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Economic morality : Comments
By Sinclair Davidson, published 29/2/2008Some parts of the current financial crisis are due to private sector failures. Yet the major culprit is government policy failure.
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Posted by Ho Hum, Friday, 29 February 2008 11:15:24 AM
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Nothing is straightforward simple and easy and economics is probably near the top of the list. We live in a materialistic, free and capitalistic society in which obviously government has a part to play, but the more controls imposed always seem to have a down-side with often an opposite and equal reaction. What is needed is a bit more education on economics in school so that kids can grow up aware of some of the consequences, and investment pit falls regarding money and finance, together with the benefits that investment and saving may bring.
Posted by snake, Friday, 29 February 2008 3:31:42 PM
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Where is the economic morality in removing fish the consumer price index? Fish used to be a low cost staple food but no longer due to collapse of abundant supply. How can honest economists assess needs of people at the bottom of the economy when the CPI has been tampered with to hide real trends? How can the Reserve Bank know what is causing inflation when the past and probably present price of fish has been rising five times faster than the price of red meat and poultry? Is it morally correct to report thriving mineral-boom figures at the top of the economy while hiding the plight of people at the bottom of the economy? When the Reserve Bank increases interest rates and borrowers pay the extra, who receives the money?
Posted by JF Aus, Friday, 29 February 2008 7:31:40 PM
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Dear SNAKE....
I agree..that nothing is so elusively confusing as economics. But there are some basic principles which we should always consider. i.e... the theological aspect. A free market is a good thing. A FM without conscience is as bad as it gets. People who know in their heart of hearts that "If its 'legal' then its ok" and have no hint of the divine spark in their mental outlook, will stop at nothing, not just to 'become pre-eminent' in their chosen field of commerce, but also to destroy any and all opposition to them. When the Sassoon family was happily selling death and destruction to the Chinese in the form of opium.... they whined and whinged about Chinese opposition to the British Crown (who was also reaping huge profits from the Sassoon activity), who promptly sent gunboats to squash the Chinese mandarins to realized the havoc opium was causing to the national social fabric. The Sassoons went further..they demanded compensation for all the opium lost by the actions of the Chinese. "Treaty of Nanking" was the result. We have the same 'Sassoon' attitude in perhaps most high powered corporate board rooms. People can only think and act in such inconscienable ways, when they: a) Are disconnected from the ethics of the Almighty. b) Have the power to do as they wish. On such occasions.. Gore Vidals famous quotation is absolutely true. "They invented a god in their own image" Had the Sassoons...who built synagogues for their community in China and India.. who were lauded as 'great humanitarians and benevolent citizens' read any of the Prophets...Isaiah, Jeremiah..Amos...Haggai.. they would have humbled themselves in sackcloth and ashes. Jesus said "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes." I have a feeling Jesus also says "Woe to you Sassoons..woe to you in the corporate boardrooms" Posted by BOAZ_David, Saturday, 1 March 2008 6:28:37 AM
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Adam Smith was right when he wrote the Wealth of Nations. Free Trade is the reason why as a species we have been able to increase our wealth. Problems arise when free trade transactions no longer work as they should. Problems also arise when the information we use to evaluate trades do not include all the information we need to conduct the trade. When these instruments break down then people characterise the activities of people who take advantage of the distortions to be acting in an immoral way.
The trick is to make sure that when people who are aware of the distortions in the market and do not take steps to correct them but rather take advantage of the distortions are excluded from further participation in the market. For example the punishment for price fixing should be that the directors and major shareholders of such companies are excluded from further participation in the market. Major shareholders have to sell their shares and all board members are excluded from participating as board members of this or any other company in the same market. For example if a company such as Telstra deliberately and knowingly restricts access to its infrastructure for purely restricted trade practices then the punishment is the same. If the government abuses is control of a water authority by using it as a taxing agent then the government is forced to give ownership back to the community and give all existing customers shares in the water authority. If banks refuse to allow instantaneous transfers of authorised funds transfers then the same punishments apply. It may not be easy to define and prove distortions of fair markets but the threat of draconian punishments for those who do will be enough to stop most unfair practices that some call "immoral actions" Posted by Fickle Pickle, Saturday, 1 March 2008 2:34:57 PM
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We are NOW in a world economic climate that urgently needs us to get real about what Hayek might have meant about the “Abuse and Decline of Reason”. His noted concepts need to be put back in their original context as written and was received during Hayeks own lifetime. I claim “liberty” too, against the world’s unreasonable desk of problems. To me it appears opposite to the version of “Liberal” dynamic, the treadmill we are being held unfairly at ransomed to and grooved by.
Within the global stock market there is an ugly political satire going on. It sits on old and new financial definitions of finance not economics. I claim that my own forefathers are being taken unjustly out of context and quoted on a grubby granulated spreadsheet that has nothing to do “market freedoms” but deviled by dog eat dog. There is no dignity in delusive multifaceted share grafting inflation making. Why? The language in economics must be up-dated in a manner fitting with the modern situation. I.e.: what is meant by a planned economy is as it says. Citizens expect this from government. This is not as some infer; permission for a Stalin approach, (get over it Australia) to demand a ‘command economy’ but rather something that ought to become more willfully balanced, meaningful as “free trade”. Bluntly it is about ensuring ‘liberty’ and ‘freedom’ for people, and those not yet born. For anyone who doubts the need for strong measured leadership to curb pressure in ‘day to day’ economics’ I advise you read Paul Wolleys transcript “Global finance: big, bloated and dangerous”. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bigideas/stories/2008/2149972.htm It is not hard to imagine the fall of markets and how nasty this will look if no swift action is taken to counter-act the obvious. In terms of “snobbery” there is no argument in Australia. The way the banks treat individuals is giving “humanity” itself a bad name. Does the Political Will exist? We are on notice. Is it not the everyday economic spreadsheet that could save us, if only we were that interested? http://www.miacat.com/ . Posted by miacat, Saturday, 1 March 2008 11:22:33 PM
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And that the mega-trillions of money involved in such totally non-productive activities far exceeds by huge amounts the actual monies being invested in productive entereprises and activities that produce real long-term wealth.
Naomi Klein told us how the system works in The Shock Doctrine---the applied gospel of Hayek/Friedman who are the patron saints of the IPA.
The IPA makes me sick to the stomach.