9 Comments

I vote for 2016 and the "election" of Trump, though any time between 2008 and 2016 works. After all, we divide our own history with the election of FDR, not the failure of Hoover. Similarly, it was the failures of 2008 on which led to the fascist rise here and in Europe and 2016 is a convenient marker for that even if the timeline is slightly different in other countries (and the US more important than, say, Hungary).

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I vote for 2007/8 and the implosion of the Neoliberal Order

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It did not implode in 2008 but was strangled by the Fed's inadequate response 2008-2020

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Yes, but that is part of the point: it did not have to be, but it was... and it was for reasons...

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But "implode" implies to me a more self contained process.

And I don't know why Bernanke could not have been more vigorous with QE, and not raising rates when the PL trajectory was still below target and employment was nothing like full. Nothing in Neoliberal policy as I understand it says the Fed shouldn't carry out its Congressional mandate if it means stimulating inflation and employment.

Still the end-date seem fine.

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If you think that your success in the marketplace is a sign of your worthiness and deservedness because the market makes good judgments, it then becomes impossible to think that the market needs management...

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In my case Ecclesiastes 9: 11 applies. I've had far more success and suffered less for my failings than I deserve. Nevertheless I don't think market prices need MUCH tweaking except for externalities, Mrs. Lincoln. :)

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I think way too much is made of the 2008 financial crisis. It only seems important becasue the Fed went totally off the reservation by failing to return the economy to full employment and on-target inflation until ~2020. Yes, I know it was under attack for QE and "debasing the dollar" by Governors of Texas, Harvard professors warning about the size of the Federal debt, and other pests, but, darn it, the Fed is supposed not to pay attention to crackpots.

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Jun 10, 2022
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Yes. The system faced an earlier breakdown starting in 1914—the capitalist pseudo-classical semi-liberal order was in chaos and crisis for 30 years And maybe our neoliberal order will surmount the current crisis. But I would not bet much on it...

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