Robert Reich Laughed at and Mocked on CNBC

[Paulie]

His idea of economics doesn't presume to offer anything that is considered "best" for people.

His idea is to let the people themselves decide what is best. In a free market, I can decide my potential fate. If I fail, then at least I failed on my own merits.

I was speaking more in general. Is that right Dude? No offense Paulie, unless you are his spokesman.

He's a free market 'Austrian', like myself.

I know his position well enough to speak for it.

How does he presume to know what's best for millions of people? As a free market Austrian, he would never attempt to make a single decision for anyone. That's the way the school of thought works.

Unless you're saying that by advocating such, it's considered "knowing what's best for millions of people". I wouldn't say it's knowing that Austrian is best for people, but more of saying that we already KNOW that Keynesianism is not, so why don't we try something new and fresh instead of the same old played out approach that obviously hasn't solved the issue of price stability, wage stability, income disparity, etc.

 

[Oddball]

Yeah, what Paulie said!

 

[xsited1]

Robert Reich is a perfect example of a (highly) educated idiot. He buys into whatever is the current trend of liberal thinking is at the moment and somehow believes that Keynes passes for a real economist. Of course he believes the stimulus bill is saving jobs, contrary to reality, because liberals say it MUST be saving jobs.

Keynes is a "real" economist. It isn't a serious statement to say otherwise.

This is one of my favorite Reich quotes:

“The Second World War pulled the nation out of the Great Depression because it required that government spend on such a huge scale as to restart the nation’s factories…”

The guy is always good for a laugh.

Gunny said the same thing.

Not that Gunny is an economist of course, but what Reich said is about as uncontroversial as saying the sky is blue.

Keynes was a real economist? If by "real" you mean someone who got a degree in economics, then I agree. Unfortunately for him, he is wrong about a great many things.

And as far as the stupid statement Reich made about WWII pulling the US out of the depression, of course there is a tiny bit of truth to this. There was full employment because nearly 9 million people were drafted and a full war manufacturing effort. But the real reason the economy recovered was that many of the New Deal policies were eliminated, business was allowed to operate without government hindrance, and we became productive again.

The mocking of Reich will continue. In the past, you would be the first to fling insults when your posts were disputed. What changed?

 

[Paulie]

Yeah, what Paulie said!

Hey, it's what a good spokesman would do.

 

[Toro]

Any economic technocracy attempting to run the whole system is voodoo. The problem with the Keynesian technocrats is that they think the technocrats are always rational.

I don't disagree with this most of the time. Generally, markets should be left to themselves. But at times, they fail. That is why government involvement should be driven as much by process than by people.

 

[Oddball]

Most nothing.

Nobody can make water run uphill, no matter how badly they want to nor no matter how much "empirical evidence" they can make up to prove that they did so.

 

[Toro]

Keynes was a real economist? If by "real" you mean someone who got a degree in economics, then I agree. Unfortunately for him, he is wrong about a great many things.

Every great economist was wrong about a great many things.

But what person isn't?

And as far as the stupid statement Reich made about WWII pulling the US out of the depression, of course there is a tiny bit of truth to this. There was full employment because nearly 9 million people were drafted and a full war manufacturing effort. But the real reason the economy recovered was that many of the New Deal policies were eliminated, business was allowed to operate without government hindrance, and we became productive again.

The mocking of Reich will continue. In the past, you would be the first to fling insults when your posts were disputed. What changed?

Heavy, heavy medication ...

 

[Toro]

Most nothing.

Nobody can make water run uphill, no matter how badly they want to nor no matter how much "empirical evidence" they can make up to prove that they did so.

Its not about making water run uphill. Its making sure there is water in the first place.

 

[Oddball]

Every great economist was wrong about a great many things.

And how many wrong Keynesian notions codified into law have ever been rolled back?......Like, zero.

 

[Oddball]

Its not about making water run uphill. Its making sure there is water in the first place.

You might tell yourself that, but the extent of the meddling and intervention in the marketplace that exists today tells quite a different tale.

 

[Toro]

Its not about making water run uphill. Its making sure there is water in the first place.

You might tell yourself that, but the extent of the meddling and intervention in the marketplace that exists today tells quite a different tale.

Utopia does not exist. Never has, never will.

Had the government not bailed out the credit markets, we would have been in Great Depression 2.0. There would have been no water.

 

[Oddball]

Its not about making water run uphill. Its making sure there is water in the first place.

You might tell yourself that, but the extent of the meddling and intervention in the marketplace that exists today tells quite a different tale.

Utopia does not exist. Never has, never will.

Tell that to the Keynesian technocrats, who think that they can make the world all peace and love beads with artificially low interest rates or a warehouse full of worthless fiat currency.

Had the government not bailed out the credit markets, we would have been in Great Depression 2.0. There would have been no water.

Right....Gubmint causes the problem, with easy money and political pressuring to lend money to people who can't pay it back, then rides in on the white charger to "save the day" when all their scheming blows up in their faces....All on the taxpayer dime.

I think you mentioned something about irrational people somewhere?

 

[Polk]

"Worthless fiat currency"? Fiat currency has the same value as any other currency: what people are willing to give you for it.

 

[Toro]

Right....Gubmint causes the problem, with easy money and political pressuring to lend money to people who can't pay it back, then rides in on the white charger to "save the day" when all their scheming blows up in their faces....All on the taxpayer dime.

I think you mentioned something about irrational people somewhere?

Or, government regulators try to regulate debt, subprime, Alt-A, liars loans, no docs, neg ams, and other abuses in the market but are beaten back by free market ideologues who say "the market knows best" to feed a bubble perpetuated by Wall Street and others who should know better so mid-level traders can waltz home with $10 million bonuses.

Its always easy to blame government while pining for a free market utopia that has never existed.

 

[Oddball]

"Worthless fiat currency"? Fiat currency has the same value as any other currency: what people are willing to give you for it.

Gotta hundred trillion 'til payday?

 

[Oddball]

Or, government regulators try to regulate debt, subprime, Alt-A, liars loans, no docs, neg ams, and other abuses in the market but are beaten back by free market ideologues who say "the market knows best" to feed a bubble perpetuated by Wall Street and others who should know better so mid-level traders can waltz home with $10 million bonuses.

Its always easy to blame government while pining for a free market utopia that has never existed.

I defy you to find anyone who claimed that the free market is Utopia.

It's easy to blame gubmint when they either demonstrably cause the problem and/or are derelict in their duty as the regulator....Which they are both in the current scenario.

Once again, I'll take the irrational people who don't have the power to leave me stuck with a $50 trillion bill I had no role in running up, over the politician, bureaucrat, and technocrat, any day of the week.

 

[Polk]

Right....Gubmint causes the problem, with easy money and political pressuring to lend money to people who can't pay it back, then rides in on the white charger to "save the day" when all their scheming blows up in their faces....All on the taxpayer dime.

I think you mentioned something about irrational people somewhere?

Or, government regulators try to regulate debt, subprime, Alt-A, liars loans, no docs, neg ams, and other abuses in the market but are beaten back by free market ideologues who say "the market knows best" to feed a bubble perpetuated by Wall Street and others who should know better so mid-level traders can waltz home with $10 million bonuses.

Its always easy to blame government while pining for a free market utopia that has never existed.

Clearly it's the government's fault that banks chose to lend money to people without the ability to pay it back.

 

[Polk]

"Worthless fiat currency"? Fiat currency has the same value as any other currency: what people are willing to give you for it.

Gotta hundred trillion 'til payday?

That's a great rebuttal right there...

 

[CrusaderFrank]

"Worthless fiat currency"? Fiat currency has the same value as any other currency: what people are willing to give you for it.

Gotta hundred trillion 'til payday?

That's a great rebuttal! Perfect!

 

[Toro]

I defy you to find anyone who claimed that the free market is Utopia.

It is utopian to believe that government will never be involved. That is why one can always point at something the government does and pin the blame on that.

This is why many free market ideologues tried to blame Freddie and Fannie as the primary cause of the crisis.