Agreed. From the sound of it, this Ginko "bank" was just a poorly disguised Ponzi scheme. This type of scam is already regulated in the real world, for the good reason that it always blows up if allowed.
The article is somewhat interesting but the points it makes are all dangerously, fatally flawed.
When the cry is "less regulation" at some point you end up with zero regulation. I think looking at eve-online is a great example of zero regulation at work. There are high returns on investment but high risk and the lack of trusted institutions slows the economy.
I asked a few people in Second Life how Ginko worked about a year ago and no one had any idea. Between that and the fact that there is no kind of deposit insurance mechanism, I wasn't going to touch one of those terminals.
Heh. I remember, four months ago, looking at the GM financials, and telling my cofounder; you know, this Volt business, it's all moot. It doesn't even look like they'll make it.
I definitely didn't put my money where mouth was on that one...
Is it a case of a broken clock etc... or someone who always predicts downturns will eventually be right?
Hi seems pretty sensible in that other clip though. The US has to make and export "stuff" so that "other stuff" can be consumed from the rest of the world.
For me it's a case of "we've discussed this stuff among friends, but housing kept going up so what do we know?" and then finding out some serious guy has the same opinion and we were right. I guess I could be a broken clock too. :)
All the stuff on the old video is fundamental economics stuff. It was also a heresy in that no one dared to think about it, much less talk. It makes sense and it did make sense to me back then. Of course I was also doubting my perception because everyone was like "Eehaw! Party!" for a few years.
Listen to the last video - what he says is outrageous. He is not talking about recession, he talks about the end of the American domaination by way of overspending. It's heresy of unimaginable magnitude. It also makes a lot sense. It's truly frightening.
Well I just assume I have no idea what I am talking about or what is going on. In the past that has proved to be true.
Yes it kinda is heresy - but he says you have to make stuff - which I think is (long term) really an optimistic thing to say. You can tell he really wants the US to return to a country that makes stuff, that produces things that make it wealthy, not meta-stuff (which I guess it is now).
He specifically mentions manufacturing.
There is no parallel whatsoever; the crisis and these scams have no commonality.