On Feb 7, 2011, at 2:43 PM, SA wrote:
> On 2/7/2011 2:18 PM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
>> Schumpeter in 1939: "It is one of the most characteristic features of the financial side of capitalist evolution so to ‘mobilize’ all, even the longest, maturities as to make any commitment to a promise of future balances amenable to being in turn financed by any sort of funds and especially by funds available for short time, even overnight, only. This is not mere technique. This is part of the core of the capitalist process."
>
> I'm not sure I fully grasped that (is he just saying bankers will finance anything they think is profitable and will search for the funding wherever they can find it?)
There's no such thing as long-term, patient capital. Borrowing short to lend long is almost foundational to the capitalist system. Which is a way of saying that regulated finance is the anomaly in need of explanation, not the modern deregulated kind.
Doug