August 08, 2016

“Progressives” can promote fairness and growth by stopping bank regulator’s despicable discrimination against “risky”

Sir, Lawrence Summers writes: “Often in economics there are trade-offs. But not always. We can and must promote both fairness and growth. “The progressive case for championing pro-growth policies” August 8.

And for that he recommends: “more demand for the product of business. This is the core of the case for policy approaches to raising public investment, increasing workers’ purchasing power and promoting competitiveness”

Again Summers seems to ignore completely what one could believe would be a great cause for “progressives”, namely to combat how the last decades those who are perceived as risky, when compared to those perceived as “safe”, have had their access to credit made much more difficult by the risk weighted capital requirements for banks

Who are “the risky”? In terms of growth, the all important SMEs and entrepreneurs, those risk weighted 100% (and more).

Who are “the risky”? In terms of fairness, the weaker, the poorer, the not yet up there, the ones praying for fair opportunities.

So how can we explain that progressives do not give much attention to these regulations that so odiously discriminate in favor of the AAArisktocracy and against "the risky"? Perhaps because these also include the risk-weight of 0% for the government, and most progressives are foremost statist.

Perhaps because it is not in the nature of progressives to understand, and much less admit, that regulators can get it so wrong.

@PerKurowski ©