On Sun, 06 May 2012 22:01:36 -0700, George Plimpton
wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/business/mone...,5452112.story


The market knows that Socialists are poison for economic growth.
==============

Try to avoid the conflation of inflation of an asset bubble
centered on stocks/securities with either real economic
growth or real economic development (which are entirely
separate items).

While at one time the securities markets *MAY* have had some
correlation with the real economy and indeed in a few cases
supplied the capital necessary for its growth/development,
that was long ago and it appears to be quite separate now.

With the proliferation of techniques such as "short
selling," "Puts/Calls" and the huge increase in virtual
"assets" such as derivatives, Credit Default Swaps, futures
contracts, and the rise of vultures/bottom feeders such as
distressed bond funds and private equity funds, etc., it is
possible to make more money (for the few) from a declining
or even a collapsing economy than an expanding one. The
prime example of this was the Soros "bear raid" on the
English Pound.

While there does indeed seem to be some ideological angst
among the Réntier class in France, and the other ECM/EZ
countries, generated by the election of actually quite
moderate leftist and anti-austerity governments, the real
concern appears to be the dread the new governments will
discover and, perhaps inadvertency, publicize the insolvency
of the major financial institutions including the major
banks and pension funds and start identifying those
individuals and institutions/organizations accountable for
this disgraceful and highly dangerous situation.

IMNSHO -- one of the major problems in the U.S. is that the
gambling winnings from the stock "asset" bubble, AKA
"capital gains," are taxed at about one-half the rate of
ordinary income, i.e. income resulting from the production
of marketable real goods and services, resulting in severe
economic/market distortions, e.g. "stock buybacks and
carried interest." Operationally, in the developed
economies, the productive "real" economy has been, and is
being, bled white to subsidize the "virtual" one. To me at
least, this indicates the "capital gains" rate should be at
least equal to the ordinary income rate, and quite likely
much *HIGHER* to discourage such anti-social and
counter-productive activity.

Remember the folk wisdom "Don't spit in the soup -- we all
gotta eat..."


--
Unka' George

"Gold is the money of kings,
silver is the money of gentlemen,
barter is the money of peasants,
but debt is the money of slaves"

-Norm Franz, "Money and Wealth in the New Millenium"