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Originally Posted by roachboy
the origin of this is collapsing house values in the united states, then what do you think should or even can be done to address this?
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if the problem is that the mortgage crisis has happened because unregulated lending practices has exposed the banking system to the social consequences of the reconfiguration of production under neoliberalism, to the wobbliness of the distribution of decent=paying jobs, to the untenability over even the medium term of the american model of doing things as it has unfolded since reagan, what should be done?what do you think should be undertaken at this point?
from where you sit, how would you think the problems we are watching unfold on tv as this mini-series i like to call "the financial catastrophe show"--should be approached.
how far would intervention have to go to stabilize things?
what direction should we be heading in?
personally, i think not only is neo-liberalism done but the era of the nation-state is probably cooked as well, so we are basically confronting a situation that will result in some new forms of transnational regulation, which will require some new forms of transnational enforcement.
so whaddya think?
have a cup of joe and be bravely speculative about this.
it's not like what we think matters in the bigger scheme of things, so we should be free with it.
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First I'd like to vent a little. I am sick of hearing Forbes, Buffet, and other financial pundits on the news shows saying that the drop in real estate values is the reason behind this credit crunch. They act like this is some kind of unforeseen event as if we were hit by lightening or something when it was obvious to many of us that prices were way out of line. How in the hell could those in charge of these companies not know this? I guess the answer is that they did know and continued to make/buy shaky loans anyway for reasons that must have benefited them.
Then the pundits say that no one knows how long this will last because they don't know how much lower real estate will go. Is it so hard to figure out that prices will drop to the point where the average person can afford them?
As far as what to do now that we are in this mess, I guess the "Magical Dept Absorbtion Machine" is necessary to stop a short term free fall in the markets. Capitalism is supposed to reward those who make good decisions and punish those who make bad decisions. I know this probably doesn't jive with the "neoliberalism" view but I wish there was some way to at least make those responsible for these loans, tranches, derivatives etc.. take some losses like the rest of us.