$2.59 trillion sitting uninvested in bank accounts...
... while many workers struggle to afford the basics of life, let alone "luxuries" like a night out. This hurts them, but also the businesses who sell those things. The grocery stores throwing out unsold food. The cinemas screening films to 2 people per session.
This is what happens when economies don't redistribute enough money to workers. Living standards of drop, and productive businesses suffer.
@feld
There are a lot of ways I could respond to this, but just quickly...
> that's not a lot of money
That 2.59T is just one example of the Smaug hoards that pile up when the economy is rigged - in a multitude of ways - to take wealth from workers and give it to capitalists.
Yes, I think it would fix a lot of stuff if we unrigged the economy, and stopped capitalists hoarding money in places like private equity firms, so it could go to...
> workers struggle to afford the basics of life
@feld
The private equity system is incredibly corrosive to sustainable business, quality, working conditions, etc;
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/are-private-equity-firms-plundering-the-u-s-economy/
It would be more economically beneficial to set $2.59 trillion on fire (a la The KLF), than to let private equity firms get it.
"Sun Capital - a #PrivateEquity firm - bought up ShopCo and then required ShopCo to sell all of its physical stores and then lease the stores back in perpetuity. Now you can see how that would make a lot of sense if you're a short term investor; you get the initial pop of the sale. But it's tough for the long term investor, because it used to have assets that it could rely on, now it's saddled with these long term lease obligations..."
#BrendanBallou, 2023
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/are-private-equity-firms-plundering-the-u-s-economy/
I note that neoliberal parties do a similar thing in government; selling buildings that house the offices of public services, and making public service entities lease offices instead. The income from the sales makes the books look much healthier while they're in government, but in the long term those leases cost the public far more than the maintenance of publicly-owned buildings.
@feld
> You're not addressing the root cause
I'm pretty sure that was covered by...
> the economy is rigged - in a multitude of ways - to take wealth from workers and give it to capitalists
But by all means, educate me.
@feld
> all these symptoms are from monetary policy which enable the resulting behaviors
What exactly do you mean by "monetary policy"?
Me:
> What exactly do you mean by "monetary policy"?
To be more specific;
(a) what makes a policy "monetary" by the definition you're using here?
(b) what "monetary policy" has been dominant for the past few decades
(c) how do you think that policy caused the "symptoms" we've been duscussing?
@feld
> Until we fix the money nothing else matters
What would that fix look like in your mind?
@feld
> ending government issued fiat
Best of luck with that. I would have thought the crypto-token experiment would be enough to demonstrate the flaws in that line of thinking.
@feld
> if you really believe democracy works you should believe the people can demand this change
Sure, but that's not really the point. Let's review. You're say that"fiat money" is the root cause of symptoms like economic inequality etc, and getting rid of it is the first step to "fix the money".
What I'm saying is that as crypto demonstrated nicely over the last decade, trying to decentralise money in isolation from all the other systemic forces it's tied into doesn't work.
(1/3)
@feld
> During COVID American households accumulated 2.4T in savings
The pandemic was a special case. Lockdowns made it more difficult to spend money, while creating a sense of insecurity in people living close to the breadline, making us more imclined to hoard any we did get (I noticed about year ago that I had been). In general, workers only save for future costs or purchases (eg car repairs, dental visits, mortgage deposits), not just for the sake of seeing more digits on bank statements.
Strypey
feld
