- Marx: price = labor value + surplus value
- price = f(supply, demand)
- price = f(supply, demand, credit or fiat money that increases the demand)
- price = f(supply, demand, credit or fiat money that increases the demand, futures/swaps)
- or demand = g(credit, fiat money, elasticity of money, futures, etc)
Even worse, you actually believed all that stuff about prices being set based on market fundamentals. Little did you know that it’s no longer the supply and demand for companies, houses, office buildings, natural gas or wheat that sets prices. More likely it’s the supply and demand for the futures, swaps and other derivative instruments linked to those things.
These markets have long since outgrown their original function of providing producers and consumers of these commodities with a way to hedge their risks by guaranteeing supply and locking in prices. All futures markets require a certain number of “speculators” to take the other side of the contracts from commercial users and producers. Typically, these speculators would represent 30 percent of the participants in a healthy futures market.
But today, because of a sudden desire to earn higher returns and diversify investment portfolios, there are more people wanting to invest in corn and copper and oil than there is corn and copper and natural gas produced and consumed. But no problem. The financial wizards on Wall Street have magically conjured up synthetic corn and copper and West Texas oil so that speculators can provide hedging opportunities for other speculators. Instead of 30 percent of the market, these “passive investors” typically account for 70 percent or more.
More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/steven-pearlstein-you-bet-its-another-bubble/2011/10/31/gIQAKOtxnM_print.html
No comments:
Post a Comment