by lawnchair » Wed 28 Jan 2009, 09:13:53
These guys are not inconsequential. Real businesses, doing real things, with real books, with real 4% profits, were being strangled for capital because, hey, I can go get 8% with Madoff (or AAA-rated mortgage-securities, or CDSs, or whatever).
Reality hadn't changed. Making 5% was as hard as it ever was. Market said, "hey, do what you gotta do... slave labor? lowered quality? eat your seed-corn? I don't care... just gimme 8%".
At 1% annual growth, human bodies will incorporate every gram in the observable universe in approximately 10,170 years.