Economic Turmoil

[Al]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Any wood smoke etc you generate or even noise eg from a generator will attract hordes of n'er do wells. Subtly melting 1/2 gallon of water per day to drink will be a challenge.

On the plus side many people will head south and leave you alone, or to some temperate fertile breadbasket like California, where they'll duke it out with the locals.

Of course with a hermit's attitude, you don't have to last forever. You just have to outlast the crazies.

What everyone forgets in these crazy survivalists is what happens to all the nuclear plants in the world with all the fuel pools that need to be kept cool. If this happens everyone and thing on the earth will be dead in 2 months. Its crazy to contmplete this stuff.
JAPAN?? I have mentioned this before.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Quote:
Maybe 15% of the population is too old to work. So the rest of society gives the elderly 15% of their work output. That day. Food, medicine, house repair, whatever.

This is Social Security in a nutshell.

No, it's not. What you describe is a self sustaining welfare program. 1 dollar in, 1 dollar out.

If social security worked this way, it wouldn't be 10's of trillions underfunded.


It's only underfunded because it's a defined benefit.

I'd be okay with it if every 91 days they looked at what came in from payroll taxes and then readjusted payouts for the next quarter. It would never fly politically, because you'd have all these mad geezers constantly being reminded that their benefits don't come from thin air and actually rely on an underlying economy staying in good shape.

AARP would then jump in and say senior spending stimulates the economy, and the "cuts" (adjustments) are causing a "downward spiral" and need a "special adjustment for unforseen circumstances."

 

[buster]

http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/18/deficit-cut-danger-budget-jobs-leadership-managing-employment.html

This guy gets it.

 

[Tempest]

Originally Posted By: buster
http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/18/deficit-cut-danger-budget-jobs-leadership-managing-employment.html

Quote:
This is not to say that increases in the money supply cannot cause inflation.

Talk about covering all your bases!

What is causing the inflation in Zimbabwe? Which has an unemployment rate of about 95%. According to that guy who "gets it", this should be impossible. Please explain.

And do you realize that the private sector is stashing at least $2 trillion because of uncertainty being injected into the market?

Quote:
The money supply most certainly did increase, but in response to these events and not as a causal factor.

Say what? Oil prices do not drive money supply. It's the other way around.

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
"If we continue down on the path on which the fiscal authorities put us, we will become insolvent, the question is when," Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said in a question and answer session after delivering a speech at the University of Frankfurt.

"The short-term negotiations are very important, I look at this as a tipping point."

But he added he was confident in the Americans' ability to take the right decisions and said the country would avoid insolvency.

"I think we are at the beginning of the process and it's going to be very painful," he added.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/22/fed-fisher-idUSDEP00343920110322

 

[Al]

Yea..I saw that. Too bad our Politicians don't understand that. I suppose they have their plans gassed up to go to Brazil when financial Doomsday gets us.

 

[Drew99GT]

David Walker, former US Comptroller General, has warned us about our road to bankruptcy for decades. I remember in high school watching him on 60 minutes and thinking, nah, it'll never happen in my lifetime. 14 years later, here we are!

 

[Gary Allan]

Drew, there were two classes of people who shared his vision. Those that saw the peril for the nation and its people ...and those who hoped that he'd be ignored for their "self interests" to be furthered.

Guess who won that wager?

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
According to a survey released by the Federal Reserve today, the average family's household net worth declined around 20 percent between 2007 and 2009.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/25/am-fed-household-wealth-down-about-20/

 

[Gary Allan]

If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance ....

 

[buster]

http://moslereconomics.com/2011/03/23/reuters-insider-videos/

I stand by what this guy says. Our monetary system is not what many think, and right now we are in the dark ages. Paul Krugman today touched on MMT for the first time. He admitted he doesn't understand it, and that is part of the problem. It has no marketability right now. However, I think Krugman's blog post will give it some light. We need monetary reform. The real blame for a lot of this particular part is the economics profession. They have failed to teach these things.

http://moslereconomics.com/2011/03/24/us-approaching-insolvency-fix-to-be-painful-fisher/#comments

Quote:
I think one of the biggest problems with economics, as a discipline, is that it is not standardized across Universities. Some individuals will graduate with PhD’s in neo-classical economics, general equilibrium, Monetarism, Post-Keynesianism, Chartalism, etc. People believe that the best Universities in US (Harvard, U Chicago, etc.) train their students in the correct paradigms. This is an obvious fallacy; however, unless you’re practicing medicine people are unable to see the immediate effects of their policy recommendations. It is the equivalent of a medical student going to University of Chicago and being taught the demon theory of disease and another going to UMKC and being taught modern medicine. U. Chicago would lose all credibility as their doctors continued to kill sick patients while UMKC would gain credibility as students continued to heal theirs. There is little room for debate over facts in hard science but a significant amount in economics.



Let's not forget this was a financial crisis. Using interest rates to get the economy moving along is stupid. There was no fiscal response. Should have been a drastic tax cut since we know the government doesn't need tax revenues for spending.

 

[Tempest]

Paul Krugman admitting that the people he wants to be central planning our economy are completely hapless. And people still listen to that guy?? Of course, he does work for the NY Times....

Quote:
There was no fiscal response.

Same is true of gov. spending. But isn't that what Mosler wants A LOT more of?

You still support this guy but you (and him) can't explain how inflation works.

 

[buster]

Inflation is not from an expansion of the monetary base. Inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods.

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/search?q=monetary+base

 

[buster]

Wall of Shame

http://moslereconomics.com/2011/03/27/wall-of-shame/

"Harvard's Mankiw a disgrace to Economics profession."

http://moslereconomics.com/2011/03/27/harvards-mankiw-a-disgrace-to-the-economics-profession/

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Quote:
According to a survey released by the Federal Reserve today, the average family's household net worth declined around 20 percent between 2007 and 2009.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/03/25/am-fed-household-wealth-down-about-20/


You mean the same Rothschild-owned entity that has had it out for the wealth of the private citizen since around 1913?

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
Inflation is caused by too much money chasing too few goods.

Yes. So, what happens when you flood the (depressed) economy (few goods) with lots of dollars? People go out and buy the (relatively) cheap goods but suppliers get wise and raise prices to match the demand....inflation.

You are correct that if the banks are holding large reserves that this doesn't happen (no money in the market place). Of course, you get no economic boost, either.

Venezuela has 30% inflation, and 9-10% unemployment. How can this be?

What Mosler and the MMT people purport is bubble building. Simply keep inflating the bubble with more cash to drive the economy, with (supposedly) no negative effects. Has he learned nothing from the economic collapse?

"Aggregate demand" = inflation. They just don't want to use meaningful terms. And Mosler uses aggregate demand a lot.

And are you saying Mankiw knows what he is doing or not?

 

[Tempest]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

You mean the same Rothschild-owned entity that has had it out for the wealth of the private citizen since around 1913?

Not sure about the Rothschild owned part, but the rest is correct.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: Tempest
Originally Posted By: JHZR2

You mean the same Rothschild-owned entity that has had it out for the wealth of the private citizen since around 1913?

Not sure about the Rothschild owned part, but the rest is correct.


..and how do you propose to end this singularity planning ..or owning us economically..which is centralized? Is this an enemy of free people to be destroyed? If so, how would you go about it ?

If not, then "central planning" has been here for a long time ..and will be forever.

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
..and how do you propose to end this singularity planning ..or owning us economically..which is centralized? Is this an enemy of free people to be destroyed? If so, how would you go about it ?

The FED exists due to an act of Congress. It was passed just before Christmas (the usual time to pass unpopular legislation) in 1913. It would take another act of Congress to get rid of it.

Quote:
then "central planning" has been here for a long time

That is correct. The FED has 2 mandates: keep prices steady and minimize unemployment. The FED has a terrible history at both.

Today's dollar is worth about $.045 in 1913 dollars.
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

 

[buster]

Tempest, you don't know what you're talking about and I'm tired of repeating myself. MMT is not pro Fed or pro bubble.

As far as interest rates, spending and inflation are concerned, that too is not as simple as you make it out to be.

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2011/03/govt-spending-deficits-inflation-and.html?spref=fb

Mosler wants to restructure the Fed and would make the system work better IMO. Nothing is guaranteed, but it's worth a shot.