Do banks benefit the most from more debt ?
Is the fact that Reagan started running up the national debt about the same time unrelated ?
What about the rise of consumer debt ?
I hate to ask a really elementary question, but what does speculating ..on margin mean ? Is that shorting ? What page is it explained on ? Is this the same thing that is done in the commodities futures market, betting against some future price somehow ?
:>).
Was there no pattern of retiring equity before 1982 ? What about raising debt ?
Debt, debt, debt. Is this a predictable pattern in superdeluxe finance capitalism ?
Charles Brown, just full of questions
>>> Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 03/16/99 09:32AM >>>
It confirms the thesis that the stock market doesn't have a lot to do with
financing capital expenditures, that's for sure. It also goes a long way
towards explaining the bull market, at least its most recent phase:
corporate America is speculating in its own stock on margin.
Doug
Charles Brown wrote:
>Is this a paradox ? Does this confirm theses of _Wallstreet_ ?
>
>
>Charles Brown
>
>>>> Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 03/15/99 05:56PM >>>
>More data updates...
>
>In 1998, U.S. nonfinancial firms retired $263 billion in equity (through
>takeovers & buybacks) and added $343 billion in debt. Since 1982, they've
>retired $1.1 trillion in equity and added $2.6 trillion in debt. This has
>been very good for stock prices!