danmcl

How Washington's Policymakers Are Damaging the U.S. Economy

The attemp at maximizing GDP or household net wealth or any other macro goal is the problem with the economy. It is a central planners utopian dream. The job of the government or economic meddlers is not to maximize anything. It is only to maintain a system of rights where every individual can pursue his or her own goals.

Economic tinkering, even with the best of intentions always makes for negative inintended consequenses that hurt the ordinary people while helping limited special interests. You cannot abuse the economic laws and get away with it, even if you have 10 PhDs in economics. We keep proving it over and over.

The lesson is to get the government out of the economy and quit spending our money to buy votes.

You Can Spend Your Way Out of a Recession

Mr. McTeer,

Where does the wealth come from with which to spend? Of course, it come from previous production. Nobody can consume any wealth that has not been produced by someone, period, end of story. Government cannot spend anything that it has not stolen from someone who has produced it. Inflation and debt accumulation are just different ways of redistribuiting wealth that someone has produced. Your line of reasoning is so backward, you could almost qualify as a presidential economic advisor.

There is a good reason why most people don't want to be labeled a Keynesian - because he was/is profoundly and dangerously wrong.

Why a Spending Bill Just Won't Cut It

Judging from the fact that "expert" economists like Summers, Bernanke, Friedman, etc, etc, and etc created this whole mess, it seems to me that those "experts" deserve a lot less adoration than you are willing to give them.

The bubble markets are part and parcel of the distorted keynesian and inflationist hogwash that has been foisted on our economics students for decades.

Why Doesn't the Market Listen?

This is, perhaps, the best metaphor for the tinkerers in washington that I have ever heard. They conjure up the flood and are helpless against it with their magical powers. The only problem with it is that it must assume that there is a wizard with the right magic to solve the crisis.

There is no wizard, only tinkerers, trying this and that, all in a vain effort to make central planning work. As has been convincingly proven over and over, it can't work in any society and only hurts the people they purport to help.

News You Can't Use: Timmy G. Advocates Turbo Dollar

Actually, if the chinese peasants would realize why their cost of living is increasing so much, they would likely agree that currency devaluation does not result in more prosperity.

They, like typical Americans, don't recognize that inflation and monetary devaluation steals money form their pockets.

Keynes vs. Von Mises

Another Awsome column, Katy. Thanks

Is Paul Krugman Serious? Sadly, Yes.

It is very annoying to keep hearing the arguement that the free market has failed us. Even God's gift to us simpletons, Paul Krugman, is not able to come up with a single industry that has actually been a free market for very many decades. There are none. Those that keep repeating that we are suffering because of the free market are either intentionally lying or haven't given it any thought on their own.

Get real.

What Will Happen If America Returns to an Historical Savings Rate?

An entire article on low savings rates and not one mention of artificially low interest rates. Amazing!

Don't you think that interest rates that are artificially held significantly below market rates might have just a teensy weensy effect on how much people spend? In the 1990's, people were saying why save to earn a few measely percent when I can get into the stock market and earn 30%. Talk about a bubble.

Why shouldn't anyone want to buy a big home when interest rates are so low? You can't make any money in a savings account so, since real estate always goes up, why not jump into the bubble head first?

The article discusses Japan and still doesn't make the connection. The Japanese Government has been pursuing a low or 0% interest policy since the early 1990's. Is anyone surprised that the Japanese people are not really that interested in saving money to get nothing in return?

It is beyond me how any serious discussion can take place about the rate of saving and totally ignore one of the primary inducements to save.

Paul Krugman + Al Gore = The Way Forward

Benign neglect, pre-social engineering of 1930's - depressions last 1 to 2 years.

1930's massive social engineering, FDR as God - depression and double digit unemployment for 12 years

I wonder if there is some connection here.

Gore - 5 year plans
Krugman - Government cannot afford to not do enough
Soviet Union - 5 year plans, government doing enough, total economic collapse

Seems there might be a connection there too.

Returning to a Gold Standard Is a Bad Idea

The article said "It is about to print money to try to climb out of its hole. This consensus has been supported by pretty much all of the central banks and governments around the world."

Who are the only ones to gain from an inflationary credit system? Governments, central banks and fractional reserve banks. Do you think there may be some connection here?

Inflation takes money from the pockets of the non-government, non-banking public and gives it to the legal money counterfeiters. The article is entirey one sided and ignores the severe inflationary credit cycles (typically misunderstood as the business cycle) which arise from monetary policy. The accordian effect of fractional reserve banking greatly magnifies the inflationary and deflationary effects which are inevitable due to the Fed's and other central banks corrupt practices.

Isn't Deflation a Good Thing?

The real issue is not whether deflation is bad or if inflation is bad. Mild deflation is no worse than mild inflation. Markets can adjust their expectations. Massive deflation is just as destructive as massive inflation, primarily because it is difficult for markets and consumers to adjust.

The sad fact is that a massive deflation is possible, only because of the massive inflation that distorted markets, incentives and expectations. The fiscal and monetary authorities ar taking steps right now to ensure that we will have another massive inflation, tremendous credit and asset bubble and an even worse collapse not too many years into the future.

It should be apparent in the next couple of year what assets will be the primary bubble market.

My U.S. Infrastructure and Employment Plan

The good ideas here are the same ideas that kept unemploymnt in the double digiits for more than a decade in the great depression. Doesn't anyone see that those trillions of dollars have to come from somewhere? Keynesianism has been proven miserably and disastrously wrong, yet everyone seems to be pushing the "stimulus" garbage.

Unfortunately, Obama doesn't have to read this. This seems to be right up his ally.

On Nov 11 08:44 AM buyitcheap wrote:

> A-@#($@*#-MEN!!!! Since we're going to have one regardless This is
> exactly the kind of WPA type program we need- first thing I would
> do though is replace all the transmission lines with composites which
> would yield an immediate 10-15% in available electrical supply previously
> lost to friction. China recognizes this and is deploying this material
> now.
>
> I would also add rail upgrades as well - take more of the trucks
> off the road and reestablish train travel (bullet trains anyone?)
> as a major mode of transportation.
>
> I'm still bothered by the batteries though, they just don't seem
> ready yet. But LNG, absolutely. We've got LOTS of it here.
>
> I hope the Obama team reads this article. A lot of good ideas here.

The End of the Economy As We Know It?

On the contrary, trust cannot be achieved in a society that worships crooked politicians and views the government as savior. The boom bust cycle will continue until we remove the power to make artificial credit and demand deposits from the Federal Reserve and the fraudulent fractional reserve banking system. The bubble was directly caused by the low interest rates and expanding money supply, controlled by the central bank. America's productivity has been hamstrung by massive and incredibly stupid regulation. I challenge anyone to name a time in the last 100 years when there were actually free markets, totally free of regulation.

There wasn't any.


On Nov 11 11:37 AM stoneweapon wrote:

> Until a society is willing to except a limitation on individual wealth,
> the boom bust cycle will continue to repeat itself. Trust cannot
> be achieved in a society that worships its wealthy class.
>