Our trouble with the future: predictability
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Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 12, 2009 00:00
Under normal circumstances, newspapers Ğ including the Daily News Ğ are loath to refer readers to other publications. But these are far from normal times. And so, painfully, we refer readers to the Financial Times series currently running, "The Future of Capitalism."
One troubling hint as to what that future may look lies in the fact you can read the series for free at www.ft.com/capitalism. We will await with anticipation the point when the series explores the business models for newspapers in the online era. Meanwhile, this work-in-progress is a primer all interested in an exit strategy from our perilous economic times should read.
"... in order to know where capitalism might be heading, it is imperative for policymakers, bankers, investors and voters to understand more clearly what went so badly wrong with 21st century finance," wrote the FT’s Gillian Tett on Tuesday. These are words of wisdom generally for the world; in Turkey they carry specific weight. For as unemployment climbs, the value of the Turkish lira plummets and industrial production slowly collapses, the lack of any economic policy consensus is apparent. Days ago, the prime minister addressed a rally, noting that Central Bank reserves have more than doubled since he assumed office, and then he asked rhetorically to the cheering crowd, "what crisis?"
That this is equivalent to pointing to silos of wheat from prior years’ harvest to avoid discussing a swarm of locusts already devouring that in this year’s fields is the topic of another day’s essay. But this is not our point. Turkey needs a prescription for its economic policy going forward; this can only be possible with a good diagnosis of where we are today.
In the global context, Tett rightly notes that, "Certainly there is no shortage of culprits: naked greed, lax regulation, excessively loose monetary policy, fraudulent borrowing and managerial failure all played a role." Indeed, Turkey today faces a mess that is not of Turkey’s making. But it is cold comfort to the unemployed auto worker in Bursa that the lack of meat on the family table tonight was caused by a Singapore-based trader of "collateralised debt obligations of asset-backed securities."
We need to understand what went wrong globally. We need to understand what can be made to go right in Turkey.
Along with being loath here at the Daily News to squander our readers’ attention through referral to other newspapers, we are also disinclined to admit to inspiration from others. But this piece of work by the FT is a testament to true public service. We will be reading it for ideas on how we may endeavor in a similar spirit. We will also be discussing these ideas with our sister newspaper, business daily Referans. In the weeks ahead, we will try and serve readers with similar commitment to our craft.
"... in order to know where capitalism might be heading, it is imperative for policymakers, bankers, investors and voters to understand more clearly what went so badly wrong with 21st century finance," wrote the FT’s Gillian Tett on Tuesday. These are words of wisdom generally for the world; in Turkey they carry specific weight. For as unemployment climbs, the value of the Turkish lira plummets and industrial production slowly collapses, the lack of any economic policy consensus is apparent. Days ago, the prime minister addressed a rally, noting that Central Bank reserves have more than doubled since he assumed office, and then he asked rhetorically to the cheering crowd, "what crisis?"
That this is equivalent to pointing to silos of wheat from prior years’ harvest to avoid discussing a swarm of locusts already devouring that in this year’s fields is the topic of another day’s essay. But this is not our point. Turkey needs a prescription for its economic policy going forward; this can only be possible with a good diagnosis of where we are today.
In the global context, Tett rightly notes that, "Certainly there is no shortage of culprits: naked greed, lax regulation, excessively loose monetary policy, fraudulent borrowing and managerial failure all played a role." Indeed, Turkey today faces a mess that is not of Turkey’s making. But it is cold comfort to the unemployed auto worker in Bursa that the lack of meat on the family table tonight was caused by a Singapore-based trader of "collateralised debt obligations of asset-backed securities."
We need to understand what went wrong globally. We need to understand what can be made to go right in Turkey.
Along with being loath here at the Daily News to squander our readers’ attention through referral to other newspapers, we are also disinclined to admit to inspiration from others. But this piece of work by the FT is a testament to true public service. We will be reading it for ideas on how we may endeavor in a similar spirit. We will also be discussing these ideas with our sister newspaper, business daily Referans. In the weeks ahead, we will try and serve readers with similar commitment to our craft.