Lehman Bros.’ fall may be seen more accurately as a symptom, rather than a cause, of a disease that had infected the financial system. (Nicholas Roberts, AFP/Getty Images / September 15, 2013)
On September 15, 2013, Michael Hiltzik writes in the Los Angeles Times:
There are two ways to think about how far we’ve come in protecting against a repeat of the financial meltdown five years ago that plunged the world into recession.
You can conclude that we’ve pretty much eradicated the risk of another such crisis. That’s the bankers’ viewpoint. Here’s how Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman put it in an interview with Charlie Rose earlier this month: “The probability of it happening again in our lifetime is as close to zero as I could imagine.”
Or you can conclude that we’ve done almost nothing to stave off another banking meltdown. That’s the realist’s viewpoint.
…the Great Recession cost the U.S. as much as $14 trillion in economic output, or up to $120,000 for every household in the country. That comes to a lot more than the cost of keeping a few bankers from collecting their bonuses through risky, manipulative financial deals.
The targets of regulation always squeal that trampling on their freedom of action will have economic costs. But the reality is that the cost of lax regulation is always higher than the cost of making a system safe. The U.S. understood that reality in the Thirties. What keeps us from understanding it now?
Unfortunately, the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank has yet to support the policies that will result in substantial double-digit GDP growth while simultaneously broadening, private sector individual ownership in FUTURE wealth-creating,income-generating productive capital assets.
What is needed is to implement the Capital Homestead Act. (http://foreconomicjustice.org/?p=8942) with interest-free capital credit loans made available via super-IRA-typle CHA accounts, repaid with the future earnings of the investments. Thus, instead of the Federal Reserve slashing bankers’ cost of money, the capital credit loans would be directed to enrich ordinary Americans by systematically broadening private sector individual ownership of the formation of FUTURE productive capital investment to empower EVERY American to accumulate over time a viable capital trust (super-IRA) portfolio of stock in diversified companies and reap the full earnings payout of corporate earnings as dividend income to support their livelihood and retirement.
Right now the Federal Reserve creates money by loaning it to banks, who re-loan it multiple times because of fractional banking rules. With Capital Homesteading, money would be created by loaning it directly to citizens via banks at near-zero interest to invest in FUTURE wealth-creating, income-generating (full dividend payout) productive capital assets formed by producer companies. To build real wealth and also phase out our near-defunct social security scheme, the new full-reserve money would go into a long-term retirement account to be invested in dividend-paying, asset-backed shares of corporations. That way, money power would be spread to all citizens. The middle class would be invigorated using the principle of compounding interest, instead of being decimated by mushrooming public and personal debt.
The Federal Reserve could play a more positive role, removing artificial barriers to equal citizen access to acquiring and owning productive capital wealth. By creating asset-backed money for production, supported by growth-oriented tax policies, the Federal Reserve could truly help promote shared prosperity in a market system.
Support the Agenda of The Just Third Way Movement athttp://foreconomicjustice.org/?p=5797
Support Monetary Justice at http://capitalhomestead.org/page/monetary-justice
Support the Capital Homestead Act athttp://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm andhttp://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm
See “Financing Economic Growth With ‘FUTURE SAVINGS’: Solutions To Protect America From Economic Decline” at NationOfChange.orghttp://www.nationofchange.org/financing-future-economic-growth-future-savings-solutions-protect-america-economic-decline-137450624 and “The Income Solution To Slow Private Sector Job Growth” athttp://www.nationofchange.org/income-solution-slow-private-sector-job-growth-1378041490.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130915,0,2474070.column
