David Henningham on the banks
Friend and artist David Henningham suggests in the comments:
I had an idea for a new game; ‘Bank Assassin’. We go queue outside a bank that is in trouble with newspapers/banners two hours before the doors open and try and attract a queue that sparks a run. It’s like Tetris; either we go home when we’re bored, or the bank goes into administration. Job done.
As much as we like a good old-fashioned bank run in the UK, the problem is big capital owners withdrawing their funds from investors, not your high street customer. In fact, the whole crisis is based on the fact that there isn’t any money being held by high street shoppers, and the financial markets are just now catching up with reality.
I have much more to say on the crisis, but I haven’t fully developed my view yet, except to say that Delong and Krugman’s pro-nationalisation approach and Tabbarok and Cowen’s tough love both look reasonable at the moment.
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I welcome your revision of the game’s rules. You’re right, we’d need to raise the stakes. Ackroyd and Murphy manage to do serious damage in the film Trading Places in a short space of time. And they get rich! It seems a bit unfair that I have to become a big capital owner to take part in this crisis.
P.S. Markets don’t catch up with reality; reality catches up with them.
David Henningham
1 Nov 08 at 23:36