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OK, so loans taken for purposes of speculation on scarce goods are a Bad Thing. But loans taken to build up real infrastructure and support innovation still see
by thelamest 13y ago
OK, so loans taken for purposes of speculation on scarce goods are a Bad Thing. But loans taken to build up real infrastructure and support innovation still seem to be a very valuable service that the financial industry provides.
- logfromblammo 13y agoAnd they have leveraged this one valuable service into a massive industry that, while still engaged in the valuable service, has also branched out into destructive parasitic services. One cannot remove the parasite, because no effective alternative exists for the necessary and valuable function. So what is to be done? The only plan likely to work even a little bit would be to establish a government bureau of capital and infrastructure investment, such that if the financial industry vanished overnight, the small businesses engine would not putter out. But such an agency would be an obvious target for lobbying, regulatory capture, and personnel rotation to and from the financial industry. They have us over a barrel, and they know it. If lending were abolished entirely, people who would otherwise lend would be forced to buy shares, with all the associated risks of ownership.