Weekend Economists Revelations and Reviews April 26-28, 2013

[DemReadingDU]

44. PonziWorld: Ground and Pound On Global Ponzi Capitalism

4/27/13 PonziWorld: Ground and Pound On Global Ponzi Capitalism

Paul Farrell went all in on Ponzi Capitalism. Then Shedlock went after Farrell for some reason. Now I am going to tear Shedlock a new asshole...
Notice, as always, the key facts were never refuted.

Paul Farrell asserted that there was a 340% increase in the number of billionaires in 13 years, even as the poverty statistics for the U.S. went likewise parabolic. Shedlock made no comment on that stat, apparently, that's all good.
Then, the first point Shedlock made was that Paul Farrell "does not know what capitalism is" - apparently "the free market would not allow fractional reserve lending".

None of us know what "free market capitalism is", because fractional reserve lending came into being in 1913 - 100 years ago. We've all lived "in the bubble" our entire lives.

Then Shedlock goes after the Fed - rightly so - for creating distorted incentives. But he never tackles greed. He never tells us how to solve that problem. I ask this fundamental question - did Hush Puppy-wearing clueless academics in positions of power in the U.S. create the underlying corruption in this system. Or was it special interest groups seeking untoward gains and massive short-term profits, that corrupted the system? Which came first? This is the fundamental question at hand.
And, worst of all, Shedlock never mentions Globalization. He never tells us how American workers are supposed to compete with Chinese wage slaves who have no environmental or labour standards and who are trying to commit suicide, but can't because there are fucking trampolines installed around their buildings.

I don't go in for these philosophical debates, and clearly we are talking about two different things. Paul Farrell and this blog are excoriating ponzi capitalism such as it exists today and has existed for the past forty years. Shedlock is yearning for some bygone era that has never existed in his lifetime, but almost certainly exists on paper somewhere. The bottom line is that you can tell me all day that some version of "capitalism" is great, but then you better figure out how to feed the children. Because only a deluded out-of-touch apologist for greed doesn't know what happens if you don't feed the children. And while we are at it, we need a system that rewards hard work. Because clearly the globalized ponzi scheme rewards the hardest-working people the least, another factor Shedlock never addresses. In the end, what "ism" that eventually system gets us to, is strictly a philosophical diversion.

a bit more...
http://www.ponziworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/double-take-down-on-global-ponzi.html