Workers were financialized, too, forced to take increasing risks in the housing market and with their pensions. A new mantra--'There is no alternative' or TINA--was born
[...] combining high returns to financial capital (requiring high interest rates) with high profit rates for American businesses (requiring low interest rates) was never going to be easy, and Volcker knew this. It was a combination that could only come about if another way of providing that profit …
High interest rates are wonderful for those living on unearned income, so-called rentiers, but not so good for manufacturers, who see their investment costs skyrocket and the purchasing power of their customers plummet.
The only way the Franc's Deutsche Mark value could be kept constant was, indeed, for the Bundesbank to keep doing the one thing it detested: incessantly buy francs using freshly printed Deutsche Marks. Were these marks to remain stashed in the vaults of the French central bank--or anywhere else for…
[...] nations in deficit could not sustain fixed exchange rates with the rest, especially in times of crisis. To remain within Europe's monetary snake, a country with a trade deficit, France for example, urgently needed to attract foreign money to finance its net imports. Foreign money is attracted…
