Comments on: Commonweal http://codepoetics.com/poetix/2008/10/12/commonweal/ mocking the ways of true grown men Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:10:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: ktismatics http://codepoetics.com/poetix/2008/10/12/commonweal/comment-page-1/#comment-31895 ktismatics Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:45:06 +0000 http://codepoetics.com/poetix/?p=765#comment-31895 Right: operational standards and expertise exercised on behalf of the commons, resisting the corrupting influences of capital investors and the marketing department. It's a wonderful life... Right: operational standards and expertise exercised on behalf of the commons, resisting the corrupting influences of capital investors and the marketing department. It’s a wonderful life…

]]> By: Dominic http://codepoetics.com/poetix/2008/10/12/commonweal/comment-page-1/#comment-31894 Dominic Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:00:54 +0000 http://codepoetics.com/poetix/?p=765#comment-31894 They were called, I believe, "building societies"... They were called, I believe, “building societies”…

]]> By: ktismatics http://codepoetics.com/poetix/2008/10/12/commonweal/comment-page-1/#comment-31892 ktismatics Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:49:49 +0000 http://codepoetics.com/poetix/?p=765#comment-31892 "productive participation in the economy, even as part of a profit-making enterprise, nevertheless adds something to the common good - even if the profits made are subtracted, qua profit, from the commons." Mortgage lenders too? Though buying property with borrowed money is a quintessentially capitalistic project, it's become increasingly possible to imagine (though maybe no more likely to implement) a society in which the citizenry collectively functions as the single-source mortgage lender. There would still be the need to set interest rates, to analyze actuarial data on predicting default, to define best practices for making prudent lending decisions. And the mortgage banker, acting as intermediary between the potential homebuyer and the citizenry, would still need to resist pressure to loosen the standards, exerted both by would-be homebuyers who REALLY LOVE the house and from citizens who see increased mortgage-based revenue as a means of lowering their income tax. “productive participation in the economy, even as part of a profit-making enterprise, nevertheless adds something to the common good – even if the profits made are subtracted, qua profit, from the commons.”

Mortgage lenders too? Though buying property with borrowed money is a quintessentially capitalistic project, it’s become increasingly possible to imagine (though maybe no more likely to implement) a society in which the citizenry collectively functions as the single-source mortgage lender. There would still be the need to set interest rates, to analyze actuarial data on predicting default, to define best practices for making prudent lending decisions. And the mortgage banker, acting as intermediary between the potential homebuyer and the citizenry, would still need to resist pressure to loosen the standards, exerted both by would-be homebuyers who REALLY LOVE the house and from citizens who see increased mortgage-based revenue as a means of lowering their income tax.

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