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I'm completely unstimulated
The stimulus bill passed a major hurdle yesterday afternoon as the Senate voted to close out the debate and more the bill to the official approval vote today. The argument heard most often is that we have to do something fast because the economy is in such distress.
However, the argument again assumes that Keynes was correct when he theorized that consumer demand can get stuck at an artificially low level and that when that happens the government must step in with extra spending to boost the economy. That is the basic premise of ...<< MORE >>
Bad Stimulus Plan - a move to recreate the old economy
Friday night we heard that a compromise had been reached and a $820 billion version of the stimulus bill will come up for a vote in the Senate by Tuesday. The White House and members of the Democratic National Committee plan on a series of intense media pressure to help push the final vote through.
But the reality is that this planned bill will do almost nothing for the economy, because like so many economic measures passed by congress in the 200+ life of our country, they are fighting the previous economic situation. The truth is that returning to the ...<< MORE >>
Borrowing our way to a crisis
One of the biggest issues with the current economic crisis is just how little time is being spent asking why it happened. While many are happy to demand bailouts and stimulus few are asking what should be the most important question, which is how do we prevent it from happening again.
And the foundations are many, although the biggest one is an old economic nemesis that helped start the great crash that signaled the onset of the Great Depression and even cost thousands of investors their wealth back in 1636 in what is still known as the Tulip Bulb Mania.
...<< MORE >>Basic Stimulus Theory
Of course, most politicians love this theory because they can use it to justify just about any increase in spending. And that's what's happening now. New York Times resident economist Paul Krugman who is a devout Keynesian even suggests that the current stimulus package is going to be too small.
Yet, most historians looking at the time of the Great Depression note that none of FDR's New Deal finally ended the depression and it was only World War II and the need to gear up to a wartime economy that finally returned ...<< MORE >>
Back from a break
The bigger reason I paused was that I wanted to take some time to review what was happening in the economy. With the changeover at president and the amount of damage the US economy has suffered due to a number of poorly planned out policies and practices pushed for political reasons, I was unsure of what the future was going to hold.
And that future now looks rather poor. I'll be trying to explain it in simple terms in the future, but the basic issue is that manufacturing is being punished in the US, and the non-value added activies such as lawyering are being exaulted. The problem is that lawyering does not increase the wealth of a nation, and the actions that businesses and citizens find themselves taking to protect themselves from the legalized extortion that is the tort system in the US has the effect of shrinking an already unstable economy.
Do expect more articles about the economy and about the damage that "we the people" have done to the economy and our childrens futures by not understanding how our decisions influence the thousands of market based actions which run our world.
Look ahead economically.
And if you believe that, I have some beachfront property in New Mexico for you. Really...
The truth is that private spending is where growth is. Liberals right now are trying to prevent any look into the Great Depression from revealing that the common wisdom about the "New Deal" ...<< MORE >>
Daily Rabbit (1/6/09)
The argument for a college football playoff
its the argument that we simply must have a college football playoff so that we can "crown" a national champion.
I am against this. and not "I don't like the idea" against it. Its more of the "Everyone supporting tihs is a complete fool." against it.
I can start with the simple point. We ...<< MORE >>