tuckfinitee

Global Warming Models: 'Out of Order'?

The comments(including author)on both sides reveal a high degree of scientific illiteracy. That includes comments with clear scientific pretensions.

I feel compelled to single out Ferdinand Banks. The fallacies he uses are very likely deliberate. I suspect he's in training to become a ranting stand-up comic.

1.ad hominem
2.non sequitur(it exists because the main issue of our time is energy)
3.ends justify the means
4.circumstantial ad hominem, ridicule, or straw man for the last? Oh well, I'm getting bored. Possible motto for Mr. Banks "I disapprove of hypocrisy in others".

Global Warming Models: 'Out of Order'?

What could be more reasonable and obvious than reducing and eliminating toxic by-products of industry? But then something happened. Political thugs both conventional and freelance realized the advantages of having plants and animals as constituents. Game on!

Looking at $5 Trillion in Losses and Zombie Debt in Residential Mortgages

Mr. White I think you are overlooking the enormous, furious cost shifting this has been and is occurring to make accounting fictions more "real".

Now I'm far from an expert on the details of the Japan Inc. "system". But one would intuit that it is easier to effectuate this kind of cost shifting in their culture. It may well be that we can't duplicate Japan's "success".

The same logic applies to the inflationary arguments. The money flows are going to the gov and banks. Dribs and drabs to wages and retail consumer products. Will commodities breakout on a sustained basis? That is a complex question. I can't answer it but the trend is up.

The Troubled Role of Government in the Economy

Since the opm mafia was formed in 1913 the US has enjoyed some pretty good times. I wonder if science and technology contributed anything. Was the the economic landscape after WWII advantageous? Did millions of people work hard? No I guess not. It was the brilliant managers at the gov and the fed.

I love it when health care reform is brought up. Health care has already been "reformed". The consumer retail model is a fraction of the medical market. It has already been collectivized. The disadvantaged already receive generous care. Somehow this detail is overlooked.

Mr. Adamson using force against fellow human beings is something that should be limited as much as possible. That principle is actually part of the underlying rationale for gov. What is so difficult about understanding the concept of limited gov? What is so difficult about adhering to it? I'll tell you what's so difficult. Coercion, fraud, and manipulation are very good businesses indeed. Just cherry pick from the wish list of infinite possible goods, make a plausible pitch, and people accept it. People are fooled because they have little concept of a hierarchy of values much less how to apply it. It's about as difficult as fooling a dog when you're playing fetch.

The Truth Behind the U.S Government's Stealth Stimulus Plan

I've resisted pointing this out but maybe the time is right.

The true cost of debt is mostly front loaded. This includes long term instruments and roll over. Most of the true cost is in the present and near term. This is not say that bad decision making and allocation of resources can't have an adverse domino effect far into the future. But in the economic sense you pay sooner not later.

If you start with the assumption that existing in this universe is a fixed cost you can work it out.

The Troubled Role of Government in the Economy

So many fallacies, misconceptions, and assumptions, so little time.

Let's just try 4. Intervention to assure fair play and non-abuse in markets. My question is who's going to protect us from the gov? Let's start with the unified budget(trust fund theft),off budget spending, and suspect statistics. Let's skip to ordinary civil servants. They break laws and regulations constantly. To steal and to
abuse people and/or for their convenience. Then there is the Federal Reserve. A direct contradiction of the principles of self government.

Honestly stated the legal theory behind the Federal Reserve Act would be as follows; Most people are economic illiterates. They don't understand the abstraction called money. Therefore they don't understand that the manipulation of interest rates and money supply to benefit bankers is paid for by the other participants in Federal Reserve Notes and the banking system.

Actually this has given me an idea for a new business. You've heard of life coaches and personal trainers. For you masochists out there I will be your personal government.

The New Normal Could Be That Way for a While

Money flows. Money flows. Money flows.

Mr. Corson I notice that you didn't mention how to distribute income more fairly. I suppose because if you had said gov someone would have pointed out that gov and gov redistribution policies have grown enormously over the last 45 yrs. A big spike in just the last 2! Could it be that shifting huge money flows to the gov and finance isn't really good for income distribution. That some of the methods used to accomplish this(gov-accounting fraud and phony stats, fed-stealth confiscation benefiting banks and borrowers)have negative effects. Like say benefiting rent seekers, parasites, and con artists. Or discriminating against savers and wealth producers.

There is only one solution for economic problems and that is wealth creation. Everything else is just cost shifting. Unfortunately wealth creation won't protect you from criminality.

Oh and by the way regarding balance of payments. There is no scientific reason for the US not to be energy independent.

Another Crisis Looms Right Around the Corner

RE: James Goldsmith. Goldsmith realizes something is very wrong but he is very much off target. Global trade, economic growth, science and technology, nuclear power are not inherently bad. Yes there are problems and dislocations but they can be overcome and we can all be better and better off as a result.

I can summarize where the real heart of darkness is.

1.The fraudulent and manipulative control of money flows.

2.Gradual but overt political oppression. Now I don't have the time and space to detail all the propaganda, deceptions, and crime syndicate methodologies that go into both 1 and 2. However the foundation of 2. is childishly simple. An infinite wish list and the abolition of the hierarchy of values. If you walk into a law library you can find the results of centuries of effort(and thousands of years of hard lessons) to prioritize "goods"(rights being a subset), to resolve conflicts among goods and to interface with reality(for example freedom of speech is a high priority good but you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. Rights vary from your home, to a park, to a workplace). Unfortunately people are weak and ignorant. The constitution guarantees limited gov and encourages maximizing individual choice. But we have arrived at the opposite by the simple expedient of saying wouldn't this or that be good.

Ritholtz Says 'Buy and Hold Is a Disaster'

Mr. Ritholtz seems like an intelligent man. I'm sure he understands Stage One, the merger of the opm giants via the Federal Reserve Act. He understands the manipulation of money flows to the gov, to borrowers, and in a more concentrated fashion to banks. He understands the fraudulent nature of the big banks regulating themselves(Fed Reserve), having access to the public treasury, and indirect access(closer in practice)to the rule makers and enforcers in gov.

I'm not sure he appreciates Stage Two and Three. In the LBJ era we saw a huge ramp up in spending, redistribution and accounting fraud(unified budget, off budget). With Nixon we saw increase of the aforementioned plus the decoupling of the dollar from gold.

Then we move on to the vastly under appreciated Stage Three. Phony gov statistics. Inflation, GDP, unemployment, and other minor ones as well. People think all govs fudge the facts a little. No big deal. In fact it is a trickle down lubricant for almost every type of fraud. Incentives go up, turnover times are faster and hence risks go down.

The money flows to gov, fin, assets, and overseas. Will we see increased flows to wages and consumer retail? I'm thinking more and more subsidies.

2 Unfortunate, Possible Consequences of Deficit Hysteria

We've seen government grow hugely in the last 45 yrs with a large spike in the last 2. The financial sector has grown similarly. We've experienced several asset bubbles along way. Looking at the balance of payments deficits and outsourcing their has been a strong flow of money overseas. The drivers of these money flows have been force and monetary manipulation. The organic market reactions have been efforts to adapt.

My question is there any point Mr Corson at which the forced money flows become harmful to people who don't directly benefit? Should ever greater resources be diverted to the government, financial institutions, assets, and overseas? The only proof that is ever offered that gov spending sprees and loose monetary policy is effective has been "it would have been worse". That's no proof at all. However the superior record of non-interventionists could be used to draw inferences.

I notice that you mention health care. Health care has already been collectivized in a fascistic and indulgent manner. Lawyers get a tad more than euro bureaucrats to serve as arbiters between consumers and producers. Doctors are highly paid because huge money pools can be tapped. Doctors salaries were much more ordinary when medicine operated primarily on a consumer retail model.

I could go on like this for days but would it do any good? People use terms like free markets, capitalism, freedom, democracy. What relation to the material world actually exists? Let's take democracy. We actually have representative gov. Subverting representative gov is child's play. The fallacy of false alternatives works fine before and after elections. But then people would have to lie. Then it gets a little more complicated but not much. What if you told other lies that allowed liars to rationalize and think their lies were really good, or at worst white lies for the long term good or greater good, etc. You only need a relatively small number of people at the top. Of course there are lot of details of institutional controls, carrots and sticks backed by criminality. But the real key is the crime syndicate simultaneous centralization and decentralization.

Commodities' Multi-Week Highs: If This Isn't Inflationary, We're Missing Something

Where are these prices in other currencies? We've seen demonstrable inflation in gov(federal) and banks and assets. If memory serves, didn't we just see a "surprising" jump in the balance of payments deficit? If money flows continue to be channeled to the opm mafia(gov/fin), assets and overseas then wages and consumer retail prices will lag far behind.

If you are a responsible contributor there's a very important reason to point this out. One way to play inflation is to buy before the price goes up strategy. This can be a huge mistake for buying houses or cars. You're using gambling money on 2 long and 1 short derivatives. Any home sellers including stop/loss orders or property tax insurance?

FHA Shenanigans Continue:When Will We Ever Learn?

Mr. Sharp many articles and comments reference the same type of issues. The underlying reasons range from stupidity(as you infer),to ideology, to inconsistency or some combo. Yet the opm mafia(gov/fin)continues to acquire more power and money. Humor me for a minute and think crime syndicate. Really think about the details. How they can wield very tangible power yet be amorphous. How they can survive and even prosper in apparently very hostile environments. It's amazing how the inconsistencies are resolved going down this road.

Artificial Economy? Yes. Artificial Inflation? No

Consumer prices can be suppressed indefinitely. Channeling the money flows into the opm mafia(gov/fin),asset prices, off shore through multinationals and old fashioned capital flight will do the trick. The more the public is on gov life support the less the money flow leakage.

You can think of the mexican oligarchy as a model. But a better model is the crime syndicate with its simultaneous centralization/decentr...

U.S. Government's Size: The Slow-Motion Crisis

Forget money illusion. Start with word illusion. The author and the responders keep using the word(and thinking)government. Try substituting crime syndicate and note the improvement of correspondence with reality. So many inconsistencies and mysteries just disappear. They must be crazy changes to crazy like a fox.

What Happens When the Government Stops Propping Up Housing?

Stop propping up housing? What planet are you on? More propping up followed by more gov controls and so on. Eventually the burdens of maintaining the illusion of private ownership will become so great the hammer will come down as in the case of health care. Yes health care is already collectivized but in a very exploitative and indulgent fashion.

Predictor, you've benefited from the interest deduction? That could be true if home sellers haven't had access to pencils for the last thirty years.