otbricki

Gold: The Only Remaining Bubble?

Exactly right.

1. YOUR TAXES equal what government spends. No more no less. The taxes may be deferred a bit when government borrows, but you will pay in either inflation or direct transfers. The Regan and Bush 'tax cuts' are a lie because they did not cut spending. The idea that deficits aren't important is wrong simply because government spending detracts from the private sector's freedom to allocate funds where the opportunities are.

2. The remaining argument is how big you want government to be. The correct measure of the size of government is how much government spends. Starting with Reagan Republicans have grown government just as fast as Democrats.

3. Don't neglect the effect of the end of the cold war on Clinton's results.

On Feb 19 11:55 AM Anandakos wrote:

>
> Austrian,
>
> You have slandered George HW Bush and Bill Clinton unwittingly and
> unjustly. The US government went on a THIRTY year deficit spending
> spree when Ronald Reagan cut taxes so dramatically in 1981. It is
> true that he rectified some of the shrinkage in the next two years
> with partially compensatory increases, but he set the stage for thirty
> nearly uninterrupted years of spiraling debt. Bush 41 made an attempt
> to right the ship and lost his second term, and then Clinton pumped
> more water out and lost Congress. By the end of Clinton's term --
> partially because of the DotCom boom but mostly because of the 1993
> tax increases -- the government was running an overall surplus.
> No, it hadn't gotten back to a full operating surplus as it should
> have, but it was a lot better than anything since Kennedy's term.
>
>
> People will argue forever about the proper proportion of GDP to devote
> to government activities, but one thing is not debatable: the only
> long-term (greater than 10 years' duration) debt that the government
> should accrue is for genuinely productive infrastructure investments
> and the cost of wars of defense. It's fine for it to run temporary
> (3 to 5 year) deficits during the low part of business cycles, but
> it has to liquidate the debt in the high part of the cycle.
>
> The problem is that selfish people say "we have to give the people
> their money back" in the high part of the cycle, so the debt has
> only rarely been liquidated.
>
> On Feb 18 04:14 PM austrian63 wrote:

Yellow Gold vs. Crude Black Gold: Who's Ready to Rally?

The gold / oil price ratio is at historically high levels. It is much less risky to buy oil right now.

Nine Ways to Profit in 2009

One thing I don't think will happen is that 2008's trades will work in 2009.

I think User 330190 has the right idea.

Dollar vs. Gold - Can We Trust This Change?

Exactly what is going to replace the dollar as a reserve currency? Eh?

And that booshwah on entitlements and the bailout - cow manure. The bailouts are mostly in the form of loans that are collateralized by senior debt - what a deal; the government owns debt in a company that it makes sure can't fail. Entitlements that can be adjusted in value at any time, and paid for easily be just letting the population grow through immigration.