#280 / Get Real

On Thursday, September 24th, The Wall Street Journal published a review of Other People's Money, a book by John Kay. The John Kay here referenced, let me add, is not the John Kay who is the frontman for the band Steppenwolf. 

We talk a lot about "the economy," as as if our "economy" were a real thing. Maybe it's not. 

Kay's book clearly differentiates between the world of "finance," where lots of those 1% people make their money, and the "real economy," which is where the rest of us reside, those who earn their money by participating, in some way, in the creation of real things, or by providing real services.

All our human arrangements are subject to modification. Human laws don't describe what is and what must be, in the same way that the laws applicable in the Natural World describe the inevitable realities that govern that realm. Our laws are "political" in origin. It is, at least theoretically, possible to change our laws. 

We could, just as a for instance, strip away the privileges that pertain to the "finance" part of our economy, and "get real" where economics is concerned, rewarding those who produce real benefits. 

Taxing the financial part of our economy to provide money to do "real" work that benefits real people is one way to accomplish that sort of transformation. 

Getting real! Not a bad idea!

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