huangjin

Philip Morris Pays Up: Something's Not Right

The main problem with the verdict is that people have known smoking is bad for you since at least the 1600s. You can read writings by Virginia colonists who talk about the ill-effects of tobacco.

As others pointed out, the point was to punish the company. Companies and rich people can afford to harm others because they can pay the limited damages. People can be put in jail, however, but companies cannot.

Why Opposition to Deficit Spending Is Growing Rapidly

It is game over for government and entitlements. The money simply doesn't exist. There is no way to spend trillions now to restart the economy, and then somehow take it back in taxes. This isn't a regular recession that is just a hiccup during a long uptrend, it's the breakdown and reordering of the economy after almost 80 years of misguided policies.

One example, not even close to the worst: Social Security is broke, right now. The media won't cover it, but payroll taxes do not equal payments, and payments are set to grow faster than the economy for several years. Now, how do you restart the economy when you are structurally required to go deeper into debt for the next 30 years, even if you don't increase any other debt?

Why Are Climate Change and Deficit Reduction Considered Mutually Exclusive?

Higher energy costs means a much weaker economy, so the carbon tax must be offset with other tax cuts. That still leaves a $1.4 trillion deficit, which can be solved by eliminating two of these three programs: Social Security, Medicare, Defense.

By itself, the climate change legislation would turn a strong economy into the 1970s stagflation. Given the current state of the world, it would lead to a depression.

Quest for the Droid Crowds: Not So Epic

The DROID target market had to go to work.

The Intrinsic Value of Nothing, Part 2

Great article. One can trace the failed health and education systems to a lack of prices, as government control has completely distorted the market in these sectors. The distortion in the price of money has damaged the entire global economy.

Democracy is not a wise structure. The wise oppose it, and the Founding Fathers did not establish a democracy, they established a Republic, having learned well from Greek history.

Five ETFs for Climate Change Legislation

ETFs for climate change legislation? Short U.S. Treasuries, short U.S. markets, long China and India. Short oil, short natural gas, short every commodity, except whatever will go into the "green" tech, such as lithium, because total demand will decline as the economy contracts. If there was a fund that went long the unemployment rate, I'd buy that.

Cadbury Bid Indicates We're in a Stock Bull Market

The reason to look at 1930 is because human nature is the same and people behave in a similar way in similar circumstances. If we had charts of Roman or Egyptian market prices, they would be just as useful.

Are Budget Deficits Inflationary?

The real economy is shrinking due to malinvestment. You're right in the first step—if the government starts printing it will generate demand. But is it healthy (sustainable) demand? For instance, what if oil prices are high due to inflation and not scarcity? There will be overinvestment in oil drilling, solar technology, etc, that will all collapse when the inflation ends. We just saw this happen in housing, automobiles, and retail.

As a very simplistic example, imagine the first person to get newly printed money loves to drink red wine and starts buying up bottles and vineyards. The prices increase, and people quit their jobs to grow more grapes and make more wine, even in colder climates. Then there's demand for all the supplies, glass for bottles, etc. A big bubble in wine making causes doctors and engineers to drop out of school to make wine. In the end, the government stops printing money, prices of wine and vineyards collapses, and there are too few engineers and doctors in the economy.


On Sep 03 06:00 PM Plant the seeds wrote:

> If the real economy is shrinking and could produce more shouldn't
> this stimulate in the short run. In the long run, I agree that it
> will decrease the efficiency of the broad economy
> On Sep 03 08:54 AM huangjin wrote:

Are Budget Deficits Inflationary?

I don't know why you inferred I meant zero government, when I said government making economic decisions.

Hong Kong and Singapore have two of the strongest economies in the world and they have little government interference in the economy, but their governments are very strong. Law & order protects the economy. It is when the government starts taking from Peter to pay Paul, or choosing which industry should receive "help", that the distortions begin.


On Sep 03 05:13 PM Paul H. M. wrote:

> Yes, since we all know nations with no or little government have
> the worlds strongest economies?
>
> While I agree government can be very inefficient, suggesting that
> the economy would be better off without the law and order that government
> provides seems a bit off.
>
> Can anybody name a single developed nation with little government?
> All the nations with small governments are shitholes, so the government
> must be good for something, right?

Are Budget Deficits Inflationary?

Inflation is a monetary phenomena. For a given level of printing, higher government spending, through taxation or deficits, will be inflationary because it destroys the underlying real economy by moving capital from efficient uses to political uses.

This leads real assets to lose fundamental value on an economy-wide basis, and in the end there is more money chasing a smaller pool of capital goods. If the government reduced the printing to protect the currency, then there would be deflationary death spiral.

The real story is that government destroys the economy. Inflation/deflation is just the result from the initial level of money & credit and monetary policy response.

How PHEVs and EVs Will Sabotage America's Drive for Energy Independence

This gets to the Achilles' Heel of the environmental debate, lack of math,science, economics, and financial education on the part of many so called "greens" who advocate complex government solutions.

The best solution to imported oil is the free market because the single best signal of which technology is most efficient is the price. Clearly, the Prius would crush Volt and Leaf because it costs less. A family could buy 2 Prius for the cost of 1 Volt.

Another thing to consider is gallons/100 miles. If one car gets 15 mpg, it uses 6.7 gallons to go 100 miles. If another car gets 30 mpg, it uses 3.3 gallons to go 100 miles.

With expensive technology to lift a car from 30 to 100 mpg, the drives save 2.3 gallons of gas/100 miles.

Using existing technology or CAFE standards to get the 15 mpg car up to 30 mpg, saves 3.4 gallons/100 miles.

Palladium: The New Platinum

Pamp Suisse came out with a 1kg bar this year.

Is a Two-Track Economy Emerging from the Rubble?

It's democracy run amok. The people choose the elites who take other peoples' property and the ruling elite take their cut.

When the crisis hits, people will have a choice. More democracy and a move towards total socialism/fascism, or anti-democratic moves to restrict the peoples' ability to vote themselves OPP. The former people have the votes, the latter people have the guns.

Load Up on Coal: Play the Upcoming Senate Brawl over Cap-and-Trade

Cap & Trade: A Smoot-Hawley for the information age!

I'm interested in clean coal technologies as well, especially since their stocks haven't rebounded as much.

Why the Electric Car Mileage Debate Is Meaningless

The question is: where are they going to put all the nuclear power plants?