Its pretty obvious how we've all gotten into this mess. Those of us who don't understand why ought to do some background reading, there's plenty written about it.
" Capitalism works on the supply/demand model in a free market ". Where there's a scarcity of supply and an abundance of demand, prices will be high and the corollary also applies. People will move to supply scarce things and leave the where the supply of abundant until an equilibrium is reached. It works.
Well that's not all together true. The market can't be completely free. Our civil society demands a certain code of conduct... regulation if you will. I'll give you an example. Demand for cocaine and heroine is high and supply is scarce - as a consequence the price is very high. The reason the price has never stabilized is because we have decided to make trade in these items illegal. There's regulation throughout the 'free market' and its a necessary control to smooth the movement between peaks, troughs and equilibrium. However it tends to follow rather than lead, is national rather than international and over the past 20 years or so has proven to be wholly less than effective.
Where the banks and their stakeholders came undone was in their failure to understand the nature of their investments. They were actually elements in a pyramid scheme. Its nothing new, its happened many times before. Each bank could have, and should have, spotted this... but they didn't. Furthermore, the regulator is there to ensure such behaviour lies the other side of the legal line - they failed to do that too. This had nothing to do with interest rates or people seeking to buy houses. This was a systematic failure.
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