tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post5393904306831526923..comments2024-03-28T12:23:39.665+00:00Comments on Coppola Comment: Vince's Folly Frances Coppolahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-88339595110416912672012-09-29T05:46:18.815+01:002012-09-29T05:46:18.815+01:00We are privatizing Law & Order; Courts are nee...We are privatizing Law & Order; Courts are needed but governments are bankrupt. Tax is over.<br /><br />http://students.washington.edu/wulr/archive/Winter_2012/McKusick_Winter12.pdf Alisternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-23727109348362177572012-09-29T05:42:30.050+01:002012-09-29T05:42:30.050+01:00Some psychologists have even called it a 'defe...Some psychologists have even called it a 'defence mechanism'<br /><br /><br />Intellectualization is a 'flight into reason', where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic. The situation is treated as an interesting problem that engages the person on a rational basis, whilst the emotional aspects are completely ignored as being irrelevant. Jargon is often used as a device of intellectualization. By using complex terminology, the focus becomes on the words and finer definitions rather than the human effects.<br />Alisternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-42660636026008423972012-09-27T11:12:03.144+01:002012-09-27T11:12:03.144+01:00Perhaps I misused the word productive. I certainly...Perhaps I misused the word productive. I certainly think home ownership is a good thing. However the risk always was that it would create a speculative asset bubble!<br /><br />I appreciate that business loans are not always good! I can see the bank itself perhaps not being commercially that successful. However small businesses generally create employment, services and even assets that might help stimulate other parts of the economy.<br /><br />As an aside, I once did an investigation into biotech manufacturing capacity in the UK and US. It was interesting to note that UK biotech tended not to invest in manufacturing capacity whereas US firms did. As a result there was much more manufacturing capacity in the US. Although the both US and UK firms often failed, the US firms had created useful capacity that could then be inherited by the next generation of firms. Possibly an example of how "bad" investments can actually be good for the bigger economy!Paulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-79904669285386513902012-09-27T10:57:41.163+01:002012-09-27T10:57:41.163+01:00I agree Paul on the more productive use of credit ...I agree Paul on the more productive use of credit point but I also agree with Ralph this will be forgotten in ten days. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-56742961937780250792012-09-27T09:40:09.709+01:002012-09-27T09:40:09.709+01:00Haha. Earlier this year I started to write a post ...Haha. Earlier this year I started to write a post called "The Ministry of Silly Schemes", which was about the budget, but I didn't finish it. Maybe I should.<br /><br />I'm not so sure that this one will disappear, though. It has a lot of support from business - and, of course, from banks. Frances Coppolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-29196006299729823242012-09-27T09:35:26.862+01:002012-09-27T09:35:26.862+01:00Francis,
You’ve lost the plot. Haven’t you notice...Francis,<br /><br />You’ve lost the plot. Haven’t you noticed that Westminster politicians produce two or three silly ideas a week, which everyone forgets about ten days later? They have to make it look as though they aren’t brain dead. Remember Cameron’s “house extensions without planning permission” idea? That’s rapidly fading into the distance.<br /><br />They should have had a Department of Silly Ideas in the Yes Minister series.<br />Ralph Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09443857766263185665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-65306913703017734112012-09-27T09:19:16.514+01:002012-09-27T09:19:16.514+01:00I did mention RBS.....
The Breedon report (availa...I did mention RBS.....<br /><br />The Breedon report (available from the BIS website) is driving this initiative. I suggest you have a look at the cast list. You may change your mind about the purpose of this scheme.<br /><br />I doubt if many Americans would agree with you that enabling ordinary American families to own their own home is "unproductive". Owning your own home is an important part of the American dream and enabling more people to do so was one of the main initiatives in FDR's New Deal. The US gives far higher priority to home ownership than it does to healthcare. <br /><br />Why do you think that all loans to small businesses would be "productive"? Given that these loans would be made by banks that would take no risk but stand to profit, I'd regard it as a racing certainty that a lot of them would be to no-hopers. And I have reason for saying this: I suggest you have a look at the primary causes of HBOS's collapse and the FSA's decision to strike off Peter Cummings.Frances Coppolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09399390283774592713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-79341269939930367732012-09-27T09:04:45.935+01:002012-09-27T09:04:45.935+01:00Obviously you know much more about banking that I ...Obviously you know much more about banking that I do and equally I agree with much of what you write in this article. However, I think that possibly you are being a bit harsh by calling it Vince's folly. <br /><br />Vince Cable did actually propose using RBS as British investment bank in an open letter to the prime minister (see fifth paragraph from the end) <br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/06_03_12_vince_cable_letter.pdf<br /><br />It seems that this idea was killed. I can only assume that returning RBS to the private sector ownership was seen as a political imperative elsewhere in the government and hence Vince was overruled. Equally I cannot see a state owned bank lending to businesses being easy to sell to the various supply-siders, pseudo-Austrians and other cranks who been brought by vested interests that sit on the Tory backbenches. I therefore strongly suspect that the business bank in its current formation is probably a political compromise. <br /><br />Given that it is a compromise the question is does it do more harm than good! I actually agree that this will probably function as another bailout for bad banks and equally I suspect you are right about selling on the securitised loans (and the debt sitting on the government books). <br /><br />However unlike Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac the loans are at least going to a productive part of the economy (rather than just pumping up an asset price bubble). Hopefully, even if the government has to write down a lot of bad debt from failed companies, then at least it will have spurred on some economic activity and created some useful assets that can be resold to build new businesses that can successful! <br /><br />In otherwords it might fail as a bank however it might nevertheless make some in roads with stimulating the economy! It might not even been the best way of implement a state investment bank but at least its a start that can be built on by future governments. Paulnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8764541874043694159.post-13473457992825617522012-09-26T23:35:02.724+01:002012-09-26T23:35:02.724+01:00Food for thoughtFood for thoughtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com