printMy favorite analogy in describing the random, rudderless veering of the political and economic “minds” that bedevil us on the idiot’s lantern is Brownian motion—microscopic particles (the minds in question) in motion, suspended in gas. Peter Schiff likens the flurry to a “flock of pigeons that stays in tight formation, flies feverishly, while refusing to stick to any particular direction for very long”:
“Today’s weak GDP numbers have finally caused the mass of economists to revise downward their formerly optimistic recovery forecasts, with many finally entertaining the possibility of a ‘double dip’ recession. It should be obvious by now that these economists only have the capacity to describe where the economy is moving in the short-term…they have no ability to explain the reasons behind the macro trends or make predictions that go beyond the next data release. But economics is not dart throwing. It can be understood and properly forecast.
The major mental block is that most economists believe that an economy grows as a result of spending. Any policy that encourages spending and discourages savings and investment is considered beneficial. Unfortunately, these policies, which only succeed in growing debt and government, act more as an economic sedative than a stimulant.”
[SNIP]
What do you know, the geese described above have news: it’s all good. TIME magazine wants you to know: Rising unemployment is good.
The Department of Labor reported August job numbers on Friday, and the numbers appeared to be another bad sign for the recovery. The economy lost 54,000 positions in the last full month of summer. Worse, the unemployment rate rose for the first time in four months to 9.6%, from a rate of 9.5% the month before.
So is this jobs report the latest sign that we are headed for a double dip? Probably not. Actually it’s the opposite. Despite what it looks like, today’s jobs numbers are good news for the economy. Mark Zandi, a closely watched economist, had this to say on CNBC when the job report was announced, “It solidifies the idea the economic recovery is going to remain intact.”
For a moment I was worried (actually, I began to worry—and warned of hyperinflation—in 2003, when “W” began the deficit spending in earnest).
The fig leaf of a “jobless recovery” is being used a bit less, but substitutes are coming fast and furious.
I used to watch The Kudlow Report on CNBC. But I can’t watch any of the financial shows anymore. The majority of economists they bring on are just a joke. Schiff is the only one who makes any sense, and they treat him like he is a nutjob. I am convinced the others are bought and paid for by multi-national corporations.
I would guess that the economists who seem unable to foresee the economic future are either blind idiots, or afraid to tell the truth, for some reason, either for fear of making the economic future worse in a self-fulfilling prophecy, or because the lying and treasonous international New World Order conspiracy puppet masters are hiding the fact that they are intentionally trying to destroy the United States.
[No; they are just statist scum, out for themselves, not for any grand, big conspiracy.]
Please ignore my first entry I found some really obvious errors that I have corrected in the posting below
Ilana, another one of my favorite characterizations is Random Walk (or sometimes called the Drunkard’s Walk). Basically Random Walk is the integration of Gaussian random noise. This integration creates a low frequency random process whose standard deviation increases as the time of integration increases. If I remember the theory correctly Random Walk and Brownian motion are mathematically similar. Both Brownian motion and he Drunkard’s Walk are *“apt descriptions of the random, rudderless veering of the political and economic “minds” that bedevil us” as you describe above.
*Ilana Mercer Goose-Stepping Stupidity
Hence the phrases jobless economic recovery, job savings, and the summer of economic recovery all make sense when viewed in the context of the motion of Brown and Random Walk and the random noise in the mental giants that lead this nation.
The collapse of the economy was caused by bad government policies combined with out and out sabotage to achieve a political goal. Since then everything that has been done such as massive spending, threats of tax hikes and the like has been calculated to bring the country down farther. How can these learned economists have ever had any kind of positive predictions for the economy or actually talk about how the economy is starting to “bounce back”. It’s a disaster becoming more disasterous on a daily basis. Each month the bad numbers are, (ready now) unexpected. I think the people in the know have been doctoring the numbers to make the left look good for so long that they don’t know how to read the numbers straight and come up with a logical answer to anything.
Most all government policies are bad by definition.
Moreover, Kudlow and company have audiences they must address.
Wall Street, money managers, and last but not least, the millions of individual investors who are being played for suckers.
During the Great Depression stocks lost about 95% of their value measured from peak to trough. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-far-will-stocks-fall-if-this-is-another-great-depression-2009-2
This time it really is different.
What happen to simple truths: Don’t spend more than you make. Save money for a house, make sure you have a good down payment. Save money to retire, have diverse investments. Why does the government think they are exempt from common sense. The government should not spend more than they bring in and they should limit the taxes on citizens. All taxes always have a negative impact on growth.