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Inside Job

No my house did get painted a year ago so its not that. I just watched a documentary with this title. It portrays the history and aftermath of the great financial system collapse of 2008 in the US. What it showcases among the usual 'greed is rampant' and 'absolute power corrupts' themes is that the very acclaimed private educational institutions in the US are also contributing to the ongoing financial divide between the hugely powerful and the destitute. Many scholars have gotten paid assignments to present their capitalism centric views and proposals and also secure positions on the board of directors of the very large financial institutions that benefit from these views, while not having to disclose these affiliations to the university that they teach in. Also if you are confused between morality and profit it clarifies that the same right wing conservatives that would preach about the former are actually morally bankrupt and financially well off. So while that is one point of view the truth is inescapable in that there is a system wide gap between true worth of anything and the future prospect of value added delivery. Today America is largely driven by a service sector economy that is non capital intensive for the most part (outside of agriculture which is also dwindling) and relies heavily on the intellectual potential of people to come up with innovation that will improve quality of life for humanity. This has created a skewed demographic that does not necessarily have the ability to adapt rapidly to this change and importing outside skilled labor (subsidized by foreign governments like India or China) to do the Inside Job(s) has become the smart investment. In a truly open economy the supply of goods and services would flow where there is demand and improve living conditions for all but given how imperfect people are that is at best a pipe dream.

Comments

  1. RajendraSeptember 24, 2012 at 5:52 PM

    Is a pipe dream the one you get after smoking a pipe? Peace pipe produces peace? Observations about most things -role of educationists etc.- are spot on.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Diamond HeadSeptember 24, 2012 at 6:50 PM

    Wonder if the arab world version in the form of the hookah is any better? Guess not.

    ReplyDelete

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