Finance Must Be Put Back in Its Place

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Thursday 01 July 2010

Finance Must Be Put Back in Its Place

by: Christian Chavagneux Alternatives Economiques

The G20 display a desire to limit the instability of the financial sector. If it succeeds, it will still have to put that sector back to serving the economy.
Is the power of finance unlimited? During the 2000s, bankers, hedge funds, and other financiers enriched themselves by feeding a speculative frenzy of historic scope. Governments had to mobilize trillions of euros to save the banks and avoid having the economy plunge into depression.
Practically two and a half years after the fall of Lehman Brothers, what has changed? On the face of it, nothing. The banks rushed to reimburse governmental aid - and find themselves with their hands free once again. The markets continue to speculate to their hearts' content. They profit from an instability that they are the first to foster, since the more volatility there is, the more bets there are to be made and the more money is to be made. And as they, in fact, are making a great deal of money, the bonuses ensue. Business as usual...............