Our current economic system is neither natural nor value neutral. It
wildly overcompensates the financialized "labor" of those at the top of
the chain--much of which has little value to society--while dramatically
undercompensating the real, necessary work of the people who build,
teach, manage, maintain, clean, and service things and other people. If
derivatives trading were banned tomorrow, most people would barely
notice the difference. Meanwhile, the lives of real people might well be
vastly improved by transaction taxes, tighter controls on vulture
capital, and other efforts to undo the financialization of the economy
and incentivize the world's best and brightest to enter fields less
dedicated to the distasteful and counterproductive task of helping
ludicrously overpaid rent seekers extract even greater rates of return
on investment.
digby is a national treasure. I'm thankful every day for her smarts and her vigilance.
