Wednesday 24 August 2011

Shambles

Markets sink. It is said to be a reaction to the lack of political and governmental grip on the economic situation.

Markets are always said to dislike instability but are also intensely opposed to what they see as governmental interference, including 'over-regilation'. Neither seems exactly true. They surely like an underlying stability (which only governments can, in part, provide) and then the freedom to speculate and manipulate trades against that background. One needs something to bet against. No-one makes quick profits out of complete stability, when change is slow, gradual and foreseeable by everyone.

A shambles is literally a slaughterhouse. It later became applied to warrens of city streets where artisans and traders lived and conducted their businesses. Now it means an incompetent mess. Markets are as scared as the rest of us.