Belt Tightening
Posted in Macroeconomics on Feb 24th, 2009
For everyone but me. I guess Keynes was right about wage rigidity.
Monthly Archive for February, 2009
The Numbers are So Big that they Have Become Meaningless
Posted in Fun Facts on Feb 24th, 2009
HT: Dana Kaplan, from the great city of Pittsfield, MA
Forked Tongues
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Feb 22nd, 2009
Remember when the Democrats were busy castigating the one time tax rebate plan to stimulate spending last year about this time? You don’t? Well, after spending a few trillion more, who can remember a measly $200 billion? Well, those rebates never worked, and of course the reason being that lump sum rebates do nothing to […]
Hank Reardon Among Us
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Feb 20th, 2009
It is time to pay for our sins! I don’t know if this is apocryphal, but it is at least mildly entertaining, and at best, tells you the story that remains unspoken in polite company. He could just as well have been talking about the educational establishment (maybe I should include myself in that too). […]
Housing Package, the Stimulus and How Much Have “We” Spent Already
Posted in Flotsam and Jetsam on Feb 20th, 2009
You can listen to me blabber about these and other topics here, on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “At Issue with Ben Merens.” Among the questions we addressed were how much the government has already committed to rescuing the economy, have people lost faith in our government, will the housing package do anything, what is the difference […]
I Just Had to Reprint This
Posted in Classical Liberalism on Feb 20th, 2009
Clive Crook reviews Animal Spirits, by Akerlof and Shiller. Likening the role of government to a parent’s duty to create a happy home, the authors write: “The proper role of the parent is to set the limits so that the child does not overindulge her animal spirits.” This is an unappealing analogy. I would sooner […]
Debt Denial
Posted in Macroeconomics on Feb 19th, 2009
The US Federal Debt now stands at $10.8 trillion. Seems like a lot, right? Government apologists would be quick to point out that this $10.8 trillion is still “only” 77% of US GDP. I’d like to make several points. If this is a relevant metric, how does the US compare to the rest of the […]
The Worst Piece of Financial Reporting … Ever
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Price System on Feb 18th, 2009
For now, Fed officials are more worried about falling prices, than rising ones.The Fed didn’t use the word “deflation,” which is a dangerous bout of falling prices, but officials noted “some risk of a protracted period of excessively low inflation.” Falling prices sound like a gift at first – at least to consumers. But a […]
These People Rule You … Redux
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Government Thuggery on Feb 18th, 2009
These People Rule You …
Posted in Economic Illiteracy, Government Thuggery on Feb 18th, 2009
… I don’t accept his legitimacy as one of “my leaders.” I don’t understand the point HE is trying to get at. I don’t accept his phraseology. I volunteered to have him represent me too, right?
