andrevvo

Culturally, a Communist nation will be significantly more different from a Capitalist nation (compared to U.S. vs Nordic capitalism)

Yup, best way to think about them are as bonds in which the credit rating is determined by the underlying asset quality rather than the company itself.

These firms inject capital into the economy efficiently and effectively, which then allows firms access to the financial resources to develop technologies to apply to "healthcare or general science". Can you think of a better way to accomplish this? Have the state choose? I think we all know how that turns out.

This is completely misguided as AnimalMuppet pointed out. The following is a decent article explaining how shorting works:

http://www.investopedia.com/university/shortselling/shortsel...

Mortgage payments are bundled into securities called RMBS. By shorting these securities, you are not shorting the mortgage company, but the assets themselves (the mortgage receivables).

Of course a gold standard would limit the creation of money, but the ability of banks to increase the money supply would still exist under fractional-reserve banking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking

I think you are talking about fractional-reserve banking, which has been around for hundreds of years. This can exist with or without a gold standard.

It's a lot more than electric bits. Banks and other financial institutions allocate capital in the economy. By efficiently and effectively injecting capital into the right companies/sectors, the economy and standard of living will be drastically improved. It is in our best interest that it is the smartest and brightest making these decisions. Of course they should be compensated for these incredibly important services they provide.

In regards to "value" for food, let's consider beyond a certain universal unit of sustenance. For example, imagine two pieces of fish that are identical in size, nutrition etc... However, one was simply grilled by a fisherman, while another was "expertly" prepared by a specialized chef. The latter costs 10 times as much. This extra cost is the social value that is being added to the food.

Basically, the value associated with the fundamental nutritional benefit of food is objective and is something everyone can agree on. If this value is the only thing we cared about, the world would not be organized in the capitalist structure that it is today. Everyone would fish and equally distribute the produce. However, we as a species are hardwired to compete, to be "better". All capital is derived from "social-value-signaling".