On Economic Basics: Investment and Trading; Free Trade and Regulation; Revenue and Deficits; Capital and Labor (1 Viewer)

[Felis Leo]

Without debt financing this earnings gap would be entirely unlivable.

Debt financing to overcome the earnings gap only prolongs the inevitable. Eventually, once people's ability to earn wanes, they have to come and see consumer bankruptcy lawyers like me.

 

[bomberfox]

Debt financing to overcome the earnings gap only prolongs the inevitable. Eventually, once people's ability to earn wanes, they have to come and see consumer bankruptcy lawyers like me.

I had no idea that was your job

 

[Felis Leo]

I had no idea that was your job

Yep. The misery of the victims of our predatory lending system I have seen could fill a book. But, you know, attorney-client confidentiality and all that.

 

[NWRatCon]

They have improved the core countries but i would argue that the countries that are on the periphery have rather varying results, some have not seen any improvement at all. The debt, massive privatization, and forbidding industry supports have crushed many countries.

I'd be interested in your opinion on which countries have not gained.

 

[bomberfox]

I'd be interested in your opinion on which countries have not gained.

Many African countries, countries that have been under multi decade embargos, sweatshop workers, anywhere where nestle owns the water supply, etc. the metrics we use to say who has gained tend to be not very well thought out. Some of these things are features, not a bug.

 

[NWRatCon]

Many African countries, countries that have been under multi decade embargos, sweatshop workers, anywhere where nestle owns the water supply, etc. the metrics we use to say who has gained tend to be not very well thought out. Some of these things are features, not a bug.

You raise a couple of interesting points. First is the lack of credible metrics. As the interviewee noted in another thread, it's hard to get this information, especially when the country is poor. So data sets are difficult to piece together. Second is a point touched on briefly earlier, relative deprivation. In some circumstances, poor people don't "know" they're poor, because they have nothing to compare it to. In others, the disparity is obvious to all parties (such as in Gaza, or under apartheid). From such, conflicts proceed.

 

[bomberfox]

You raise a couple of interesting points. First is the lack of credible metrics. As the interviewee noted in another thread, it's hard to get this information, especially when the country is poor. So data sets are difficult to piece together. Second is a point touched on briefly earlier, relative deprivation. In some circumstances, poor people don't "know" they're poor, because they have nothing to compare it to. In others, the disparity is obvious to all parties (such as in Gaza, or under apartheid). From such, conflicts proceed.

Yeah i was more alluding to the reasons people like Steven Pinker are wrong because they use bad metrics and methodology, thats different than difficulty.