To continue our exploration of a quantum economics metaphor, consider the possibility that every balance in a bank account represents potential. It is, in other words, stored energy, waiting to be released. That release might come through consumption, by buying goods and services. It might come through investment, by creating productive capacity. Or it might be channelled into speculation by gambling on the future prices of assets.
Each route uses the same potential, but with very different effects.
Consumption sends ripples through the economy.
Investment creates lasting change.
Speculation, however, often traps energy in sterile loops that can quite easily be destructive.
The same monetary potential, deployed differently, leads to profoundly different outcomes.
To see this, quantum thinking helps.
The money in the bank account is financing the loans by the bank which are already in use in one of the three – consumption, investment or speculation.
How do we know this? Because the Sage of Ely has told us this, that the law insists that banks hold deposits in order to bolster their capital against bank runs.
No, no, he did. Therefore such deposits are not available to do antying else as they are already in use.
Watching him misunderstand physics is even more painful than watching him misunderstand economics.
True, but nobody really understands Quantum Mechanics. I think it was the great Prof Feynman who observed that “If you think you understand QM, you don’t.”
[noticed the Baron has already pointed this out, which is a good excuse to test the edit function!]
Any bets on when he gets inside Schrodinger’s wallet?
But there might, or might not, be any money in it!
Ah, but if there is, the quantity might be solely dependent on the position of the observer.
How much money will depend on how fast you are moving relative to the wallet;)
To repeat what I said on yesterday’s “quantum” discussion…
If anyone is invoking “quantum” in almost any discussion it’s worth remembering the comment from a Nobel Prize-winning physicist (Richard Feynman if memory serves) that “If you think you understand quantum theory – you don’t!”.
Einstein wasn’t too keen either – “God does not play dice with the universe”.
The problem is that Einstein was wrong;)
It would appear so, yes…
OT, but the mighty Quinn deserves applause, commenting on Murphy’s blog about the execution of Charlie Kirk
7 Responses
Quinn says:
September 11 2025 at 8:14 am
Yet you spend so much time calling everyone who disagrees with your heavily slanted world view a fascist.
You constantly spew hate and bile.
You also constantly encourage attacks on anyone with a conservative view and defend those who perpetrate such violent attacks as long as they are on your side.
You truly are a disgusting, hypocritical little man.
+3
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Has he responded and is the comment still standing?
BF – realized rather than being lazy could find that out myself!! And here it is – the full exchange – fantastic stuff and that’s nearly 100,000 commentators removed – just as would happen with a real fascist, which of course he inadvertently proves he is.
I will call people far right if they are.
My view is people who support the rich elites and are against the poor.
Kirk had some utter iduotic nonsense views.
He believed.in the End Times nonsense.
If he believed in that utter nonsense then he should not have been allowed anywhere near power.
I saw a post here
https://www.boredpanda.com/man-claims-charlie-kirk-bullied-him-severely-high-school/
If Kirk was a bully who bullied someone to near suicide. Then I lose sympathy with him.
Sorry if the post was lie. But if he was a bad bully then I lose sympathy for him.
Bu besides;
Also Kirk had some deranged views about religion.
He believed in all that end times utter drivel.
He also said a woman should never pay for a date.
What if the man is poor and the woman is rich.
Kirk seemed deranged in some of his views.
And if someone is far right they should be called for right.
According to reports Charlie Kirk once suggested if his 10 year old daughter was raped, then she should not be allowed an abortion if pregnant.
Kirk had some strange sick views.
Our correspondent seems to be on some sort of epic journey across Africa. Judging by the direction of travel, we’ll next be hearing from them from Sudan. I wonder at which point the secret $100 million bank account will be mentioned?
None of that is true.
None of it justifies being murdered.
Tim
Love him or loathe him, Murphy’s on the pulse – his reaction to the resignation of Peter Mandelson is vintage for tin foil hat wearers everywhere
Let me be blunt about this. It is impossible to believe that issues around Epstein were not reported when Mandelson was considered for this post.
There is no chance whatsoever that Starmer was not aware of the issues that have now become public, or that he should have been if he claims he was not.
So, how and why was it that Starmer appointed Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the USA?
Was it precisely because he knew Trump, through Epstein?
Was it also because, like Starmer, he has an inclination to Zionism?
Was it also because, like Starmer, he cannot see the harm in Trump’s right-wing agenda?
Or was there something else, even deeper and more sinister?
Gary Stevenson I think goes up in my estimation on an hourly basis – hilarious, genuinely Alex Joneseque.
What’s that word that starts with L and means you have to go to court and pay out massive damages?
Taking this metaphor at face value; bank accounts should literally have mass, and should collapse into black holes when they get too large, so we can test this. On a positive note, those perpetual motion “sterile loops” prove that conservation of energy can be violated, so clear a space on the trophy shelf for that Nobel in Physics.
Sadly, cherrypicking concepts from physics that appear a bit similar in some ways to things in economics provides no predictive power or useful explanation, and does not advance our understanding of either in any way. But we knew that already.
Perhaps quantum thinking does not help as much as a little lie down and a cup of chamomile tea.
A quantum is the smallest possible, discrete amount of any physical quantity, such as energy or charge.
In monetary terms, a penny. About all Spud is worth.
Then again my nan used to say “look after the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves” which makes her a quantum economics thought leader.
“A quantum is the smallest possible, discrete amount of any physical quantity”
What’s half a quantum then?
Ask Tommy Steele.
Possibly a planck. As in Two Planks Murphy
In my world we have a couple more decimal places. So pips. A far more accurate valuation for Spud GBP 0.0001 Although I’m open to quoting in pipettes as it’s him.
The money in the bank account is financing the loans by the bank which are already in use in one of the three – consumption, investment or speculation.
What? There’s only consumption. The other two are book keeping entries.
Investment (the direct kind) You invest in starting a factory. It’s all consumption. The materials & labour for the building. The plant is bought. At the end of the process there’s no money there. It’s all been spent. Consumed. The other sort of investment, non direct, is just another word for speculation. Both are just book keeping entries. There’s no actual money there. The sort you can exchange for goods & services. Consumption.
Wait, now the money is financing lending?
Spud keeps insisting its not and here he is insisting on the opposite.
Interestingly enough, if money is not, then its not ‘potential energy’ either.
Depends what the lending’s for. If it’s for investing in production, it’s with the people supplied the goods & services to the producers. If it’s for buying assets, it’s with the people who sold assets. In either case, it can’t be with the bank, can it?
Charlie Kirk died. He was killed by a gun. It is tragic for his family.
I want peace in the USA.
By the way did Trump get named on the Epstein Files.
Musk said he was on the Epstein Files?
Is Trump dangerous?
And why is it Epstein died?
Epstein was dangerous to people.
OT random thought …
Blair ennobled Mandelson.
Everything Blair did has turned out to be a plague on us except the FoIA and from what I can work out it’s the only thing he regrets.