> LL wrote: > like most from an economic point of view they assume rationality on > the part of the actors. >
Well you must've not read a single post then. You may recall, for example, me being somewhat critical of Wall Street in general and Goldman Sachs in particular. Or you might remember me discussing how the Chicago School is truly dead and posting how Posner is grasping at straws trying to keep it going. Which is big thing for me to say because in general I think he's one of the last great American thinkers. However, as long as we're discussing it... I do believe that all actors DO act in their best interest - but not as defined withing the bounds of a generic interest, but rather an individual skewed interest. Further I offer that the time horizon for determination of that interest is typically no longer than 1 year and usually more on the order of 3-6 months. And that brings us full circle to the behavior of, say, Lehman or Bear: all of the individual traders made great calls in the short term and probably all still have good jobs. Obama's failure to regulate the derivatives market (e.g, via an exchange) means that AT BEST we'll only see 20% of these things with any type of transparency. Essentially corrupts capitalism best components by encouraging the extraction of capital for wealth building pursuits to more lucrative economy busting ones. It's pretty much a policy failure of extraordinary size. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:307374 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
