- The Federal Reserve could have a strong voice in bank competition policy, if it wanted to take it. But as long as it never meets a merger it doesn't like …
- Speaking of central banks, they may be at least semi-competent and semi-functional. But they're also semi-disinterested. The more responsibilities they get loaded with, the less likely their competence and functionality are to be aligned with the public good.
- As far as the interests of business are concerned, you have to remember that these interests are intermediated ones. Trade organizations tend not to represent the median member of the group, but rather the most extreme member of the group. (Consider the police unions--most cops are not nearly so bad as to need the protections the unions lobby for.)
Re: “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Go Back”: Return-to-Office Agita Is Sweeping Silicon Valley:"
Seems like businesses do better with remote WFH. University staff seem to really prefer it too. But once remote working is acceptable, then the institution can draw on staff from anywhere, although at the same time staff can also leave to work anywhere. Should staff in low-cost areas of the US look for higher paid employment in more expensive areas, transferring that income to the low-cost places of work? Would this remote working solve the problem of impoverished areas of the US - as workers need not leave their communities or be forced to pay for more expensive living in growth areas - or will employers exploit that to reduce pay?
Alvin Toffler predicted that electronics would facilitate this mode of work from home back in the 1970s. Maybe after nearly 50 years it is finally going to start happening.
". Lagarde shepherded the ECB’s General Council into unanimous agreement on a terse statement about the bank’s policy regime…. It is 18 years since the bank last conducted a strategic review…. All over the world central bankers have been forced to become crisis-fighters."
This seems like life imitating art - in this case, KSR's The Ministry of the Future. Is a blockchain carbon currency next? ;)
A few responses to Brad:
- The Federal Reserve could have a strong voice in bank competition policy, if it wanted to take it. But as long as it never meets a merger it doesn't like …
- Speaking of central banks, they may be at least semi-competent and semi-functional. But they're also semi-disinterested. The more responsibilities they get loaded with, the less likely their competence and functionality are to be aligned with the public good.
- As far as the interests of business are concerned, you have to remember that these interests are intermediated ones. Trade organizations tend not to represent the median member of the group, but rather the most extreme member of the group. (Consider the police unions--most cops are not nearly so bad as to need the protections the unions lobby for.)
Re: “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Go Back”: Return-to-Office Agita Is Sweeping Silicon Valley:"
Seems like businesses do better with remote WFH. University staff seem to really prefer it too. But once remote working is acceptable, then the institution can draw on staff from anywhere, although at the same time staff can also leave to work anywhere. Should staff in low-cost areas of the US look for higher paid employment in more expensive areas, transferring that income to the low-cost places of work? Would this remote working solve the problem of impoverished areas of the US - as workers need not leave their communities or be forced to pay for more expensive living in growth areas - or will employers exploit that to reduce pay?
Alvin Toffler predicted that electronics would facilitate this mode of work from home back in the 1970s. Maybe after nearly 50 years it is finally going to start happening.
". Lagarde shepherded the ECB’s General Council into unanimous agreement on a terse statement about the bank’s policy regime…. It is 18 years since the bank last conducted a strategic review…. All over the world central bankers have been forced to become crisis-fighters."
This seems like life imitating art - in this case, KSR's The Ministry of the Future. Is a blockchain carbon currency next? ;)