> But higher corporate debt bought back equity in a context in which
> P/E ratios were, through the 1990s, at historic highs. It's still a
> speculative-cum-Ponzi phenomenon (in the strict Minskyian sense), no?
The profit upsurge in the US isn't just foam, it's been broadly supported by lower interest rates (in real terms, the Fed has loosened considerably since the hypermonetarist 1980s). And that corporate debt is being financed by massive inflows of low-cost capital from Japan and the EU. Interestingly, the US boom didn't really take off until 1996, the exact same point that the new metropoles began to lower interest rates in a serious way. Of course, now that Bananamerica is joining South Africa in the neocolonial camp, it's likely the dollar will experience the joys of rand-ification in the near future.
Are the EU banks beginning to horn in on S. Africa's finance biz, the way BBVA and BSCH bought up the finance sector of Argentina, or is the ANC resisting this?
-- Dennis