Trading adds nothing to the real economy


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Darn, you’re good!!!

Going on my blog.

Part of what it does is transfer funds from pension funds and the like to Goldman employees which adds some to aggregate demand.

What a way to run an economy!

:(

Mike Norman Economics

Goldman profit soars on strong trading gains

Who cares?

Trading adds nothing to the real economy. You have incredibly smart people working at Goldman who merely speculate for a living: buy something then flip it for a profit.

The economy would be better served if people like these worked in more productive sectors–science, industry, health care, alternative energy, etc.

Goldman might have failed if the Federal Government did not help it during the worst days of the financial crisis. Morgan Stanley certainly would have failed.

The fact that our leaders chose to sustain the non-bank intermediaries like Goldman is a testament Wall Street’s power and influence.

We don’t need them. They add too much volatility and risk to the financial system without any concomitant benefit.

All this country needs is a commercial banking system backed by the Gov’t. We had that in the past and it worked fine. Banks originated loans, serviced them and bankers made a little more than civil servants. People bought houses and cars and businesses were able to get money to expand and grow. Same as now, except without all the risk and speculation.

A nation’s power has nothing to do with having a vast, unregulated. financial sector, yet we continue to think so. President Obama is more under the spell of Wall Street than Bush ever was and for that matter, Obama is probably the most pro-Wall Street president in recent memory. Odd, when you think he ran on a platform of helping the working class.


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