Are we ignoring the real causes of the financial crisis?

Oops. I forgot to link to this Q&A with University of Chicago economist Raghuram Rajan on Time.com when it went up. Here is it now.

Rajan made a big splash at Jackson Hole back in 2005 when he stood up in front of a room full of prominent economic policy makers and gave a speech about all the risk that was building up in the financial system. He said we could be headed for real problems. The crowd scoffed. But of course he was entirely right.

Rajan now has a new book out in which he argues that in the post-crisis clean-up we’re failing to understand many of the underlying dynamics that led to collapse—and that as a consequence the global economy is still under threat. You can read more here.

Related Topics: Raghuram Rajan, University of Chicago, Economy & Policy
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  • deconstructiva

    Thanks, Barbara. Pardon my cynicism but too many financial people seem to make their careers (and secure futures) based on ONE correct call. For example, the ’87 crash ‘made’ Jim Cramer and Elaine Garzarelli because they bet the right side …or in Jim’s case (and he admits it) his future wife made the right call and he was smart enough to listen and do something about it.
    .
    Of course, journalism is famous for creating a media starlet (and deservedly so) from a writer’s one big story: WoodStein / Watergate, McLean / Enron, even recent TIME example of Tumulty (while still here) / health care reform (cover piece about her brother’s HC issues). Nice deal, actually. Just think, Barbara: write that ONE story and it leads to TV, books, financial security, more traffic / comments at this blog, yes? Maybe it’s how to create jobs in this crappy no-hiring market or digging up more dirt on Moody’s. Have a good weekend.

  • wisegrowth

    Mr. Rajan places the cause of inequality primarily on education… He himself is not seeing the real cause of inequality…

    First, ask yourself… why did all those lending institutions and banks with credit cards loan so much money to those seemingly uneducated and wage stagnant people?

    We´re in an economic environment of inequality started with the idea of trickle-down economics…

    American workers are more productive now, meaning that their education has made gains… so while median wages have fallen behind… loans to those people rose greatly…

    You go to a country like Chile where there is high income inequality… I lived there for 5 years… The average person has to pay on average 20 to 25% interest on direct consumer loans… But those that can borrow more because they have more resources, pay around 4 to 6%… Obviously the difference is due to the risk in lending…

    The point is that it is more profitable to lend to riskier people… So inequality becomes more profitable, the richer you are…

    Thus, the economics of inequality feed on itself to make it worse…

  • wisegrowth

    Correction: The average person in Chile pays from 20 to 35% interest on direct consumer loans… not 20 to 25%…

  • http://stephenpoo.wordpress.com stephenpoo

    Great artical Barbra and I did enjoy the links.
    Just speaking about Rajan’s remarks on education, I am thinking about the costs for an education and the distance from home.
    These two high jumps makes getting a higher education near impossible for many.
    Like FDR Obama could leave a legacy for generations in perpetuity.
    Let him start a on line US University with no costs for students. Where getting a Real recognised degree on line for anyone who wants to persue it. It may never be the experience attending actual classes provide, but can be a alternative for those who can’t.
    Employ the best teachers (comunicators) and thousand of TA’s to grade tests and answer student questions.
    It could be done relatively cheap for what it can produce. Would be a fine legacy for any President.
    Have a contact in the White House please pass it on.
    Thanks

  • deconstructiva

    re: weekend, I thought today was Friday for awhile, ha! Sorry about that.

  • Barbara Kiviat

    I like that idea a lot.

  • Barbara Kiviat

    I will now have a good Friday AND a good weekend!

  • wisegrowth

    There is an online university that has started up… It only has a bachelors of Business administration and computer science available right now… there are 2 and 4 year programs… It is not accredited… I guess the cost is pretty low… like $100… here is the link…

    http://www.uopeople.org/

  • waltwriston

    Denial isn’t just river in Egypt! Lol!

  • economicsfordemocrats

    Education is very important to individuals in a capitalistic system. It is also very important for a successful democratic society in general. BUT, it is only one component of a successful economy! Brazil, Russia and India had well educated people with nominal success until recently. (Not to mention our many unemployed Phd’s)

    The cause of this crisis was a monetary one. We have very narrow, antiquated, monopolistic reserve banking system that has failed us time and time again over the centuries. The very basic cause of this failure was the creation of a mortgage product that could not possibly have worked-Sub Prime. There are very few families who could have afforded the substantial increase in monthly payments of a sub prime mortgage. Thus, foreclosures triggered the down fall.

    There were many other problems and errors but this was the major cause. NO foreclosures no crisis!

    For solutions and what we should have done see my website/blog http://www.progressive-economics.com.

    Mark S. Pash, CFP

  • ps56penn62pr64

    Duh! You think?

    We not only ignore the cause of the crisis – we deny it. We ignore the source of our nation’s money, denying the legalized counterfeiting use by central banks to issue currency, regulate its production and control economies.

    Banking corporations use fractional reserve lending to increase a nation’s money supply without creating anything of real world value. The new currency they create draws its value from economic value of reserve deposit, diluting the existing currency and draining buying power from it. In the US, when a $100 deposited in a savings account is legally increased by a reserve factor of 9 to $1,000 by a series of ever decreasing loans and redeposits, the buying power of the original deposit is distributed over the new money, thereby reducing the buying potential of every dollar in the economy by a small amount. This devaluation of the currency is euphemistically called inflation.

    But the real cause of the financial crisis come into play when the loans are repaid with interest. Banks only create the principal of loans, and no one creates the additional money needed to pay the interest, creating loan contracts that are impossible to repay when they are viewed as an aggregate whole. The flaw is easily seen in the following inequality: (principal) cannot equal (principal) plus (interest). To conceal the flaw, the banking system must continually make new, larger loans, using the newly created money to service older loans, expanding the total debt in the process, devaluing the currency and robbing people of the value of their money.

    As with all pyramid and Ponzi schemes, there are mathematical limits where the system cannot be sustained. When the scheme crashes, the debt remains but new money is no longer created to service the old loans, leading to defaults, foreclosures and systemic currency supply contractions.

    Only government has the power and flexibility to provide a stable currency needed for a sustainable economy. Government can lend money like a bank, it can issue and spend it directly into the economy and it can fine-tune the economy with tax laws.

    The sovereign power and authority of the US government to issue the nation’s currency belongs to the American people, and not to a privately owned, for-profit banking cartel. Congress has the enumerated Constitutional responsibility to issue and regulate American money.

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