There has been a lot of discussion in the media about Ponzi schemes. In fact, some economists have been debating whether we were facing a system-wide Ponzi scheme as financial imbalances that rely on new investors (including those overseas) could not last forever. A scheme needs a schemer, but this, of course, is not the case for the financial system at a macro level. If we look at practices at a micro level, including the situation in the housing market, fraudulent practices and schemers did exist.
At this juncture in time, the economy faces two “systemic” near-term problems. First, the financial side the economy is very close to a “liquidity trap” – a situation in which conventional monetary policy loses all traction. Second, the real side the economy is in what Keynes called a “paradox of thrift” – when the entire private sector (businesses and households) tries to save more at the same time, it creates a downward spiral in business activities.
“Life is a journey, not a destination - we determine our destiny by the direction we take.” – Anonymous
We have literally hundreds of thousand of analysts with various institutions, traders, executives, board members, officials and lawmakers with first rate expertise and countless years' of experience watching financial practices closely. Many of them even comment on the market regularly on CNBC, in The Wall Street Journal, on Bloomberg, in The Financial Times and in media outlets around the world.
