Permanently Deleted
So, tell me comrades, am I right in thinking that the lesson learned in 2008 was simply not publicize contagion, and simply quietly bail out these failures, and follow-up question, does that in fact mean that market crashes like this will never have the impact they once did?
I’ve been reading The Capital Order by Clara Mattei and so far its a pretty convincing argument that a lot of the “bugs” of capitalism actually serve to reinforce in peoples mind the idea that capitalism is, more or less, flowing from natural laws and can’t be fundamentally changed, only tweaked around the edges.
I’ll have to read this. I like this idea, it’s something I had a gut feeling about but never had words for. Most people seem to have an ingrained idea that Capitalism is just the Natural Way Things Are , and that any alternative way to organize economic activity is somehow going against nature. Why did the USSR collapse? They went against the natural order of things, and then fell from grace like Icarus. What’s the deal with the way that the indigenous people of Turtle Island did public ownership and stewardship of natural resources? Oh, well, they were just primitive savages who had not yet discovered the platonic ideal which is Capitalism! What, you mean you want to unionize? That’s foolish, you’re going against the natural brilliance of the Owners of Capital!
If you weren’t already aware, that’s the premise behind Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism.
This should be adjusted for inflation
Famous last words?..
U.S. Treasury encouraged by First Republic resolution, says banking system remains sound | Reuters
“The banking system remains sound and resilient, and Americans should feel confident in the safety of their deposits and the ability of the banking system to fulfill its essential function of providing credit to businesses and families.”
:ancap-good:
Stonks keep going up regardless, markets being rational once again.
At least two of these failures were purely the result of rich people freaking each other out on social media. SVB and First Republic were operating with the full backing of the FDIC, over and above the official limits, and likely could have endured 5% Fed Funds Rates (even profited off them in time) if tens of billions of dollars in panicked depositors hadn’t run on them.
That’s not to say there’s anything structurally sound about any of this shit. But its indicative of how the death blow to these firms is entirely a consequence of the Keynesian Animal Spirits and has nothing to do with the firms’ fundamentals (which were as shit a few years ago as they are now).
What’s really nuts is how JP Morgan is just Pacman-ing these firms, one after another, when its already head and shoulders above everything. I really just have to wonder at the kind of strings a guy like Jamie Daimon can pull at this point. Dude is the closest thing our country’s had to a King since Rockerfeller.
