Dear Sirs, Over the past few months, the very people that for decades have explained to us that governments were incompetent and had to be shrunk had no recourse but to go to the government for money, guarantees and action when they drowned in a mess of their own making. From this, it would appear obvious that (i) governments play a valuable role and thus cannot be continually deprived of the resources they need to fulfil those functions, and (ii) those that consistently pushed an across-the-board anti-government agenda should perhaps now be recognised as shill extremists, rather than serious and worthy participants in the public discourse. Further, it would be worthwhile to ponder what could be done with an investment of a trillion or so euros of public money in things like energy efficiency, public transportation, housing or poverty reduction. All of these things create massive positive externalities that benefit society as a whole, and would be especially helpful as we face the banker-caused economic downturn, collapsing real estate sector and high energy prices. If we can justify sending a trillion € down the rabbit hole to chase incompetent bankers that threaten to take us down with them as "investment", then we surely can actually invest in the economy in ways that will benefit all and not just a greedy few. With regards, [signed, etc.]
Over the past few months, the very people that for decades have explained to us that governments were incompetent and had to be shrunk had no recourse but to go to the government for money, guarantees and action when they drowned in a mess of their own making. From this, it would appear obvious that (i) governments play a valuable role and thus cannot be continually deprived of the resources they need to fulfil those functions, and (ii) those that consistently pushed an across-the-board anti-government agenda should perhaps now be recognised as shill extremists, rather than serious and worthy participants in the public discourse.
Further, it would be worthwhile to ponder what could be done with an investment of a trillion or so euros of public money in things like energy efficiency, public transportation, housing or poverty reduction. All of these things create massive positive externalities that benefit society as a whole, and would be especially helpful as we face the banker-caused economic downturn, collapsing real estate sector and high energy prices. If we can justify sending a trillion € down the rabbit hole to chase incompetent bankers that threaten to take us down with them as "investment", then we surely can actually invest in the economy in ways that will benefit all and not just a greedy few.
With regards, [signed, etc.]
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
Maybe someone can also post a link to ET and this post over on Gideon Rachman's blog? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
