United Liberty
Alan Greenspan
Economics: A Science for Schizophrenics
Wed, 04/01/2009 - 6:59am | posted by Katy Delay
An editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal brings home a fact that I’ve known for a long time: Economists tend to be schizophrenic.
The article mentions Larry Summers’s double talk. Summers commented on Obama’s latest budget by saying, “There are no, no tax increases….” The article points out that there are tax increases, namely the death tax that will be returning to its 2009 parameters, instead of disappearing as it was scheduled to do in 2011. That wouldn’t be more than a fib, but the story gets worse.
In 1980, Summers co-authored a study at the National Bureau of Economic Research supporting the elimination of the estate tax.
Go figure. Schizophrenia, anyone?
Why Has The FED Acted As If The World Is About To End? Here’s Why:
Fri, 10/31/2008 - 8:54am | posted by Austin Wilkes
Since the middle of the 20th Century, when the Federal Reserve started compiling this measurement of non-borrowed bank deposit reserves there has been little short term deviation from its normal levels. Long Story short - Bank reserves, other than those achieved through loans (usually FED funds market, or discount window) have evaporated.
Market Watch
Sun, 10/26/2008 - 2:49pm | posted by Luke Brady
I’ve been disgusted with the drastic oversimplification many news agencies have taken to the volatile markets as of late. Maybe it’s just I feel these articles solely focus on the problem without really mentioning the solution. Have those of us who are investors come to rely on these types of articles for after-the-fact acknowledgement.
Ron Paul Discusses Alan Greenspan on CNN
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 8:27pm | posted by Shana Kluck
Dr. Paul laments Greenspan’s departure from the free market principles he once stood for and what effect the November election will have on the future of the Republican party.
Greenspan, The Fallen God
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 10:30am | posted by Austin Wilkes
For years liberals, conservatives, independents, DC, Main Street and Wall Street seemingly defied all normality and not only embraced, but nearly worshiped the same individual, Alan Greenspan. After rising in 1987 to the position of Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the most powerful financial position in the world, he presided over the most sustained period of economic growth in the history of America. He rode the wave of private sector technological achievements that created abnormally high productivity growth. To many it was his greatness that brought about the increase in income, increase in homeownership, increase in credit, increase in all things material — while still maintaining price stability.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words (or 5,700 pts)
Thu, 10/09/2008 - 6:12pm | posted by Austin Wilkes
Dow Jones Industrial Average — October 9th, 2007 - 14,279
Dow Jones Industrial Average — October 9th, 2008 - 8,579
No more proof is needed that the current intervention is only making matters worse. Bush, Clinton, Greenspan, Bernanke, and the Congress have destroyed the American economy. God help those who were going to rely on their stock portfolio for general living expenses in the near future.
Taylor’s (and Friedman’s) Error
Tue, 04/14/2009 - 7:29am | posted by Katy Delay
In a book review by Clive Crook in todays Financial Times, we read about the new work Getting Off Track by John Taylor, creator of the “Taylor Rule” for monetary policy. According to Taylor, if the Federal Reserve had followed his famous Rule instead of their own discretion over the last decade, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today.
Taylor’s Rule gives a mathematical formula for the calculation of monetary policy. As Crook describes it:
I.O.U.S.A.: Byte-Sized - The 30 Minute Version
Sat, 01/10/2009 - 7:34pm | posted by Michael Orion Powell
A great documentary on the fiscal irresponsibility of the United States government.
Time to Fight the Real War on Terror
Sun, 09/21/2008 - 2:59pm | posted by William 'BJ' Lawson
The terrorists we must fight are not crouched in caves thousands of miles away.
The terrorists we must fight are threatening us with financial weapons of mass destruction that are destroying our economic system.
As described by Warren Buffet in his 2003 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, the financial industry has created new types of derivatives that he described as “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”
As summarized in this BBC article:
Contracts devised by ‘madmen’
