printI wonder if the king of Keynesianism, economist Paul Krugman, is reading the report by his New York Times colleague, BINYAMIN APPELBAUM. The report revolves around the utter ignorance evinced in the 1,200 pages of transcripts of the “conversations between Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues at the Fed Board of Governors in 2006.” Krug should!
As PBS’s RAY SUAREZ’s reports, “They discussed the changing conditions surrounding an overheated housing market.”
The question really is this: Why, in the presence of a presidential candidate such as Paul, does APPELBAUM and his interlocutor find the complete lack of understanding of the housing crisis among the Board so “striking”? Isn’t it time to admit that one current frontrunner spoke to these facts and to the economic truths they portend?
HERE ARE SOME particularly jarring excerpts from the exchange between these two blind mice of mainstream media, jarring because of the half truths they represent. The man missing from this report is also the reason the minutes are now available:
“… these minutes show us the extent of their misunderstanding of the health of the economy. They show us how badly they misunderstood the way that the economy was working, how badly they misunderestimated the impact of the housing crash.
And it shows, you know, a group of very intelligent, very thoughtful people, you know, talking about the economic situation in the country in a considered way, evaluating what might happen, and having a discussion that, it turns out in retrospect, was far removed from the reality of the actual situation.
… it’s so striking. If you kept reading from that quote, what you would see is that she went on to say, basically, but this is a small problem. The market as a whole is doing fine. The overall quality of these securities is very good. I’m not worried about the housing market.
In fact, at one point, she said that if there was a mild correction in housing, it would benefit the economy by moving resources to healthier sectors of the economy. You’re right. They saw it. They saw that housing was crashing. They joked about the problems that home builders were having in selling homes
…To be fair, a lot of other economists at the same time were talking about blue skies, soft landing, moderation in the coming years. It wasn’t like there were just a bunch of clods sitting around this table, and everybody else could see it, right?
Christmas is past, you’re not going to get your wish. They knew what caused the “Great Depression” almost immediately and the farce continued for years, FDR even got three terms out of it. Just like we’ve been in Iraq, Afghanistan for almost a decade, Libya took months and we lost the real war there when I went Islamic. But they are saying, Iran will take ‘only a few days.’ Stupid is more than skin deep.
Sorry, “when it went Islamic” Proofread Bob, Proofread!
“There is a principal which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance — that principal is contempt prior to investigation.”
–Herbert Spencer
In all fairness, those who did see it and publicly warned of it, such as Ron Paul in 20 hundred and ought 2, are held in contempt as grumps, or quacks, or flies in the soup – such is contempt. And in all fairness, those would take an ideal fancy and make of it an economic idyll are indeed clods.
This is a Big one in S.C. , State Senator Tom Davis is probably tied for first with DeMint in popularity among republicains in S.C. … & He endorses ….Dr. Ron Paul !
Tom Davis sez “he is the candidate who gives the Republican Party the best chance to beat Barack Obama in November.”
http://www.revolutionpac.com/2012/01/senator-tom-davis-endorses-ron-paul/
In case anyone has doubts Freedom is Popular
Look @ what a Perry supporting politico sez in S.C.
SC Tea Party Favors Ron Paul
Mulvaney noted Paul, a Texas congressman, could be a factor. “There’s certainly a libertarian, independent streak in South Carolina,” Mulvaney told Susan.
“He speaks to a lot of folks down here,” he said, noting that Paul’s foreign policy views — which some of his GOP rivals have called “dangerous” — have traction. “There’s a certain war weariness in this state as well.”
http://www.wltx.com/news/article/167867/2/SC-Tea-Party-Favors-Ron-Paul
Here is the Tom Davis released official endorsement
http://senatortomdavis.com/blog/sen-tom-davis-endorsement-announcement/#more-878
Speaking of why Ron Paul should be a shoo-in, check out this 5 minute speech Ron made in Congress in April 2002. I got this link off Vox Day’s most recent WND column.
Just comparing what Ron foresaw 10 years ago with what the other candidates, including Obama, were doing 10 years ago should convince most people that Ron Paul actually has a clue to what is happening and is the best person to try to take corrective action.