Comments on: "In The Eye Of The [Economic] Storm"

By: Gringo Malo

Gringo Malo — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:14:30 +0000

I'm certainly no economist, and I'm certainly not right all the time. In November of 2007, however, I did write a brief essay entitled "World Depression II," explaining my opinion that the depression we're now entering will be much worse than the Great Depression.

By: Robert Glisson

Robert Glisson — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 13:13:35 +0000

To say “saving parasitical auto dealers” joins the enemy, so to speak. That is if you look at middlemen as parasites. Businesses are not parasites, that dubious honor goes to Washington and to be honest, some parts of the parasitical government are necessary and beneficial to order. No, Myron is correct that the fault for the deficit remains with the government “cash distributors” who decided to single various parts of private industry out for “saving the auto industry.” But we need to remember that it is only the government that is at fault, blame sharing muddles the argument. The question of should the private sector fail in order to rebuild a stable economy, has a clear answer- yes. Maybe if government failed too, we might even be able to fix that mess too; however, we need to stay on the point that it is the fixation of our national leadership’s deficit consumer policy, which as John Adams said “creates a society of slaves,” that is the problem.

By: Bob Harrison

Bob Harrison — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:19:44 +0000

I made the mistake of listening to Joe Bidden speak about the economy. He rambled on about the “21st century economy” based on “green jobs” and health care “reform.” These people really believe that central planning of two of the most important sectors (Energy and Health care) will revolutionize the economy and undo the damage of countless years of mismanagement. Refurbishing government buildings (green jobs) will turn us into China! He even suggested that the inhabitants of government housing projects would be the ones to fill these “Green jobs” installing solar panels or double paned glass in “their” buildings. The real question is: Do they believe their insane ideas or do they just say whatever they think will get them votes?

By: Myron Pauli

Myron Pauli — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:06:31 +0000

Recessions are often unpleasant but are supposed to purge out bad investment (just like a person with a fever fights germs). In the case of “cash for clunkers”, saving parasitical auto dealers, saving inefficient jobs, increasing the minimum wage, imposing new costs and regulations on industry, subsidizing corn growning for ethanol use …. – the US government is MAKING THINGS WORSE. We are increasing inefficiency, increasing waste, destroying capital (like cash for clunkers). It is pathetic and disgusting to watch both parties – with the Democrats leading the lemmings for now – run to the edge of the cliff.

By: Vic Jones

Vic Jones — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:11:27 +0000

The continuing generation of fiat money is frightening. But since when has the government known any better in the last several decades? All the media pundits claimed that no economist predicted what has transpired. But in fact, Schiff along with other Austrians did know what was coming down the pike by simply understanding the business cycle and “bursting bubbles.” “Meltdown” by Thomas E. Woods is a great read on this subject. The government’s take on the economy reminds me of a person who, being $10,000 in debt, begins to hoop and holler upon receiving a credit card in the mail with a $15,000 credit limit and proclaims he’s now 5K in the black. (Unfortunately, I have friends who actually think that way.)

By: M. B. Moon

M. B. Moon — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:33:25 +0000

Yes, deflation purges malinvestments but brutally. Monetary deflation (money destruction) is the flip side of monetary inflation (money creation). Both are features of the dishonest and unstable (government backed) fractional reserve banking system. Two wrongs do not make a right but, in this case ,deflation is a rough, cruel way to purge malinvestments.

That said, it is time to replace the dishonest/unstable fractional reserve banking model. Ideally, this would be a return to free banking but this time with strong guarantees against government privilege.

How many more Great Depressions can we survive?

By: michel cloutier

michel cloutier — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:33:41 +0000

So Obama is trying to ‘postpone’ the recession that Bush himself postponed. Each time the fundamentals don’t change, the dollar goes down a notch in value, the debt grows larger. The US is going the way of the Soviet Union. The differences are that the agony will last longer because the US has rich friends that lent it too much money, or is it ‘lent them the rope they will hang themselves with’ ? Also, this time the oligarchs have already stolen what they could before instead of after the collapse.