On Jul 6, 2008, at 9:32 AM, Marvin Gandall wrote:
> I've only read press commentary on the BIS report, so maybe I
> shouldn't have
> ventured a (qualified) opinion about it at:
>
> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/pipermail/marxism/2008-July/031004.html
I don't think the BIS is circulating a scare story at all. I think they're very serious about the urgency of putting an end to business as usual - meaning what I've been calling the cycle of boom, bubble, bust, and bailout. I suspect they're reflecting the thinking of ECB types - but it's going to be hard to get the Fed to go along. As a friend says, it seems like the American elite is afraid of seeing a single negative quarter on GDP. The Volcker years were about disciplining the working class. Now, austerity would be about disciplining our profligate upper class, since the working class is hardly living high on the hog. That's a totally different story.
Doug