August 31, 2016

Martin Wolf seems slightly lost in the oceans of global bank regulations

“A natural connection exists between liberal democracy.. and capitalism... They share the belief that people should make their own choices as individuals and as citizens.” “Democratic capitalism is in peril” August 31.

Absolutely! But Martin Wolf seems not to agree with the right of accessing bank credit freely, and gladly accepts regulators distort with risk weighted capital requirements for banks.

Wolf opines: “Capitalism is inegalitarian, at least in terms of outcomes”

Absolutely not! Capitalism both takes away from the lazy and by offering opportunities, gives to those with initiatives and is therefore extremely egalitarian! It is when besserwissers, like those in the Basel Committee intervene, that capitalism stands no chance to deliver opportunities for all.

Wolf writes: “Today, however, capitalism is finding it far more difficult to generate such improvements in prosperity.”

Yes, how could it not, when regulators allow banks to earn higher risk adjusted returns on equity when lending to the safe than when lending to the risky.

Wolf writes: “Controlled national capitalism would then replace global capitalism”

Frankly, has that not already happened with the risk weights of the sovereigns set at 0% and that of We the People at 100%?

Wolf writes “My view increasingly echoes that of Prof Lawrence Summers of Harvard, who has argued that “international agreements [should] be judged not by how much is harmonised or by how many barriers are torn down but whether citizens are empowered… if the legitimacy of our democratic political systems is to be maintained, economic policy must be orientated towards promoting the interests of …the citizenry”

Sir, frankly, how can citizens be empowered when bank regulators decide that the risk weight of the sovereign is 0%, that of the AAArisktocracy 20%, and that of We the People 100%?

Democratic capitalism is in peril? No it has already been defeated. To recover it let’s get rid of current bank regulators and their dumb regulations.


@PerKurowski ©