Here’s my Weekly Whiff of Economic $cents:
“Yet each turn of the spiral gives rise to similar questions about the nature and purpose of an economy. How much inequality can be tolerated? When bets go sour and the economy nosedives, who gets bailed out and who are left to fend for themselves? At what point does an economy imperil itself politically, as large numbers conclude that the game is rigged against them? Most fundamentally, what and whom is an economy for?”
Excerpt above from: Reich, Robert B. AFTERSHOCK – The Next Economy and America’s Future, Alfred A. Knopf New York, New York Copyright © 2010 by Robert B. Reich, p.4.
ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. , He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into twenty two languages, and the best seller Super capitalism. His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. He is also cofounding editor of the American Prospect magazine and provides weekly commentaries on public radio’s Marketplace. He lives in Berkeley and blogs at www.robertreich.org.
Capitalism works only when institutions are forced to absorb the consequences of the risks that they take on. When banks can pocket the upside while spreading the cost of their failures, failure is almost certain. P.13.
Mallaby is clearly not a proponent of “privatizing the gains and socializing the losses.”
Excerpt above from: Mallaby, Sebastian More Money Than God – Hedge Funds And The Making of a New Elite, Penguin Press, New York, NY Copyright © 2010 by Sebastian Mallaby. p.13.
