ClubOrlov Wed 2009-08-26 15:33 EDT
Welcome to Fuffland!
In the unfolding global financial collapse, it is not just our accounts and balance sheets that come up short, but our language as well. What do you call a bunch of liar loans packaged into toxic assets and placed on the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve as collateral for rescue loans? J,K. Galbraith has proposed the term ``Bezzle,'' taking it to mean the eternal ebb and flow of questionable transactions within an economic cycle. Rational actors cut corners during easy times when they know no-one is looking, and then play nice again when the times change and someone starts paying attention again. But I believe that the phenomenon we are observing is something different: we need a word that describes the artifacts generated in response to irrational actors... A fuffle is an artful fake, an artifact specifically made to fool, beguile, seduce, or intimidate people into paying for it. Examples include suburbans houses and associated mortgage financing, SUVs, debt-financed college education, privately funded 401k retirement plans, US Treasury securities.