Casino economy is the term given to the world that has just ended, sometimes described as a
bubble bursting (as in
bubble economy).
For years now, the value of a company has not been some rational estimation of its physical assets, plus the contribution of its workers, rather the price to earnings ratio has been one that bears no relation to reality.
Some people do very well. They are able to influence the rest of us to at least try our hands in the gamble that a stock market inevitably is. What went up; goes down.
And people lose.
People lose when they place what they should not into the market. People lose when governments place their resources at the disposal of the markets. People lose when governments pretend that they no longer need to exist, and that the private sector will take care of everyone.
The lesson of The Great Depression is about to be learned all over again. We have prepared ourselves so well by eliminating all the mechanisms of the public sector because, hey, let's gamble on the market.
Snake eyes, you lose!
Jennifer: I've always been in favour of a Tobin Tax, thus reducing the incentive for the rampant speculation that blights the world today. But that would require some world authority to at least coordinate the levying of such a thing, a difficult task.
But I think less difficult than achieving the imaginary state of a completely efficient market. Not only is that impossible, those who now benefit from the inefficiencies of the current one would not permit it--as they would not permit the exacting of a Tobin Tax.