patrick.net

Jason Says:
There is not just one housing bubble, but two bubbles stacked on top of each other.

My God, a futurist article that's not about sabre-rattling and naming all the allies and enemies and mandating global supremacy... they're going soft...

For starters, we have to recognize that the very reason capitalism exists is to have asset price increases.

i don't agree. capitalism is about accumulating capital to fund enterprise, which would be expected to be some form of production, including paying wages to workers working in the enterprise. so the idea that the assets in the form of plant 'need' to appreciate is specious. further, i would not count housing to be an acceptable transactable 'capitalistic asset class' in the first place, as it is primarily human shelter.

the idea that 'asset' prices should increase no doubt comes from the ubiquitous american sport and pasttime of trying to buy shares low and sell them high for a capital gain, with no regard for the actual productive value of the underlying company...

p.s. I liked the cartoon on that article
http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/2006/0112.pdf
with the christmas stockings - giant stockings for the 'charismatic CEOs', corporate profits and tax cuts for the rich, and wages and pensions down for ordinary workers, and still no decent universal health care - pure american unfettered market capitalism at work...