Saturday, September 20, 2008

Huh, So It's About Trust

None of the robber barons trusts any of the others. Why is that, do you suppose?
Nobody understands who owes what to whom — or whether they have the ability to pay. Counterparties have become afraid to trade with each other. Sovereign wealth funds are no longer willing to supply badly needed capital because they no longer know what they are investing in. The crisis continues because nobody knows what anything is worth. You simply cannot have a functioning market under such circumstances.

Joe Nocera's cheery little analysis in the NYT basically says it's not going to be over soon and the government's measures may not work. But I guess we know that, don't we?

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