geo511

Preventing the Depression of 2009

wow I just started rereading Road to Serfdom. Since when did loving Govt come back in fashion?

The more things change the more they stay the same.




On Dec 30 04:07 PM John Lounsbury wrote:

> Frank Thoma - - -
>
> Your article brings to mind a fleeting question I haven't really
> focussed on.
>
> Can policy actions to avoid a depression actually take a situation
> which might have been a category 1 or 2 recession (using hurricane
> terms) and turn it into a category 3 or 4? How can it be determined
> which policy changes are constructive and which have the potential
> to aggravate the problems?
>
> Considering these questions (which I doubt have definitive answers),
> your discussion of monetary policy trying to target stock index performance
> targets seems to me to be a very bad idea. Monetary policy should
> have commerce performance targets (employment, credit avialability,
> GDP, etc). Stock prices respond to these factors of commerce, they
> don't produce them. Trying to manage monetary policy by targeting
> dependent variables should not be considered.
>
> Would you try to monitor colon cancer treatment by monitoring skin
> complexion?