Thursday, December 4, 2008

Spitzer on the Status Quo

Too Big Not to Fail - Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer, Harvard Law School alum, and recently famous client of a high-end prostitution ring, has some intelligent words about bailouts, business models, and the "fatally flawed status quo."

[/XY comment]:
That's a well-articulated argument and I fundamentally agree with what he's saying. I do wonder whether it is a the boom-bust cycle of the economy and companies is fundamental to capitalism. A successful company is going to attract lots of capital. It will succeed sometimes, and it will fail sometimes. When it succeeds it becomes much larger, and may inevitably reach the `too-large to fail' point. This may be especially true for financial companies where money moves in and out rapidly and success is equally rapid and volatile.

[/XX response]:

I also fundamentally agree with Spitzer's argument, although I do think he sort of romanticizes the days of yore when businesses were smaller, more manageable, more flexible.

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