September 20, 2012

The animal spirits, at least those of the banks, are not free to roam as they should.

Sir, Jesse Norman, a conservative MP in UK, writes that the recovery from a balance sheet recession, with a difficult process of deleveraging which reduces both demand and the effectiveness of monetary policy, requires not merely savvy economics, but a feel for animal spirits from policy makers”, “Britain has the political capital to boost investment” September 20. 

How I would like to sit down with Mr. Norman and explain to him how the capital requirements for banks, based on perceived risk, not only caused the explosion that brought us the balance sheet recession but, because this foolish regulatory discrimination, against what is perceived as risky, like the small businesses and the entrepreneurs is still well and alive, it also fundamentally hinders any recovery. 

Hopefully he finds time to read about it in my blog that contains my hundreds of letters, over many years, that I have written to FT on this issue, but that FT has preferred to ignore.