I hate to say it but: I TOLD YOU SO

[Skull Pilot]

To Prevent Bubbles, Restrain the Fed - WSJ.com

What have I and my other Austrian economics adherents been saying for hmmm the past few years?

 

[jillian]

To Prevent Bubbles, Restrain the Fed - WSJ.com

What have I and my other Austrian economics adherents been saying for hmmm the past few years?

You're takling about someone from the Cato Institute. What position did you think they would take?

They were also for tax cuts for the wealthy and supported privatization of social security, which, if they had their way, would have screwed everyone of social security age right now.

So I figure they're wrong on pretty much every economic issue. At least they're not disgusting on social issues and privacy rights.

Thanks, though.

Cato Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[GigiBowman]

Skull, don't you know that Austrian Economics is no longer a valid subject unless it's put in the "Conspiracy Theory" section lol

Iran is listening though lol

 

[glockmail]

You're takling about someone from the Cato Institute. What position did you think they would take?

They were also for tax cuts for the wealthy and supported privatization of social security, which, if they had their way, would have screwed everyone of social security age right now.

So I figure they're wrong on pretty much every economic issue. At least they're not disgusting on social issues and privacy rights.

Thanks, though.

Cato Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Way to dismiss some of the world's best thinkers, who have been proven right over and over, and be open minded, Jill!

 

[xsited1]

You're takling about someone from the Cato Institute. What position did you think they would take?

They were also for tax cuts for the wealthy and supported privatization of social security, which, if they had their way, would have screwed everyone of social security age right now.

So I figure they're wrong on pretty much every economic issue. At least they're not disgusting on social issues and privacy rights.

Thanks, though.

Cato Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cato has been right on practically every economic issue since they began operations. Tax cuts for the "wealthy" is Left-speak for wealth redistribution. JFK tried this with great success. Privatizing social security gives people more freedom to do what they want with their money, which means more Liberty. That's what America is all about.

Bring a valid argument to the table giving us specifics on how they have been wrong on an economic issue and we'll be more than happy to listen.

 

[Shogun]

Way to dismiss some of the world's best thinkers, who have been proven right over and over, and be open minded, Jill!

"best thinkers"? yea, right. "Right over and over again"? CLEARLY!

 

[Skull Pilot]

"best thinkers"? yea, right. "Right over and over again"? CLEARLY!

Well then give us some nuggets from who you would call better thinkers.

We could always just print more money, suppress interest rates and then throw billions of tax payer dollars at the problem all to have the boom bust cycles start all over again but at an accelerated pace.

Good plan, let's do that

Oh yeah we ARE doing that already.

 

[editec]

If Mr. O'Driscoll, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, thinks that we can go on a gold standard and NOT have DEFLATION, he has been misinformed.

One wonders how much gold the fellows at CATO institute have hoarded in hopes that such an idiotic policy will be initiated.

FYI, There is a finite amount of gold in the world.

There is an infinite (in comparison, at least to gold) amount of goods and services that will be created in the future. That number will continue to increase far more quickly than the amount of gold brought into circulation.

Do the freakin' math, you Austian economics fans, and get back to me with your findings about what happens to the prices of good and services generally, when their aggregates must tally (in value) to the amount of gold extant in the universe.

If you do not come up with a massive DEflation scenario, then by all means do NOT give up your dayjobs to become macro-economics.

 

[xsited1]

If Mr. O'Driscoll, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, thinks that we can go on a gold standard and NOT have DEFLATION, he has been misinformed.

One wonders how much gold the fellows at CATO institute have hoarded in hopes that such an idiotic policy will be initiated.

FYI, There is a finite amount of gold in the world.

There is an infinite (in comparison, at least to gold) amount of goods and services that will be created in the future. That number will continue to increase far more quickly than the amount of gold brought into circulation.

Do the freakin' math, you Austian economics fans, and get back to me with your findings about what happens to the prices of good and services generally, when their aggregates must tally (in value) to the amount of gold extant in the universe.

If you do not come up with a massive DEflation scenario, then by all means do NOT give up your dayjobs to become macro-economics.

Well, that's not quite right. Here's what the article says:

To avoid such a fate, Mr. Obama needs to stop the next asset bubble from being inflated by imposing a commodity standard on the Fed. A commodity standard (such as a gold standard) imposes discipline on a central bank because it forces it to acquire commodity reserves in order to increase the money supply. Today the government can inflate asset bubbles without paying a cost for it because the currency isn't linked to the price of a commodity.

How is that a bad idea?

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

If Mr. O'Driscoll, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, thinks that we can go on a gold standard and NOT have DEFLATION, he has been misinformed.

One wonders how much gold the fellows at CATO institute have hoarded in hopes that such an idiotic policy will be initiated.

FYI, There is a finite amount of gold in the world.

There is an infinite (in comparison, at least to gold) amount of goods and services that will be created in the future. That number will continue to increase far more quickly than the amount of gold brought into circulation.

Do the freakin' math, you Austian economics fans, and get back to me with your findings about what happens to the prices of good and services generally, when their aggregates must tally (in value) to the amount of gold extant in the universe.

If you do not come up with a massive DEflation scenario, then by all means do NOT give up your dayjobs to become macro-economics.

http://mises.org/books/deflationandliberty.pdf

 

[AllieBaba]

You're takling about someone from the Cato Institute. What position did you think they would take?

They were also for tax cuts for the wealthy and supported privatization of social security, which, if they had their way, would have screwed everyone of social security age right now.

So I figure they're wrong on pretty much every economic issue. At least they're not disgusting on social issues and privacy rights.

Thanks, though.

Cato Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's your opinion, which of course has no basis in fact.

 

[Turboswede]

You're takling about someone from the Cato Institute. What position did you think they would take?

They were also for tax cuts for the wealthy and supported privatization of social security, which, if they had their way, would have screwed everyone of social security age right now.

So I figure they're wrong on pretty much every economic issue. At least they're not disgusting on social issues and privacy rights.

Thanks, though.

Jillian, in this case you are throwing the (dirty) baby out with the (dirty) bathwater. I am not a fan of the Cato institute, and I may be considered an Anti-Fan of Cato, but here they raise a good point.

For years I have been absolutely gob smacked at reluctance to bump up the fed rate during economic expansion. There is a lot of pressure from everyone to keep rates low during a boom cycle. Business loves it because money is cheap and may be used for expansion while the public loves those sub 6% mortgages. The fed should be acting as an emergency relief valve set to flood the market with cash in a true deflationary period and reign in the cash flow when our economy is expanding.

Thing is, no one wants to kill a non-inflationary market expansion, but that’s what you need to do in order to prevent a crash when the music ends. Now the fed can’t do a thing to stave off the financial collapse so we are stuck pumping money into a bucket with a hole in it.

It was in no one individual's interest to raise rates before so we are all paying the price now.

 

[Paulie]

You're takling about someone from the Cato Institute. What position did you think they would take?

They were also for tax cuts for the wealthy and supported privatization of social security, which, if they had their way, would have screwed everyone of social security age right now.

So I figure they're wrong on pretty much every economic issue. At least they're not disgusting on social issues and privacy rights.

Thanks, though.

Cato Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Can you explain without spin, how it's even possible to say that if SS was privatized, everyone would have been "screwed"?

The point of SS being privatized, is to have that money in your pocket to invest how YOU see fit. Not everyone is an idiot and just sticks their money into any old random security. There are plenty of people who are having their money taken from them every paycheck, who have enough financial sense to invest that money on their own in an area where they could receive a much more lucrative return.

And even many of the ones who would have just put it into random stocks or funds, would most likely eventually regain what's been lost if they have the courage to stick it out until the rebound.

Let's see here. Invest my own money where I see fit, and retain all responsibility for my losses, or let the government stick it into their own personal slush fund that they like to call Social Security.

I think I'll take the former, thank you.

 

[Paulie]

Skull, don't you know that Austrian Economics is no longer a valid subject unless it's put in the "Conspiracy Theory" section lol

Iran is listening though lol

Hah, yeah now that Iran is taking examples from the Austrian School, I suppose Austrian Econ will eventually be considered a terrorist ideology.

It's only a matter of time.

 

[Shogun]

Pauli, Im thinking that it's a pretty large leap to think that private ss accounts based on the stock market would be a solid investment given recent reminders that the stock market is about as predictable, and supportive, as a vegas slot machine. private 401ks are not some kind of retirement panacea.

 

[Kevin_Kennedy]

Hah, yeah now that Iran is taking examples from the Austrian School, I suppose Austrian Econ will eventually be considered a terrorist ideology.

It's only a matter of time.

This won't surprise me in the least.

 

[Paulie]

Pauli, Im thinking that it's a pretty large leap to think that private ss accounts based on the stock market would be a solid investment given recent reminders that the stock market is about as predictable, and supportive, as a vegas slot machine. private 401ks are not some kind of retirement panacea.

There are many more ways to earn returns than just the stock market, and there are many sectors that are considered safe under most circumstances, regardless of how the market is doing overall.

There's a bull market somewhere. I'd rather see citizens become educated on investment and money management, then NOT, and let the government TAKE it from them to use at their own whim instead.

I mean, in the least, it would be nice if the government kept their dirty fucking hands off that hard earned money REGARDLESS.

 

[Shogun]

Taht sounds all good and well until we factor in how many people will lose their investment money in even what some would call the most stable of markets.. and thats not even mentioning those who would use that cash for something other than retirement. I don't have a problem with ss and, in my opinion, it's less risky than betting on white in some investment scheme. just sayin.

 

[Paulie]

Taht sounds all good and well until we factor in how many people will lose their investment money in even what some would call the most stable of markets.. and thats not even mentioning those who would use that cash for something other than retirement. I don't have a problem with ss and, in my opinion, it's less risky than betting on white in some investment scheme. just sayin.

I think this situation assumes the same moral hazard risks as that discussion we had before about schools paying students for good grades instead of parents taking on that responsibility.

I see it as a situation where people are giving away their own decision making ability to government because they'd rather not be bothered with having to think for themselves.

It sounds nice to say that as long as the government is taking care of things for you, the country will be ok in the long run. I disagree though. I think eventually that leads to apathetic robots who depend on someone else to lead them though life.

We are seeing all around us. We used to produce in this country, now we're mostly dependant.

If another great depression happened here, for example, would people work for a Dollar/hr? Assume deflation spiraled out of control to a point where the value of the Dollar skyrocketed due to scarcity. That Dollar/hr would be much more lucrative than it would be right now, but would people collectively bite the bullet and do whatever they needed to do, even if it meant digging ditches for $1/hr?

Probably not. Most people would have their hands out asking for their ration of soup. That's what has changed since the 30's. People have become dependant on the system to take of them.

 

[Shogun]

It's not just a matter of personal choice when the game being played has the stability of a roulette table.