well, I wouldn't say we've learned nothing

I work in a retail bank and there's certainly a greater awareness of issues and regulatory oversight in terms of what we do/can't do. The industry is much, much better placed than it was before. Much better capitalised for a start, much more resilient to failures of other banks etc.

But as a realist, there's actually very little that can be done. There'll always be a 'next time'. It won't have the same triggers as the last one, as we've learnt those particular mistakes, but it'll happen..

The big fundamental issue undermining everything is that everyone wants to get richer and richer on a planet that has finite resources. The west got rich by plundering the third world. How does the rest of the world get as rich as the west? How does the west get richer with no-one left to plunder? The west is in for a big reality check and we will inevitably enter a period of stagnation and/or decline whilst the rest of the world catches up.

Everyone wants growth growth growth. Everyone wants to be the winner and not the loser (see the gnashing of teeth around 'austerity'). But it's just not possible. If we grow, it has to be at the expense of someone else. Printing money to maintain a fiction of wealth has its limitations, as at some point someone will realise that it's all made up.

In the long term society as we know it is f**ked in a major way. It's a question of how we can most efficiently kick the can down the road so that it's not our immediate generations (us, our kids, grandkids etc) that reap the whirlwind.

Posted By: CWC on January 7th 2016 at 16:14:03

Message Thread

UK economy looking dodgy (NCFC) - Larry Hagman, Jan 7, 15:06:23
- They'll carry on spinning it's all great. The media and bbc will lick their arses along (NCFC) - pants, Jan 7, 15:30:04
  - Just like the headline about a "booming economy" (NCFC) - pants, Jan 7, 15:34:34
- won't really affect your lifestyle though will it Larrold (n/m) (NCFC) - Jumbo1, Jan 7, 15:24:27
  - I care about others too though (n/m) (NCFC) - Larry Hagman, Jan 7, 16:21:29
    - and perhaps it'd be nice to leave a sustainable world to our descendents (NCFC) - Worzel Scrimmage, Jan 7, 16:31:26
      - We need scientists to save society and the world. (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:32:46
        
        probably just better to allow a pandemic or world war to stave off the inevitable (NCFC) - Worzel Scrimmage, Jan 7, 16:34:57
        
        That's the way it'll probably end up going tbf (sadly) (n/m) (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:51:51
    - lend us ?50k then? (NCFC) - Jumbo1, Jan 7, 16:29:25
- Indeed. In fact all of "the west". When this bubble bursts it will be massive. Far (NCFC) - Steve in Holland, Jan 7, 15:11:08
  - Best way to transfer wealth from the lower classes to the filthy rich (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:27:27
  - well, I wouldn't say we've learned nothing (NCFC) - CWC, Jan 7, 16:14:03
    - Well people are increasingly able to borrow more money than they can afford to pay back (n/m) (NCFC) - Steve in Holland, Jan 7, 16:45:25
      - So they become owned. Printing more money to put more people and the world in debt (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:52:21
    - Wise words. We all need to try find win-win not win-lose as you correct suggest is happeni (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:29:58
      - all traits that come naturally to humans (NCFC) - CWC, Jan 7, 16:41:40
        
        Well, as humans we have a responsibility to learn them don't you think? (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:53:56
    - Best form of quantitative easing is to give more money to poor people cos they spend it (NCFC) - Larry Hagman, Jan 7, 16:27:28
      - I think it's probably debt write offs that we need (NCFC) - CWC, Jan 7, 16:39:24
        
        That's what the insurance industry has always done. Held assets in reserve to cover (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:56:55
        
        and then people would soon borrow as much money again that had been written off... (n/m) (NCFC) - Larry Hagman, Jan 7, 16:48:39
        
        Stricter lending rules and better education for borrowers. It's our psyche that needs to (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:59:50
      - Exactly. They don't save or invest. Their spending boosts taxes (VAT) and company profits (n/m) (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:31:19
        
        Yep, and yet the govt want to make the poor even poorer which means (NCFC) - Larry Hagman, Jan 7, 16:39:48
        
        Of course. They're powerful. They can abuse it to make themselves (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 17:01:53
- ^^^^ just been to lunch with George Osborne (n/m) (NCFC) - Pixelman, Jan 7, 15:09:14
  - Hagman is Ed Balls? (n/m) (NCFC) - essexcanaryOTBC, Jan 7, 16:32:01
  - at the Playboy Mansion (n/m) (NCFC) - Jumbo1, Jan 7, 15:23:38

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