empty promises from the G7

Leaders of the G7 met today and promised to take action. They offered no specifics; I’m guessing this omission will do little to reassure the panic-stricken investors we’re all supposed to sympathize with.

“Fluff. Good fluff but fluff,” said Robert Brusca, analyst at FAO Economics.

“A pledge of everything (makes it) sound like they are clueless,” he added.

“The markets wanted maybe more assurance that there would be a unified global backstopping of the banks, and it doesn’t sound like that’s in there,” said Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed income analysis at Action Economics.

If, as many economists are saying, the key to resolving the crisis is in stabilizing the housing market, it follows that we must abandon the practice of paying people less than it costs to live. Not only does this policy send a message that people’s lives are without value, but it means that fewer people can afford houses. If, as a few have observed, a problem looms with consumer credit in its totality, then it follows that we must abandon the notion that people are only important for the usurious interest payments they make.

And if it is not possible to run a money-based economy that values people, then we should stop running a money-based economy.

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