Is the US economy a giant Ponzi scheme

[BlasterBates]

US economy a Ponzi scheme

Is it?

[Sysman]

US economy a Ponzi scheme

Is it?

I reckon that as far as the rest of the world is concerned, then probably yes.

Next question: Was Thatcher's relocation of everyone to the South East (continued by New Labour) a Ponzi scheme for property prices there? One could certainly interpret it as social engineering on a grand scale.

As a reminder, Prescott's bulldozers ready to demolish Victorian terraces

Thousands of Victorian terrace houses across the north of England, including the house where Ringo Starr was born, are to be demolished in a re-run of the slum clearances of the 1960s.

MPs have been told 20,000 houses on Merseyside are earmarked for demolition - most of them unnecessarily - under plans approved by John Prescott.

The Deputy Prime Minister's Pathfinder scheme requires the destruction of 6,800 homes in Liverpool - more than were wrecked in the city by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War.

There are nine Pathfinder areas across the country, where about a million properties are said to require "housing market renewal".

I can just imagine the conversations now, along the lines of "If these Northerners won't support the property bubble in the South East voluntarily, we'll take their houses away from them."

[BrilloPad]

I reckon that as far as the rest of the world is concerned, then probably yes.

Next question: Was Thatcher's relocation of everyone to the South East (continued by New Labour) a Ponzi scheme for property prices there? One could certainly interpret it as social engineering on a grand scale.

As a reminder, Prescott's bulldozers ready to demolish Victorian terraces



I can just imagine the conversations now, along the lines of "If these Northerners won't support the property bubble in the South East voluntarily, we'll take their houses away from them."

Are there any jobs in Liverpool? My mother and her family come from Liverpool. It used to be a greatplace. But since the slave trade ended it has been going downhill.

[bobhope]

I thought pretty much the same thing when I read about the Madoff case. Fractional reserve banking is really one huge Ponzi scheme.

[BrilloPad]

I thought pretty much the same thing when I read about the Madoff case. Fractional reserve banking is really one huge Ponzi scheme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking

Some quantity theorists who criticize fractional reserve banking support minimum reserve ratios or other government controls on the quantity of money created by commercial banks. Some support a gold standard or silver standard to restrain "unfettered", "speculative" fractional-reserve banking activities.[29][30][31] Fractional reserve currency has also been characterized as a hybrid of receipt currency and fiat currency that which eventually become fiat currency.

[OwlHoot]

The Deputy Prime Minister's Pathfinder scheme requires the destruction of 6,800 homes in Liverpool - more than were wrecked in the city by the Luftwaffe in the Second World War.

Weren't "pathfinders" lead bombers, with the most experienced navigators, who would drop colour-coded flares on the designated targets to guide the main force behind them.

Very apt I'm sure

[Cyberman]

Relocation to the south was probably Thatcher's reaction to the fact that it was far less unionised than the north and thus better for the economy !!!

[Sysman]

Is the UK a Ponzi scheme?

The UK's turn

Last 2 paragraphs of the article:

Albert Edwards, a strategist at Société Générale, likened the British economy to a Ponzi scheme — a fraudulent debt mountain like that allegedly used by the New York hedge fund manager Bernard Madoff.

“What I find amazing is that people aren’t really nailing Gordon Brown and [Bank of England Governor] Mervyn King for this,” he said. “At least in the US they had the excuse of the arrival of sub-prime — a new sector of the market. We didn’t really have anything similar but we ended up with a bigger national Ponzi scheme than the US.”

[bogeyman]

US economy a Ponzi scheme

Is it?

YES!

Next