Summary: Can Obama make America like Zimbabwe? Or is this widespread warning a sign that we’ve become gullible fools? The easy acceptance of this preposterous warning suggests the latter. It’s sad that such a post is necessary. Worse, explaining these facts is unlikely to change the mind of many people believing this nonsense. This is …
Can Obama turn America into something like Zimbabwe? Read More »
Much of the commentary about the financial crisis in the general media is little more than superstition — recommendations like the 14th century efforts to control the Plague by killing dogs (which, of course, made it worse). Here are two excerpts from the professional economics literature, brief insights into our true situation. Plus two powerful recommendations: sustained fiscal stimulus …
Explaining the government’s response to the financial crisis Read More »
Summary: The US economy continues to slow, albeit the rate of decay has slowed. But the net damage is severe and a recovery soon is imperative — or more “black swans” will appear.   This is the third in a series of posts about the effects of basic automatic stabilizers on the economy during this recession. (1) Why …
I strongly recommend reading this:Â “A Tale of Two Depressions“, Barry Eichengreen and Kevin H. O’Rourke, 6 April 2009 Summary Often cited comparisons – which look only at the US – find that today’s crisis is milder than the Great Depression. In this column, two leading economic historians show that the world economy is now …
Strong recommendation to read: “A Tale of Two Depressions” Read More »
We know so little. This is one of the major themes of this site, hence the frequent rebukes to those speaking with great confidence about things far beyond our ken — based on the available data and tested theories. In the realm of public policy that is nowhere more salient than economics. Which brings us to …
Fetters of the mind blind us so that we cannot see a solution to this crisis Read More »
