Dale Reichel
California
Dear Editor:
Trying to keep capitalism afloat. That is what's going on. Our capitalist system, worldwide, was in trouble before COVID-19.
The capitalist system has been on steroids or lots of public money printed and injected into financial markets. This money is keeping corporate assets and prices artificially high.
Workers, what is left of the middle-class, are struggling to make ends meet. Soul-destroying jobs, working all hours, the American dream is basically gone for most.
People have falling incomes, production I believe is falling too. But financial markets, Wall Street, is gaining, most of the time anyway. Money pumped into markets used to buy stocks back, in turn, stocks rise. A big bubble "pop" coming?
Interest rates are low, basically no real interest rate.
In 2008 the corporate debt bubble burst. They have survived by low interest and even negative profits by liquidity.
There are trillions and trillions of dollars of debt in a non-profit atmosphere and negative interest rates. What do "we" get, political monsters like Trump, Modi, Bolsanaro, Putin and the like, and austerity. "We need to cut Social Security and Medicare, we can't afford that any longer." We have heard that, yah.
They prop up the system with more money, liquidity, going to corporations while working-class income and wealth are repressed.
I don't see this system as ongoing, it just doesn't seem sustainable to me. The wealthy class doesn't want to lose their wealth they want the workers to take the hits. It is a classic, folks, the wealthy against the workers.
I see Trump making it worse; it looks to me he is coddling the rich. That's what most politicians do.
When people are losing wealth, how will homes continue to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or pickups $30 to $60 thousand, on and on.
I think capitalism on cheap money will eventually go belly up and us with it.
In January the World Economic Forum convenes in Davos, Switzerland, under the theme, "The Great Reset." A reset of the global financial system may be in order, the U.S. dollar, China, a new currency basket, the IMF.
Stay tuned.