Sloshing Capital

Posted by Jeff Lipshaw

If you want some sane commentary these days, try reading David Brooks in the New York Times.  His column yesterday on the defeat of the bail-out bill was entitled “Revolt of the Nihilists.”  Here’s a taste:

We’re living in an age when a vast excess of capital sloshes around the world fueling cycles of bubble and bust. When the capital floods into a sector or economy, it washes away sober business practices, and habits of discipline and self-denial. Then the money managers panic and it sloshes out, punishing the just and unjust alike.

What we need in this situation is authority. Not heavy-handed government regulation, but the steady and powerful hand of some public institutions that can guard against the corrupting influences of sloppy money and then prevent destructive contagions when the credit dries up.

Amen.