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If global capitalism is a game called Who Is In Debt To Who And By How Much, then it has got a bit out of hand. Being honest, most of the countries in the world won't ever pay their debts off. Which is just what the lenders want of course. How to solve this? Simple. Make the cost of handling the
debt payment increase, so that the chances of the debt being written off go up. As a side bonus it'd revalue hard currency and give lots of burly people jobs handling sacks full of change.
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I agree. Also, every time I see the title I imagine a tiny bourse crammed with flukes bidding on liver futures. Just can't shake it. |
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"Who is in debt to WHOM and by how much" |
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As I understand it, PS, the usual argument is that the international lenders are acting more like loan sharks or high-rate credit-card companies. It's in the lender's interest to keep the debtor from significantly reducing their debt, because the lender makes money on the interest. "Benefiting from your hard work and good ideas" is a nice phrase, but it doesn't completely describe capitalism... there's no mention of capital in that phrase, for example. |
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[wiml]: From dictionary.com: 'cap·i·tal·ism (kp-tl-zm)
n. An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.' No mention of the word there, either.
Also extending the logic of your 'original argument', there's no obligation to use high-rate lenders, but if you do, read the small print first. If you don't like it, go elsewhere. |
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Supporters of capitalism are as guilty of utopian idealism as supporters of socialism. Both are blinded to the hideous realities of human nature. Both systems have their up sides and down sides, but I'll allow that capitalism does tend toward the reward for work ethic. This is fine and good, but we should all acknowledge that counter-balancing social regulation is an absolute must in this system to prevent the inevitable abuse. "Go somewhere else" is also a nice phrase, but it doesn't fly in reality, because the profit motive bears no responsibility to the human condition. We as thinking thoughtful folks can curb the abuses we see perpetrated by the heartless profit motive with regulation: by saying, no, you can't spare expenses by dumping your toxic waste in our wetlands, and no, you can't spare expenses by taking advantage of the third world dictator's greedy willingness to exploit his people by keeping their wages down to fourteen cents a day while raking in the rest of the money he gets for agreeing to do business with your shoe company. |
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Speaking as a non-parasite, I'd like to add my fishbone to the pile. I'll be buggered if I'm going to walk around all day with pockets full of change. |
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Good point DrBob... now is it me or should this be in a diferent category? |
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Pedant Watch: In the UK 1p and 2p coins are legal tender up to a maximum of 20p and other coins are legal tender up to a sum of (I think) £20. So receipients of huge bags of coins can theoretically refuse on the grounds that they don't constitute legal money. |
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And a buttload <metric, of course> of stamps, I would assume. |
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