crony capitalism and the end of the american dream

[MarketMasher]

China and Russia never had/has Communism.

China and Russia has guys wanting power to control their society and live pretty well while doing it....

Hmmmm...sounds familiar.....

Anyway, a question came up in another forum, which basically asked

If the Fed provides the cheapest money to big banks, who can then use it to turn "profits" which can then be used to buy politicians via campaign contributions, isn't the Fed circumventing democracy?"

Oh yeah - the question came from the Dimon "hearings" - and the number of Senators who licked his balls while he was there...

http://www.thenation.com/blog/168397/senators-suck-jamie-dimon-get-paid-it

 

[Jai]

Hasn't been done http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/j...ailed-capitalism-has-not-recently-been-tried/

 

[piezoe]

Quote from Jai:

Hasn't been done http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/j...ailed-capitalism-has-not-recently-been-tried/

I like Delingpoles ideas immensely. But he goes very far wrong not to realize that capitalism is still at least alive in Great Britain, though a bit short of breath, and not only alive in the USA but flourishing in the most capitalistic country the world has yet known. It's no exaggeration to say that we Yanks have perfected capitalism -- at least one form of it, the most pernicious.

Delingpoles thesis of capitalism having been not recently tried is laughable. What we're experiencing in the USA, and to a lesser extent in Great Britain, at the moment, is not Delingpoles imaginary "laissez faire, self-correcting, authentic, free-market capitalism," but a corrupt and authentic form thereof -- capitalism nevertheless.

So what he meant, of course, is that that impossible form of capitalism known as "laissez faire, self-correcting, free-market capitalism" has "not recently been tried." Well, of course not! And there is a very good reason why.

It is impossible for the laissez faire government temperament to coexist with self-correcting capitalism for any length of time whatsoever. These are prima facie incompatible. Why on Earth would there be an interest in "self correction" if one is permitted to do whatever one likes? Capitalists by their very nature abhor "free markets." And correctly so! Their role is one of accumulating capital and controlling the means of production. Their job does not involve "self-correction" nor being nice. And to the extent they do or are, it is mere coincidence or self-serving. Capitalist run corporations will not self-correct their excesses, but will, if left alone, metamorph into monopolies, cartels, and ultimately corporate fascism, where capital is used to control government and turn it to their own devices -- the very government whose job it is to protect free markets from the capitalists!

Delingpole lays out a role for government that if adhered to would result in a rather utopian condition, one that we all might hope for. This ideal Delingpolian state could only be achieved provided government , at the minimum, plays its proper and difficult role of preserving free markets from capitalist invasion. And what government, at the moment, is doing a really bang up job of that? None that I can think of, but a few are doing rather better then others.

I'm sorry to say that in Mr. Delingpole mind exists an impossible jumble of laissez faire capitalism and free markets, that can never be "self-correcting".

 

[4thaugust1932]

There is only about ~900 billion paper and coin dollars.
There is about ~14 trillion dollars worth of credit supplied by banks.
There is about ~55 trillion dollars in total debt, again, supplied by banks.
What backs the dollar is the faith that the 14 trillion dollars will some day pay the 55 trillion dollars off.
Looks like US is operating a Ponzi/Pyramid/Heads I win Tails You lose scam on global scale since Nixon Shock.