial activity; 2) globalization to combat inflation; 3) tax cuts for the rich to stimulate investment; 4) faith in market forces to provide what society needs; 5) privatization of basic services for better efficiency and incentives. Each of these pillars might be helpful in small doses, but suicidal in large doses.
* Swallowed whole they translate to environmental degradation, resource depletion, loss of American jobs, Walmartization, idle mill towns, blighted cities, broken rungs on the economic ladder, anemic middle class, diffuse disaffection, transfer of wealth to foreign corporations and sovereign wealth funds, sequestration of wealth among corporate executives and Wall Street paper pushers, large and relentless government budget deficits hence rapid expansion of government debt now equal to the gross national product, epidemic corporate and personal bankruptcies, over-expansion of the military-industrial complex, toxic self-righteousness among those who compete successfully, neglect of infrastructure and utter failure to prepare for future inevitabilities.
* Reaganomics seems unpatriotic.
* The pillars of Reaganomics are: 1) deregulation to unleash commercial activity; 2) globalization to combat inflation; 3) tax cuts for the rich to stimulate investment; 4) faith in market forces to provide what society needs; 5) privatization of basic services for better efficiency and incentives. Each of these pillars might be helpful in small doses, but suicidal in large doses.
* Swallowed whole they translate to environmental degradation, resource depletion, loss of American jobs, Walmartization, idle mill towns, blighted cities, broken rungs on the economic ladder, anemic middle class, diffuse disaffection, transfer of wealth to foreign corporations and sovereign wealth funds, sequestration of wealth among corporate executives and Wall Street paper pushers, large and relentless government budget deficits hence rapid expansion of government debt now equal to the gross national product, epidemic corporate and personal bankruptcies, over-expansion of the military-industrial complex, toxic self-righteousness among those who compete successfully, neglect of infrastructure and utter failure to prepare for future inevitabilities.
* Reaganomics seems unpatriotic.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Obama & Robert Reich
* Since 1980, I've suspected that Reaganomics (tax cuts for the rich, globalization, deregulation, faith in market forces, privatization) would decimate our middle class, bankrupt the nation, deplete essential resources and pollute the world's support systems. We're 'bout there.
* Since 1980, corporate bankruptcies have been rampant, oceans and air are irreparably polluted, the lower rungs of the economic ladder are missing and the national debt has increased 10 fold, doubling under Bush II and now equaling the gross national product. Owing to corrupt election financing, our government has subsidized many industries that didn't need it and failed to incentivize industries essential for the nation's survival, specifically solar and hydrogen energy.
* Now joblessness and homelessness are at or near 50-year highs. With so many of us in this together, perhaps there will be fewer people groveling in self-righteousness.
* Sadly, Obama seems to accept much of the Reaganomic paradigm. It was somewhat encouraging to see Robert Reich among his economic advisers. He is best suited to steer our economy back to something widely satisfactory and sustainable.
* Since 1980, corporate bankruptcies have been rampant, oceans and air are irreparably polluted, the lower rungs of the economic ladder are missing and the national debt has increased 10 fold, doubling under Bush II and now equaling the gross national product. Owing to corrupt election financing, our government has subsidized many industries that didn't need it and failed to incentivize industries essential for the nation's survival, specifically solar and hydrogen energy.
* Now joblessness and homelessness are at or near 50-year highs. With so many of us in this together, perhaps there will be fewer people groveling in self-righteousness.
* Sadly, Obama seems to accept much of the Reaganomic paradigm. It was somewhat encouraging to see Robert Reich among his economic advisers. He is best suited to steer our economy back to something widely satisfactory and sustainable.
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