Our economy

Yes, the economy belongs to us, though some seem to think that the economy belongs to the fat cats or to the gamers or to those in power, where the majority are just mere resources to be exploited at the will of those who think that they own the economy.

Ah, there have already been several posts related to these themes.

Well, there were some fundamental changes that have appeared since Reagan and probably from before. Some of these are theoretically sound; many others are only an extension of the gaming ontology. So, expect that changing back to something reasonable ought to be on the plate.

For instance, there is much more emphasis on stock ownership as a means to wealth. Hah!! That is a near-zero game, folks. For every example of success that we can hold up, we'll have 100 (probably 1000 or a much larger multiple) or more examples of the down side. Think of it this way; every billionaire has associated with him or her oodles of those who lost. Okay, to be fair, many would have ridden the coat tails and obtained success. But, we need to look at the other side as it is a much larger number, almost a type of leverage.

Actually, that is a leverage number that we need to describe as part of the argument against 'the market' of the idealogues (mostly rogues wanting enrichment at the expense of others - yes). One question is how can we ever get the needed accounting; that hedge funds, and some others, want no oversight (or regulation) confound the issue.

Two articles this week touch upon the problem. In one, the question is raised: how good is the market in the long run (Business Week) for wealth building? Well, it's good in a very long run. For the individual investor, we must really look at better ways (we'll have to go further into issues of casino capitalism and more).

For another example (WSJ) of the problems that we face, consider this. Take an insurance company that wants to offer reasonably priced and benefited annuities. Well, the mathematics is fairly plain. How leveraging of the negative sort became so wide-spread is just indicative of our continual wishing for the easy way (quick bucks, etc.). Now, how is the insurance company supposed to found the annuities that it has to sell competitively since there are others making similar offers?

One current means is via stock. Okay. Now, the market supporting the stock has become more gamed by casino capitalism than by real concern for the future. Annuities are long term instruments. How are they to be covered with short-term wealth goals? What does the company do if it needs to pay out when the market is down?

The answer to that question wasn't clear yet needs some consideration.

Well, expect more of this same type of thing. We'll get technical, too, in order to show how the claims seen here in this blog, that mathematics has been mis-used, developed.

Remarks:

10/13/2011 -- Finally, something like OWS.

05/17/2011 -- Golden sacks (leftmost mug), by Rolling Stone and Daily Ticker.

01/27/2010 -- It's really ca-pital-sino.

10/11/2009 -- Discussion has gone over to FED-aerated. Note the 10/11/2009 Remarks about the Business Week article on India's progress' inhibitors. 'Near zero' recognizes that some always suffer more than others, especially in win-win situations, as the whole notion of characterization minimizes visceral reactions by diminishing the real in favor of the abstracted (ah, the modern world, you say?).

08/18/2009 -- As promised, FEDaerated is here.

03/30/2009 -- Near-zero will be looked at more closely.

01/18/2009 - We even need to look at why we need finance.

12/01/2008 -- We need to learn what we might be taught about money by Islamic Finance.

11/12/2008 - a few more words and links were added to this important subject.

Modified: 10/13/2011