The last thing our society wants is for people to have BASIC FINANCIAL SKILLS.
That would ruin our entire consumer-spending based economy. Wall Street would shake in its boots if people stopped spending on frivolous crap. Entire industries would crumble. The GOP would scream that we are all commie-socialists if we stopped spending. Oh the horror! The horror.
Part of the demands of Occupy Wall Street is repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act. It was enacted after the Great Depression to separate retail and investment banking. It was repealed in 1999. Here is a Frontline article on it- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/wallstreet/weill/demise.html
ReplyDeleteThis may be something that Mr. Savage talked about.
I'm reading the J.B. Say essay and if I understood it correctly I love it. Keynes on the other hand is so confusing and irritating that I want to throw the book at the wall. Is this simplified explanation of Say accurate?
ReplyDeleteWhen a non-producer consumes something, they take a piece of the pie in exchange for money but now the pie is smaller whereas when a producer takes a piece of the pie, they may pay for it with money but they also replace it with the things they produce so the pie actually gets bigger as they consume.
I feel like Keynes is making the pie that is my brain smaller while Say is opening up all sorts of new thinking avenues in the pie that is my brain.
The whole economic community is confused by Keynes yet some of his principles are being applied globally. Bring your questions to class and the discussion should help clear it up.
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