Writing in Open Democracy , editor of OD and economist Tony Curzon Price, suggests that the storm metaphor doesn’t apply here:
“…the metaphor of the storm is misleading. Meteorology is not caused - at least not predictably - by the decisions of the helmsmen (fund managers) it affects. Financial crises are. It is because we can be counted on to be lenders of last resort that traders and managers can discount the risks of system-failure and therefore behave imprudently with increasing ease and frequency. The pattern is familiar from the libertarian critique of welfarism: while a safety-net for the deserving poor is good, the existence of the safety-net will create a class of idle, undeserving scroungers. It is hard to be good without encouraging others to be vicious.”
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.