If the game is over, aren’t we being better off starting anew?
Sir Martin Wolf in “Global imbalances threaten the survival of liberal trade”, December 3, tells us that savers must turn into spenders and spenders into savers, in order for all to balance out and allow us to keep on playing the same game, or we “must prepare for dire results.”
Unfortunately the fact that it all sounds so reasonable, does not make it one iota more possible to achieve, especially considering that in order for the rebalancing act to produce the desirable effects, the new savers would have to save in an already harsher environment and the new spenders would have to take on new-debt instead of consuming their old savings that have already been invested in somebody else’s past spending.
And so the real question is whether we believe there is sufficient willingness to work down the global imbalances and therefore insist on playing a game that might already be irreversible over, and which to the suffering that must ensue will only add the fastidiousness of a useless prolongation; or we call it quits, honour the winner, ceremoniously, with a trophy, and begin a fresh new game.
If I were young, healthy and reasonably capable there is no question that I would choose to start afresh and have the crisis behind me, especially if for the next round we could agree upon some changes in the rules; like the imposition of immense carbon taxes that would help us all to avoid environmental disasters. For all of the rest the dwindling hopes of a le déluge, après mois, seem more valid.
Could the world hope to be able to reach a peaceful start-afresh? Well that is the real challenge for a truly new and much improved Bretton Woods.
Sir this reasoning also agrees with your “Not a time for hoarding bullets” December 3. If we are going to be buried under a déluge we might as well have a full go at it since if even if we fail this could perhaps help to get it over faster, while enjoying some half-decent music.
Unfortunately the fact that it all sounds so reasonable, does not make it one iota more possible to achieve, especially considering that in order for the rebalancing act to produce the desirable effects, the new savers would have to save in an already harsher environment and the new spenders would have to take on new-debt instead of consuming their old savings that have already been invested in somebody else’s past spending.
And so the real question is whether we believe there is sufficient willingness to work down the global imbalances and therefore insist on playing a game that might already be irreversible over, and which to the suffering that must ensue will only add the fastidiousness of a useless prolongation; or we call it quits, honour the winner, ceremoniously, with a trophy, and begin a fresh new game.
If I were young, healthy and reasonably capable there is no question that I would choose to start afresh and have the crisis behind me, especially if for the next round we could agree upon some changes in the rules; like the imposition of immense carbon taxes that would help us all to avoid environmental disasters. For all of the rest the dwindling hopes of a le déluge, après mois, seem more valid.
Could the world hope to be able to reach a peaceful start-afresh? Well that is the real challenge for a truly new and much improved Bretton Woods.
Sir this reasoning also agrees with your “Not a time for hoarding bullets” December 3. If we are going to be buried under a déluge we might as well have a full go at it since if even if we fail this could perhaps help to get it over faster, while enjoying some half-decent music.
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