From: "Miss L. Toe" 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: What Is The Point Of Investing In The Future If There Is No Future To Invest In?
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 01:16:23 +0100


"Earth Blog"  wrote in message
news:xoCdnWL95ohmMJ3YRVnygA@pipex.net...
> I am fortunate enough to have a pension that will give me something to
live
> on in old age, if I live that long. Like hundreds of millions of people, I
> also have a bank account which keeps my money safe

hopefully - few banks are guaranteed (absolutely)

> and pays a little
> interest,

Define little

> and some insurance which will pay out if something unfortunate
> happens to me.

Most insurance is a waste of money.

> If I have enough money then, like many people, I might even
> decide to invest it in some other savings fund to get a bit of extra
> interest.
>

The fact that you make no mention of capital growth shows you know little of
what you are talking about.

> Most of this money is invested in stock (equity) markets and bond markets.
> According to the Office of National Statistics, pensions, insurance and
> savings accounts for 64% of all UK stock market investment by UK
investors.
> This pattern being repeated around the world

Which pattern ?
and how is it repeated in India and China two of the major growing markets ?

> effectively cancels out foreign
> investment,
> meaning that a very few, commonly used services dominate global
> finance. If it were not for pensions, savings and insurance then the vast
> majority of companies would have to be either privately, or co-operatively
> owned.
>

I dont see that being a problem - for the lucky private owners.
That was the situation a few decades ago.
and this 'great share owning mdemocracy' that we are rapidly moving towards
is merely a form of cooperative ownership (of the greater economy).

> As the world economy has moved on from being just a safe place to put
money,

When was it ever safe ?

> the primary factor has been the need to grow.

The need of what to grow ?
Each individual company ?
My savings ?

> Between 1990 and 2006, the Dow
> Jones Industrial Average, a measure of the average value of key US stocks,
> grew from 2,800 to 11,300, an increase of over 400%.

Does that include reinvested dividends ?
How much of that growth is due to Mergers ?

> If this is a reflection
> of the appetite of the market for growth,

I dont see how it is a reflection of appetite

> then that is a truly ravenous
> appetite!  If the value of investments does not grow according to customer
> demand then they will cease to be viable;

Stock prices go down as well as up, and sometimes companies go bust what is
the point you are trying to make ?

> insurance and pension companies
> will have no basis on which to pay out money,

I think you forgot about gilts and premiums.

> and banks and fund managers
> will stop paying interest on savings.

that is more linked to borrowers than markets

> In the end people will stop investing
> in any form of market. If growth does not happen then the market economy
> simply ceases to exist.
>

People do tend to slow down on investing after a crash or downturn.
(which is usually the time they should start to invest)

> The problem is that growth has to come from somewhere, and it can either
> come from some artificially created value, such as property prices, which
> could collapse at any time, or some resource, such as oil, coal, cropland,
> rock or metal, that is continually being used at an increasing rate. In
> short, if companies do not accelerate their use of resources then the
global
> economy will not be able to carry on as it is. The economy is hell-bent on
> consuming the Earth's finite resources in order to survive.
>

That is more to do with the growing population than growing economies.
Recycling will become more profitable as resource prices rise.

> But do we have to have an economy that works like that?
>

We could try communism, or fascism ?

> There are two ways to look at this : either we try and make the existing
> system sustainable enough so that the future of the planet is assured, or
we
> change to a system that can assure the future of the planet.
>
>
> Making The Market Economy Sustainable
>

Lets sort out part 1 of your sayings before we move on to part 2.