Carrol Cox wrote: > One could draw an analogy, perhaps, between negative (real) interest > rates (presumably mostly for 'big' borrowers) and the government paying > a substantial wage for "leaf-raking" (as the WPA was described by its > enemies in the '30s).
some of the benefit of negative "real" interest rates went to mortgage borrowers, some of which had relatively low income. After all, the financiers thought that they weren't taking any risks by loaning to sub-primers and the like. Also, if sustained -- and realized -- negative real rates hurt creditors. That's an important reason, of course, why the Fed raised nominal rates. If there's an analogy between "subsidies" for the leafrakers and something going on today, one of them would be the benefits that Dubya has showered on his ultra-rich friends. The difference of course (since analogies are never perfect) is that the leafrakers actually made a contribution to the welfare of the country's people. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
