Thursday, May 22, 2008

Cassandra on Speculators: Raise Margin Requirements NOW!

From Cassandra Does Tokyo:
  • When you're driving too fast for safety, you slow down.
  • When deficits rise, you cut spending and/or raise taxes.
  • When someone is kind to you, you express your appreciation.
  • When an investment is no longer attractive, you sell it.
  • When inflation rises, you raise interest rates or tighten fiscal policy.
  • When bread is cooked you take it out of the oven.
  • When you cannot afford a discretionary purchase, you don't buy it.
  • When representatives govern poorly, you don't re-elect them, or their party.
  • When your political system ceases to function properly, carefully consider what is broken, and fix it.
  • When you have reasonable evidence that leveraged commodity speculation and physical hoarding by financial and policy investors is materially impacting prices and adversely affecting the Public Interest you should begin to react by RAISING INITIAL AND MARGIN REQUIREMENTS!! (oh and you might consider closing the loopholes that allow specs to obtain hedge margins and slap a "Tobin" tax upon transactions.It also might be worth exploring some cross-border harmonization too)