M-F

Inflation vs. Deflation: A Matter of Money Supply and Demand

Your argument is missing the concept of velocity of money. If the Fed prints 10 Trillion dollars and buries that cash in a mineshaft, the money supply goes through the roof, but the effect on inflation is zero. You can not just look at money supply numbers and predict the rate of inflation.

And Art Laffer is an idiot, sorry to say. There is a classic cIip on youtube from 2006 of him arguing with Peter Schiff. Laffer denies any fed mistakes, denies a real estate bubble and basically is as wrong as can be. I suggest you watch it. He is a fool.

www.youtube.com/watch?...

Dangerous Fallacy in GDP Measures

If you want to measure the sustainability of a country's economy, GDP vs Debt is probably not as good as looking at the trade deficit or current account deficit. The trade deficit does not lie the same way the GDP can lie. The US has had significant trade deficits for years now though, and still, no one knows when the US dollar will have to adjust downwards to balance the trade deficit.

Congress Considers Bailing Out Its Ethanol Mistakes

prudentinvestor - Taking a laissez faire attitude to energy prices and suppliers is what got the US into the situation is is in now. The whole economy is held hostage to the threat of a spike in oil prices beyond our control. We have huge flows of cash out of the country even with low oil prices that puts pressure on our dollar and threatens national finances. It is time to do what the market won't do - make sure the US is energy independent. Ethanol is part of that. And by the way... oil companies are great at getting one subsidy or another from Congress. When is it time we let them stand on their own, yet another 100 years after their original incorporation?

Congress Considers Bailing Out Its Ethanol Mistakes

Corn ethanol will be a bridge to cellulosic ethanol and perhaps ethanol from 'sugarcorn' a promising new plant which has no kernels or cobs.

We have simply relied on the free market to give us cheap oil for too long and hoped that cartels and political instability would go away. Well, with war in the Middle East and the recent $150/bbl price in oil, it makes sense for the US to ultimately replace 25% of it's gasoline with ethanol. It can be part of the solution.

Of course corn ethanol doesn't yield as much energy as oil, but you have to see the big picture and take off the geek hat with the propellor on top. If the US imports 70% of it's oil and most of those imports become unavailable, the US national security is put at a severe risk. So oil is the cheapest source of energy right now... this doesn't mean we put our head in the sand for another 5 years until the next oil embargo, war or price spike. We need US energy independence ASAP... and I don't see a better plan on the table with a reasonable chance of being implemented. Get real everyone.