tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post248070487770969731..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: On ReserveBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-72380328317319582232009-04-26T22:29:00.000-07:002009-04-26T22:29:00.000-07:00"evil bankers deliberately deflating the currency"...<I>"evil bankers deliberately deflating the currency"</I>I don't know where that phrase came from, Tux. While I subscribe to the premise that bankers are eeeeevil -- at least the ones at the tippy top like Paulson -- I don't think they would deliberately deflate. While that DOES put them in a stronger position, via the increased power they have over debtors, ultimately those debtors will default, and both sides are screwed.<br /><br />So my conspiracy mindset does not subscribe to intentional deflation. I think banksters prefer blowing bubbles, because they supply the raw material that makes a bubble -- creditcash. There's more profit to be made in an expansion than in a contraction.<br /><br />Here's where my tinfoil hat might differ from yours, though. I reckon that the financial power structure -- the banksters, hedgies, politicians who favour them and others in the money-spinning complex -- is nimble and reactive. They've got schemes to make money on the way up, and on the way down too. Devices like options to short your own company's stock, or the investment vehicles you sell.<br /><br />I'm not so far gone as to think that there are Illuminati, Bilderbergers or Davosians meeting in a room somewhere to map this all out. Managing grand conspiracies is like getting cats to cooperate. I DO think that there's a shifting cast of characters who can operate with inside knowledge, because they control the political and financial decisions, and they know how to make money with that.<br /><br />Little by little, as Klein points out in her book, these elites gain more control over society. Especially the financial elites, because money is the lubricant that keeps the gears of the economy from seizing up. And they control the money.<br /><br />Every so often, there is a disruption in the elites' mechanics -- a French Revolution, or Bolshevik takeover, or Mao in 1949. The system gets scrambled, and rebooted. It's a bad thing for all concerned, because blood is shed and peasants starve. The primitive populist in me says "Good-o, because the rich people get knocked back too!" But at the worldwide level things are unfolding now, with the enormous power of destruction at mankind's fingertips, a massive economic reboot might be the end of organised civilisation. That would be a bad thing. It would be nice if we could work things out for the benefit of all people, not just the elites.<br /><br />However, if a lot of rich peoples' heads wind up on pikes too, it won't be all bad. So I figure it's a win either way.Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-53444006701216085892009-04-26T00:13:00.000-07:002009-04-26T00:13:00.000-07:00The problem, Bukko, is that deflation hurts the fi...The problem, Bukko, is that deflation hurts the financial industry a whole lot more than it hurts anybody else because it renders the financial industry insolvent. Bankers fear deflation even more than they fear hyperinflation -- both end up driving money out of banks and thus collapsing them. So I cannot see the notion of "evil bankers deliberately deflating the currency" as being credible. On the other hand, "idiot ideologues acting based on ideology rather than on reality" is a different tale...<br /><br />- Badtux the Reality-based PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-73612081385847704562009-04-25T21:54:00.000-07:002009-04-25T21:54:00.000-07:00Nunya, Tux isn't as conspiracy-minded as those of ...Nunya, Tux isn't as conspiracy-minded as those of us on the Left. But I'm with you on this one -- everything that's happened in the Bush Reign of Error makes sense if you look at it through a "Shock octrine" lens. (And Clinton helped the corporate agenda along too, in a back-slapping, good ol' boy way.)<br /><br />I recall that one of the ostensible reasons for paying interest of FedRes reserves is because banks were whingeing "Oh, it's so unfair that you make us keep money in our vaults and don't pay us anything for doing that." I also think that paying interest on reserves is one of the ways Bernanke thinks he will soak up the excess money he's created by trying to reflate the bubble, once the economy has recovered. As if he could get that right, after getting so much else wrong.<br /><br />But ultimately, it's a mystery. There is so much to learn about these subjects -- like the quantum physics of money. That's why I read your Econ posts and the links (plus lots of other stuff -- I'm getting into a site called "The Automatic Earth" lately that would interest you, Nunz.) I want to know what's at the core of what's happening.<br /><br />And unlike you, Tux, who sees benign management at work, I see evil. Evil that's far evilly-er than Microsoft's brand...Bukko Boomerangerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424677168216647964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-25866275318079466052009-04-25T10:25:00.000-07:002009-04-25T10:25:00.000-07:00sorry, I meant
neoliberal economic policies they ...sorry, I meant<br /><br />neoliberal economic policies they shoved down government's throats in order <I> allow them </I> to borrow money.nunyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08833886980442919570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-47621192619973820002009-04-24T16:10:00.000-07:002009-04-24T16:10:00.000-07:00You still haven't read "The Shock Doctrine" or you...You still haven't read "The Shock Doctrine" or you might be more alarmed at what the Milton Friedmanites actually pulled off in other countries with the neoliberal economic policies they shoved down government's throats in order to borrow money.<br /><br />The Bush administration was alarmed when Latin America told the IMF and the World Bank to go fuck itself.<br /><br />Feudalism.nunyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08833886980442919570noreply@blogger.com