[pooploop64]

There used to be much more of a belief that the reason this stuff has an appreciable value to speak of is because it's either creating a channel for society's productivity or it's creating a position to skim pennies off of society's productivity. But less and less does it feel like productivity is even in the equation anymore. What the quoted statement describes is much closer to a Ponzi scheme than what finance is actually supposed to be about, but it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference.

Also if the cutoff point for raising concerns about this was hundreds of years ago that really sucks for everyone alive today.

[Schiendelman]

Is there a particular instrument or transaction you feel creates a scheme? What specifically would you disallow, and what would be the downstream impact you imagine of doing so?

[pooploop64]

It's like I said, the degree to which productivity is in the equation.

Money just looping around until settling on a few people, otherwise doing nothing else = zero productivity, zero value

Action which results in a bit of productivity = a bit of value

Action with results in lots of productivity = lots of value

I'd say the exact degree of separation where it becomes "a problem" is roughly equal to the exact number of sand grains that form a pile. I can tell you one area where society is already suffering greatly from dead economy and that's the housing market. The downstream impact of that industry not being realistic is happening right now.

Also I would like to refer people to a story called "The Golden Goose." Everyone seems familiar with it but it doesn't seem like most people have seen the end.

[Schiendelman]

Every derivative of productivity is measuring future productivity. What specific product were you thinking didn't?