Getting schooled on the economy
Silence.
That's what you hear coming from the hallways of places like The Ivey Business school at UWO. The Ivey Profs must be far too busy rewriting their courses to jive with the new economy to show themselves in public. Either that or their egos can't withstand the series of professional insults that have happened since the global economic “meltdown” began dominating the nightly news.
Before this “global economic crisis” wiped every other story off the map, it was likely possible to get an Ivey Prof to speak his or her mind on how the economy operates or should be run. And I'd bet my last bag of beer cans that the Profs at Ivey would have laughed in the face of a person who suggested the only way to save the world's business communities would be for the public - that's you, taxpayer - to give money to the financial sector to “stop the bleeding” on the stock markets.
In classic free market economic theory such moves are called “government interference” and are frowned upon. There are very few businesspeople today who believe that the government should participate in the marketplace... Until the greedy fuckers are faced with going broke, or losing some money, then they turn around and blame everyone but themselves, while ensuring their pals in government are greasing the rails for a fast infusion of taxpayer money. After all, many politicians come from the business world - trust them... they know how business and government work together.
Canadians need to understand the scope of what's happened over the past several months. Essentially the fabric of how the world's developed economies are run has been torn to shreds and will now be sewn back together like a patchwork quilt by the same group of crooks and pet politicians who created the crisis in the first place.
In Canada we've been shielded from the majority of these troubles because our banking system is solid. In fact, it's probably the envy of the world right now. But imagine if you were an American. Imagine going to your bank and seeing a For Rent sign on the window. The financial system in the US essentially has no money. None. That's why the US government put together a $700 billion bail-out together, on top of so many $20 and $25 billion loans to large, totally trustworthy companies like GE and the auto manufacturers and investment firms, that I honestly lost count.
The latest out of Washington is that there needs to be another injection of money, to stabilize the global stock markets. Again. Hard to say what kind of numbers will be tossed around this time.
Will a trillion be enough?
What's impossible to predict is how stock markets are going to respond. We cheer when the markets go up, and feel sick when they tumble. Problem is, no one really knows how any of this shit works, not even the people who are professional economists and biz pros like Ivey Profs. If they had answers they'd be able to communicate such information. But they can't or won't. No one wants to admit the stock market runs on brute speculation, geared towards return on investment. In other words: making money by doing nothing but having money, or by borrowing money (leveraging, in biz terms) and investing in the hope that you'll make a profit by guessing right, never mind what the company you're investing in makes, or does - just guess that it'll make more money this year than last and you are worthy of an MBA from Ivey....
I shit you not - that's how it works.
Mix in the modern speed of communications with an endless onslaught of “economic experts” and PR people and pretty media people to toss softballs to these biz-world meat puppets on TV, and you've got the recipe for a confused population, expertly prepped to allow their governments to invest trillions of tax payer dollars into the same markets that are happily creating the largest wealth gaps in the history of human organization.
So our government, and the US government, tosses money at the monied class who've been riding a stock market boom for so long they've forgotten what it's like to lose money... or your job. Or be dependant on international aid to eat half your meals.
If anyone out there could tell me whether their Ivey Profs are showing up to class...and maybe what they're teaching these days... I'd appreciate it. A mass sabbatical wouldn't be very sporting right now, would it?
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
That's what you hear coming from the hallways of places like The Ivey Business school at UWO. The Ivey Profs must be far too busy rewriting their courses to jive with the new economy to show themselves in public. Either that or their egos can't withstand the series of professional insults that have happened since the global economic “meltdown” began dominating the nightly news.
Before this “global economic crisis” wiped every other story off the map, it was likely possible to get an Ivey Prof to speak his or her mind on how the economy operates or should be run. And I'd bet my last bag of beer cans that the Profs at Ivey would have laughed in the face of a person who suggested the only way to save the world's business communities would be for the public - that's you, taxpayer - to give money to the financial sector to “stop the bleeding” on the stock markets.
In classic free market economic theory such moves are called “government interference” and are frowned upon. There are very few businesspeople today who believe that the government should participate in the marketplace... Until the greedy fuckers are faced with going broke, or losing some money, then they turn around and blame everyone but themselves, while ensuring their pals in government are greasing the rails for a fast infusion of taxpayer money. After all, many politicians come from the business world - trust them... they know how business and government work together.
Canadians need to understand the scope of what's happened over the past several months. Essentially the fabric of how the world's developed economies are run has been torn to shreds and will now be sewn back together like a patchwork quilt by the same group of crooks and pet politicians who created the crisis in the first place.
In Canada we've been shielded from the majority of these troubles because our banking system is solid. In fact, it's probably the envy of the world right now. But imagine if you were an American. Imagine going to your bank and seeing a For Rent sign on the window. The financial system in the US essentially has no money. None. That's why the US government put together a $700 billion bail-out together, on top of so many $20 and $25 billion loans to large, totally trustworthy companies like GE and the auto manufacturers and investment firms, that I honestly lost count.
The latest out of Washington is that there needs to be another injection of money, to stabilize the global stock markets. Again. Hard to say what kind of numbers will be tossed around this time.
Will a trillion be enough?
What's impossible to predict is how stock markets are going to respond. We cheer when the markets go up, and feel sick when they tumble. Problem is, no one really knows how any of this shit works, not even the people who are professional economists and biz pros like Ivey Profs. If they had answers they'd be able to communicate such information. But they can't or won't. No one wants to admit the stock market runs on brute speculation, geared towards return on investment. In other words: making money by doing nothing but having money, or by borrowing money (leveraging, in biz terms) and investing in the hope that you'll make a profit by guessing right, never mind what the company you're investing in makes, or does - just guess that it'll make more money this year than last and you are worthy of an MBA from Ivey....
I shit you not - that's how it works.
Mix in the modern speed of communications with an endless onslaught of “economic experts” and PR people and pretty media people to toss softballs to these biz-world meat puppets on TV, and you've got the recipe for a confused population, expertly prepped to allow their governments to invest trillions of tax payer dollars into the same markets that are happily creating the largest wealth gaps in the history of human organization.
So our government, and the US government, tosses money at the monied class who've been riding a stock market boom for so long they've forgotten what it's like to lose money... or your job. Or be dependant on international aid to eat half your meals.
If anyone out there could tell me whether their Ivey Profs are showing up to class...and maybe what they're teaching these days... I'd appreciate it. A mass sabbatical wouldn't be very sporting right now, would it?
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
