Friday, September 4, 2020

Strange Times


Just read through a couple of articles in the Economist.
They are worried that we have entered a new era of economic
policy with no safeguards: governments have stepped in to create money
and keep economies going. And that means that markets are no longer
operating to determine what is worth keeping and what should fail.

conomist.com/leaders/2020/07/23/governments-must-beware-the-lure-of-free-money?utm_campaign=the-economist-this-week&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_content=body-text-link&utm_term=2020-07-23

They have also documented the rise of shadow banks, which make
the investments that banks no longer touch, now that they are being
more prudent following the crash of 2008.

https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/07/25/banks-lose-out-to-capital-markets-when-it-comes-to-credit-provision

Fine, I like a good story.

Meanwhile, the cultural liveliness of cities is biting the dust.

The pandemic and confinement policies are the worst kind of market discipline
ever for live culture: wholesale chaos, a hurricane with no tomorrow. People working
in this sector are creatives, not particularly profit sharks.  And there are no Nancy
Pelosi_s ready to spring for a night at the Club with a couple of bands. That too
is a reality. Stange times, indeed.



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