I will gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

September 22, 2007 3:13 PM

Satyajit Das was discussed earlier on Mefi. This interview with him is a great explanation of the financial skullduggery that we're knee-deep in.
posted by Lord_Pall (10 comments total)

There have been countless links to things like this, and even explanations in threads by MeFites, but this one was by far the most understandable for me. Thanks.
posted by Bugbread at 4:04 PM on September 22, 2007

The only thing I really understand in the article is that things "are about to unwind in a profound and persistent way." Of course, I remember a group of friends back in 1999-2000 selling their homes and stocks and buying gold for the big crash around the corner. There will always be bears and one day they will get it right.
posted by stbalbach at 4:51 PM on September 22, 2007

Yes, this guy is very good, this is an excellent link.

stbalbach: someday, before too many more years have passed, they'll be talking about bulls in the exact same tone of voice.
posted by Malor at 4:55 PM on September 22, 2007

things "are about to unwind in a profound and persistent way."

This may be true, but it still doesn't necessarily mean a declining market. We've just seen Goldman Sachs just suffer 1 billion in mortgage-related losses in a quarter and still beat expected earnings by over 40%. Just because one sector of the economy unwinds, it doesn't mean they all do.

In the interview, Das makes comparisons to Japan in the 90's. Japan had a notoriously inflexible and anticompetitive domestic economy, in contrast to their highly competitive export economy. Japan and the US are simply not analogous.
posted by Pastabagel at 6:59 PM on September 22, 2007

Wow, I think that article was

Tell us your thoughts about the article in the comments.

very compelling. Something I've been saying all along

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is that we really need

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posted by Eideteker at 8:48 PM on September 22, 2007 [2 favorites]

God, I really don't understand this stuff. But I just wanted to say that I love the word "skullduggery", and thanks for using it in your FPP.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:22 PM on September 22, 2007

Thank, that was a pretty clear summary. I just translated an article for a Chinese economics magazine on the likely impact of the whole affair here (not too bad as yet seemed to be the claim), and was realising how little of the basic mechanics of the global market I understand. Wish I'd seen this first.
posted by Abiezer at 9:46 PM on September 22, 2007

In the interview, Das makes comparisons to Japan in the 90's. Japan had a notoriously inflexible and anticompetitive domestic economy, in contrast to their highly competitive export economy. Japan and the US are simply not analogous.

From what I've learned of the Japanese economy, the reason they have never recovered fully from their bubble pop was because, very simply, their government refused to allow bad companies to fail.

I strongly suspect we'll end up in a very similar situation here, where the government will be bailing out large companies all over the country, trying to 'save jobs' -- and, thus, preventing the economy from adjusting to the new reality, whatever it ends up being.

I think a Japan-like scenario in that sense is almost certain. The exact symptoms will probably be different, but the fundamental refusal to allow reality in will be the same.
posted by Malor at 10:17 PM on September 22, 2007

Don't forget, if the market is flat or even climbing, but the dollar is being inflated, that Dow Jones number isn't telling you everything.

Factoring in the recent inflation, this year my market investments are all down in real dollars (but not by much). I'd be in better shape if it was all in CDs.

Sigh.
posted by zoogleplex at 11:52 AM on September 23, 2007

thanks for posting. It's a very interesting interview.
posted by ClanvidHorse at 2:28 PM on September 23, 2007