Friday, April 04, 2008

Sad State of US Economy

Kevin Phillips writes about the rise of finance as an industry in the United States - and its consequences to the economy. I have seen this development over the last thirty years in America: accumulation of debt and unsustainable consumerism that is bringing down the dollar and making investments worthless. The real price of goods is going up and out of reach for many. The official sources don't like to mention inflation, but as Kevin Phillips states, inflation may be a lot higher than the official number of 2-4%.
--- T

"Nor was it an economic accident. Computerization was a prequisite, as was the rise of financial mathematics. However, I would say that the two most important underpinnings of financialization lay in the rise of public and private debt as a mainstay of American culture and economics and the perpetual liquidity and bail-out support of the Federal Reserve Board under Alan Greenspan. During Greenspan's 1987-2005 tenure, the sum of public and private debt in the United States quadrupled from just over $10 trillion to $43 trillion. Finance became the industry that was not allowed to fail but was permitted to enlarge and metastasize its behavior almost at will. Regulation was minimal. Favoritism was omnipresent."
Kevin Phillips

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