Can money really make money......eventually?

I agree with your take on the problem and it's something that doesn't have a good answer. I think the private rating agencies need to be penalized more for the current financial mess by the regulators as they were as guilty as the big banks. Going forward, they should be paid by the buyers instead of sellers. I can see in a potential situation where the private rating agencies become a real watch dog in the financial markets and an extension of the regulators. There should also be bonuses for finding potential threats (though it'd be really hard to enact and quantify).

 

a money market account would beat student loan interest.

 

"Economics" class in school isnt the same as personal finance, agreed. Spending is the life blood of the US economy, would figure there'd be more vested interest in grooming the next spenders and money managers at the earliest stages, earlier than high school. What happened to homemaking classes? Yeah they're now considered outdated, but they were appropriate in grooming people into SENSIBLE living.

People do 3 things - make families, buy stuff, deal with money. Parents and church have done a decent job in those areas, but I think there's nothing wrong with teaching kids how to live through the educational institutions as well. I dont think that its all "indoctrination". But thats for another time and thread...

 

Kinda figured this would lead to the Lets Look To Europe For Answers thing. People see things in other countries like low poverty, low crime, 100% literacy, free health care and figure why cant US quality of life include those things? But whats this have to do with high taxes? And shouldnt the government and banks be prospering from all this money they're pulling in from everyone?

I ask myself if there should be more Quality of Life focus rather than just the be happy living in a free world making big bucks thing. You do describe a concerning part of capitalism thats underneath the surface, the Average to Below Average Joes having to work 5 times as hard as before to get by because of capitialism's innate coldness on those who dont attain...

But obesity and barbarianism are socio-economic matters not just wealthy people and government issues. So this is a more "Where Is The Country's Core Values?" thing. Not too related to money making money

 

Its called fractional reserve banking


Its basically fraud

 

Eventually we are all dead, as Bush Jr loved to say.

 

I agree 100%.

 

I completely agree with leebigez.

I think the central point what leebigez referring to is ...

it's not a good idea to incur debt in general. People must have
financial displine not to spend the money they don't have.
Most people have debt up to their eye balls are the ones don't
have much money to begin with in the bank.

So what good does it do if a car dealer offer some guy walked into the dealer and offer 0% financing for a $30,000 car and the guy only have $500 in the bank that earn 7% ? I hope you agree that it's not a good idea to borrow, right ?

leebigez did not say it's a bad idea to borrow money to go to college. That dude is too smart to say things like that.

 

I kind of understand the OP's initial point, all rambling aside. The fact that there is a financial "industry" in of itself is a problem. The ROI for the industry is so attractive it is pulling money away from other industries like manufacturing. In the future, we could very well have a financial industry accounting for 50% of the economy. Somehow, something about that just seems destined to fail. Badly.

 

What do you think a service economy is? The U.S. has basically moved to an economy of information and the best way to use that information. There is also ways of creating, and presenting information and other industries are there to support the service industry.

 

A service economy only exists in neatly wrapped economic theory. A country without manufacturing is a country in trouble. Little wonder the Asian tigers aren't buying the free trade thing.

 

of course it's not a good idea for that guy to borrow money. that's why i said, there's no "one-size-fits-all" approach. of course it's not a good idea for people to get into debt....but there are some things worth taking on some debt for. particularly, education.

 

if that was his point, i missed it entirely.