Today The Central Bankers Seem To Be The Main Players In Trying To Solve The Global Crisis Raghuram Rajan, Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business assesses the role of the central banks in solving the global crisis in the article “The Only Game In Town.” He writes: What should central banks do when politicians seem incapable of acting? Thus far, they have been willing to step into the breach, finding new and increasingly unconventional ways to try to influence the direction of troubled economies. But how can we determine when central banks overstep their limits? When does boldness turn to foolhardiness? Central bankers nowadays enjoy the popularity of rock stars, and deservedly so: their response to the difficult and uncertain environment during and after the financial crisis has been largely impeccable. But they must be able to admit when they are out of bullets. After all, the transformation from hero to zero can be swift.” But In Reality Banks Are Powerless In Assisting A True Solution As The Troubled Economies Are Not Only Financial Problems, But Part Of A Larger Human System Failure Unfortunately, the whole situation is upside down. The central banks, or any bank in fact, should not play any role in what is happening. The banks simply got into their prominent positions as a result of the excessive, constant growth economy forcing everybody into overspending, relying more and more on credit. But these financial institutions, with their inflated and imminently bursting bubbles have no real bullets at all, they have absolutely no capacity to solve the crisis. It is the opposite. By...
The European Union Was Awarded The Nobel Peace Prize For The Work It Has Down In The Last 6o Years, While Its Present And Future Is Very Much In Balance Ana Palacio, a former Spanish foreign minister and former Senior Vice President of the World Bank writes in her article “Europe’s Nobel Wake-Up Call:” In a decision criticized and praised in equal measure, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded this year’s Peace Prize to the European Union in recognition of its contributions ‘to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe’ over the past six decades. But, to what extent is Europe preoccupied with ‘perpetual peace’ at the expense of its current, vastly different ailments? Is this award a swan song – confirmation of the moribund state of the European project, as the 2001 Nobel Prize was for the United Nations?” The Full Potential Of A United Europe Has Not Blossomed Due To Self Interest And Lack Of True Vision People should consider the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the EU as an award given to the potential of what Europe could become in case of taking on the full measure of the structure that was originally planned. It is not true that Europeans are rejecting the European Union (as the article suggests). It is the politicians and main interest groups that have abandoned, or decided against full union due to individual or group interests. They are stopping the pursuit of a deeper integration that could have fulfilled the original potential. There are multiple examples in life proving that the simple people on the street are only interested...
Today The Most Frequently Used Way Of Expressing Opinion Publicly, In Hoping To Gather Support Is Through Exaggerated Scare Tactics In his article “Scary Pictures” Bjorn Lomborg, an adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School, who founded and directs the Copenhagen Consensus Center describes the practice of people exaggerating their findings, claims in order to make greater impact on their target audience, many times scaring them, but by doing so losing their credibility achieving the opposite effect they hoped for. Campaigners on important but complex issues, annoyed by the length of time required for public deliberations, often react by exaggerating their claims, hoping to force a single solution to the forefront of public debate. But, however well intentioned, scaring the public into a predetermined solution often backfires: when people eventually realize that they have been misled, they lose confidence and interest.” In truth the practice described in the article is the accepted norm today for politicians, the marketing industry and basically any issue discussed when people try to prove their right. As the article suggests, most of the time it is based on “good intentions” the exaggerating party usually truly believes in its truth, that it wants the best for others, to the public. Still it does not change the fact that most of the time these efforts cause more harm than good. Trying To Convince Others In A Forceful Way, Being Completely Convinced About Our Own ‘Truth’ Originates From Basic Human Nature This practice originates from the inherent basic human nature, where each and every human being perceives a very limited segment of the whole reality, a segment which...
As Humanity In General Feels More Depressed, Emptier And More Afraid Of The Future Than Ever, The Search For The Right Definition Of ‘Happiness’ Is On Robert Skidelsky, Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University and a fellow of the British Academy in history and economics writes in his article “Happiness Is Equality“: …The king of Bhutan wants to make us all happier. Governments, he says, should aim to maximize their people’s Gross National Happiness rather than their Gross National Product. Does this new emphasis on happiness represent a shift or just a passing fad? It is easy to see why governments should de-emphasize economic growth when it is proving so elusive. The eurozone is not expected to grow at all this year. The British economy is contracting. Greece’s economy has been shrinking for years. Even China is expected to slow down. Why not give up growth and enjoy what we have? No doubt this mood will pass when growth revives, as it is bound to. Nevertheless, a deeper shift in attitude toward growth has occurred, which is likely to make it a less important lodestar in the future – especially in rich countries… …More equality would not only produce the contentment that flows from more security and better health, but also the satisfaction that flows from having more leisure, more time with family and friends, more respect from one’s fellows, and more lifestyle choices. Great inequality makes us hungrier for goods than we would otherwise be, by constantly reminding us that we have less than the next person. We live in a pushy society with turbo-charged fathers and “tiger”...
I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis in our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.” – Albert Einstein, 1949 A Mutually Responsible Economy? In essence, we already know what a mutually responsible economy looks like. It is the economy that exists within the family. In the family, each person operates according to need and merit. There is the mother, father, children, and the extended family. Each operates according to a particular role: The baby, the mother, the father, grandparent, etc. These roles then are further broken down. The baby is, “helpless,” “precious,” “in need of protection.” The father is perhaps the “bread winner,” the mother, “the caregiver,” etc. To contemplate what form an economy based on mutually responsibility would look like, where...