Monday, January 23, 2012

Klaus, you get only partial credit


I know - everyone likes to harumph at the tax eaters in Davos - but this stuff matters.

Those who created this problem are starting to come to grips with it - but they are only talking around the edges. Via Breitbart;
"We have a general morality gap, we are over-leveraged, we have neglected to invest in the future, we have undermined social coherence, and we are in danger of completely losing the confidence of future generations," said Klaus Schwab, host and founder of the annual World Economic Forum.

"Solving problems in the context of outdated and crumbling models will only dig us deeper into the hole.

"We are in an era of profound change that urgently requires new ways of thinking instead of more business-as-usual," the 73-year-old said...
"The main issue would be the preoccupation with the global economy. There will be relatively less conversation about social responsibility and environment issues -- those tend to come to the fore when the economy is doing well," John Quelch, dean of the China European International Business School, told AFP.

"The main conversation will be about a deficit of leadership in Europe as a prime problem," he added.
But here is why this will take a long time to fix. Those at Davos love certain theories - and even after their theories have been beaten silly by a gang on unmerciful facts - they still can't say it right.
Economic and political elites meeting this week at the Swiss resort of Davos will be asked to urgently find ways to reform a capitalist system that has been described as "outdated and crumbling."
...
"...capitalism in its current form, has no place in the world around us."
Now let's back this up a bit. The crisis we are in is caused by two things.
1. Government interference in the home lending market in the USA forcing institutions to led money to those who could not pay it back. That created the toxic asset derivites and the bubble and .... you're living the rest.
2. The unsustainable, unsupportable, and unrealistic promises of the Western Welfare State.

Full stop. Capitalism had nothing to do with this. The core and driving force is big and overreaching government. It isn't captialism, unless you mean crony-capitalism, that needs changing - it is political leadership and structures.

Klaus, you helped create this mess we are in - why don't you retire and let the generation who is going to have to fix it - those Gen-X and younger - take it from here.

19 comments:

bdoran said...

And the global financial system is now the main benficiary of that welfare state.   I don't like either, but bankruptcy came far faster when they needed a bailout.  Of course from their point of view it's an entitlement they paid for, why shouldn't they have their Ponzi funded entitlement, for which we have ruined our money?  

Dr. Grzlickson said...

Were you dropped on your head as a child?

cdrsalamander said...

Why have you gone for so many years leaving your syphilis untreated?

Byron said...

No problem; I have a hammer 8-)

Adversus Omnes Dissident said...

No problem; I have a Ka-Bar.  Can prevent future infection spreading within the general population.

Adversus Omnes Dissident said...

Klaus is a typical liberal: F's up things for everyone, and his solution is that he should have more power to F things up for those not even born yet.  Liberalism: we pay pennance for their sins.

CoRev said...

We have a Prez who thinks that Social/Democratic model is the target for the US.  He also misses the point, along with most libs, tha those successful Soc/Dem countries in todays economy are those with raw resources they export.  Missing that /sarcon/ minor /sarcoff/ point he denies developing our own raw resources.

Aubrey said...

Amen to that....

"Mistakes were made" indeed....

UltimaRatioRegis said...

Pay close attention to the things Schwab says.  They will, with appropriate rephrasing, be parrotted by the Left in this country, especially this Administration, as justification to further destroy capitalism and continuing to build the statist socialist/communist economy that Obammunists desire.  

Skippy-san said...

Spare me the faux outrage. The "austerity crowd" is simply serving as yet another apologist for a system that is nothing more than a race to the bottom; a failed attempt to provide a moral justification for a line of thinking that is fundamentally immoral and wrong. Unregulated capitalism-capitalism that is an enabler of unmitigated and unrestrained greed is a failed model, and is destroying the world order just as surely as any natural disaster.

First, your two assumptions are flawed. It was not the government that created the financial crisis-it was private investment companies who force fed an unreasonable expectation on the part of the general public-that housing can and should be a "get rich quick" scheme. Our own media and our own economists-plus the greed of the investment banks fed that scheme. And when they had a chance to correct it themselves? They chose not to; "They were making too much money"

And second premise is that the idea of bettering one's citizens is a "crushing burden". Its only a crushing burden because the West, as a whole has made a choice to not fund its promises. The resources are there-however it will also mean a general leveling of the playing field and the elites won't have all the toys they lust for to play with.

Unregulated Capitalism had everything to do with the current economic situation-as did a commitment to a series of un paid for wars that have served as a giant drain on the economies of the particpants. The economists who are saying that we need a different model are right-the model that throws a majority of one's citizenry under a bus-so that a small minority can have vast undreamed of riches is flawed from the start.

When you have the NYT's printing articles that provide faint praise for companies like Apple that are benefiting from slave labor-something is definitley wrong. If that is the Gen-X "model, then they deserve any all the scorn that can be heaped upon them.

And the fact that your source is Breitbart......well that's hardly a credible source of anything. Except BS.

Byron said...

So tell us, Skippy, just how would you regulate capitalism so that it wouldn't destroy the "world order"...and where have I heard that term before, "world order"?

cdrsalamander said...

Skippy!

Glad to have you back!  You're still as wrong as two boys kissing; but it's good to see you back on the front porch.

UltimaRatioRegis said...

Case in point, Skippy-nomics, above. 

Adversus Omnes Dissident said...

as wrong as two boys kissing........but apparently that is right for This Man's Navy, Sal?

Adversus Omnes Dissident said...

Skippy, I think that once again you have your kill-chain all out of sorts.  The market exploited opportunities in securities [once they were surreptitiously bundled by Fannie and Freddie in order to enable massive amounts of unsecured, high risk loans to folks who could not otherwise afford home ownership].  When the federal government is running the ponzi scheme, everyone signs up.  The trick is to get out and get yours before the house of cards falls.  Or be a dumbass and don't realize that it is a scheme and lose everything.  Or be a trusting pogue and think that you aren't exposed, and lose everything.

Bottom line: when you conduct the root cause analysis with a degree of fidelity and HONESTY, the culpability lies at the feed of the government.  And, interestingly, government and these firms that you assail have a lot of interchangeable parts (read people) in the Obama administration.  But of course you will never point that out.

Goldman Sachs?

UltimaRatioRegis said...

Because it reflected the personal beliefs of this scuzzy politician. 

Stu said...

Culpability lies with both Big Business and Big Government.  They feed other and when the Keynesian cycle fails, Big Government bails out Big Business with your tax dollars.  Even Obamacare (the younger and bigger brother of Romneycare) is nothing but a Big Governmen to Big Business hookup with both parties eager to play.  

Free markets and private property rights have nothing to do with capitalism.  Walmart and other such big corporations have no interest in giving you a free market and they have no problem using the government to infringe on your property rights for their gain.  

Skippy is correct the current system needs to be rethought.  We are in what Belloc called the Servile State.  To break it requires smaller markets, policies that encourage a wide distribution of land and the means of production and a true respect for property rights.  At the end of the day, we either fix it or it will fix itself through collapse at which point the smaller markets will begin to develop on their own.  Change is inevitable.  Timing is up to us.  

Stu said...

Obama isn't a socialist.  He is a corporatist.  Obamacare doesn't set up a huge government infrastructure with hospitals and federal doctors but rather uses big corporations to do the job.  It's like DOD acquisition for healthcare.  We will now have the Healthcare Industrial Complex.

Big Business and Big Government both win.  

Skippy-san said...

I've been rather busy here in Deutschland. Plus my German is getting a workout dealing with USAA and the Deutsche Versicherung companies. Next time I am taking the train! :(