tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post716457221399603192..comments2024-03-06T06:34:42.881-05:00Comments on EconoSpeak: A Simple but Possibly Correct Theory of the Capitalist Financial ProcessUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4900303239154048192.post-15456400103127466002011-09-22T13:34:40.868-04:002011-09-22T13:34:40.868-04:00Is the labor market fairly gauged? With the top on...Is the labor market fairly gauged? With the top one percent receiving 23% of all annual income, one must question the fairness of rewards. Is there truly an equality of opportunity? The current levels of mobility would argue against fairness. Your quandary is a complex problem in a world full of absolute strangers whose level of moral relationship is minimal. In a world full of strangers without conscience to one another's well-being, extending and receiving credit has to be managed by a government authority, democratically authorized, that would gauge the risks. Our recent run-up in debt has been poorly managed. For instance, I read in Jack Rasmus' book Epic Recession that the increase in debt since 1970 saw the financial corporation debt dwarf all other sectors (consumer, government and non-financial corporation). (This is on page 220, if interested, Flow of Funds Report figures) Financial corporations increased their debt by a factor of 47, while the other sectors increased by a factor of 8 to 11, and the financial sector debt also increased as a percentage of GDP from 10% to 123% in 40 years, 1970 to 2007. I'm not sure how that relates, except that credit formation was not a function of economic growth. Then, what caused it? Should the growth have been moderated? In your formulation, there is no obligation for a social wage or mutually shared benefits, not even for clean air and water. But if a subjective moral and social factor is introduced, expressed through government regulations, then the moral constraints are constantly in play. Robin Hahnel describes himself as a libertarian socialist. I wonder what he would say.Ben Leethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14058357566482675649noreply@blogger.com