06-26-2016, 03:56 PM
Ragnarok -- it is the speculative boom that is the true disaster. It devours capital that might be used just about anywhere else to better effect, and it quickly forces a ride down the curve of diminishing returns. Prices in the object of the boom rise, but but without a foundation in sustainable prosperity. Whoever is caught as the last buyer gets burned worst, but anyone else who got in during the boom gets to endure a loss.
Speculative booms cover much fraud. Some people see the paper profits as genuine growth and decide to take a secretive cut (embezzlement) so that they can join in on the sure thing. But the paper profits are themselves fantasy. When people quit believing in the Ponzi schemes the whole edifice becomes as useful as the old Packard plant in Detroit.
Speculative booms cover much fraud. Some people see the paper profits as genuine growth and decide to take a secretive cut (embezzlement) so that they can join in on the sure thing. But the paper profits are themselves fantasy. When people quit believing in the Ponzi schemes the whole edifice becomes as useful as the old Packard plant in Detroit.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.