guyy

I used to think El Bigote made those little anecdotes up, but just today i overheard a couple Canadians expounding on the immense financial corruption of nuestros Estados Unidos.

I guess the Putzpoint is that any payoffs from derivatives bets have to come from other Players because they are most definitely not coming from any increase in value within the system. In that sense it is like a Ponzi scheme. Now, the difference between Ponzi schemes and things like speculative bubbles seems to be mostly in agency of the schemer and the discourse around the scheme. Some would call it hairsplitting. Like the proverbial blind squirrel, Moustacheputz got something right.

The mode of accumulation during the boom becomes the mechanism of failure in the bust.

What to do?

You mean aside from the immediate aufheben of the commodification of labour?

Well, geez, how about hiring a few more overseers for the SEC out of the ever-swelling ranks of the unemployed? We could just redo the entire structure of New Deal financial regulation that the Reaganites thought sooooo burdensome. Wall Street needs some very tough love. Some bad ass regulatory types might scare those punks straight. Boot camps, weekends in jail before licensing might be a good idea. Dare to discipline!