ECONOMICS: Consider “systematic externalisations of cost” by Gooferment

Thursday, February 23, 2017

http://ncc-1776.org/tle2017/tle910-20170219-03.html

Traditionalism and Free Trade: An Exercise in Libertarian Outreach 
by Sean Gabb sean@libertarian.co.uk
Special to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

*** begin quote ***

What is true of national distribution networks is also true at the level of international trade. British and then American control of the seas has made shipping safe from piracy. British and American control of the Middle East has externalised many of the costs of oil drilling and movement. British and American armed interventions stabilised less powerful countries for the sale of our industrial output, and then for the development of manufacturing industry in places where the local ruling classes could be bribed and assisted into making labour both cheap and docile.

These facts go far to explaining why Chinese apples undercut Kentish apples in Kent, and why it is worth concentrating the manufacture of virtually all electronic goods in a few coastal regions of China, and why most of the clothes we buy are put together in Turkish and Bangladeshi sweatshops. It goes far to explaining why, when I drive home every summer from the family trip to Slovakia, I share fabulously expensive motorways with lorries that pay a pittance per mile, and burn diesel at prices—even allowing for taxes—far below the real cost of extraction and transport, and that are carrying goods to places like Manchester and Leeds where once whole armies were employed in their manufacture.

In short, the manufacturing side of the globalisation that traditionalists denounce proceeds from a pattern of comparative advantage that makes sense only on the basis of systematic externalisations of cost.

*** end quote ***

I read this and was literally stunned.

He makes an excellent point that the USA Rust Belt was cause by Gooferment subsidies and interference in free trade. 

While no one likes pirates — except when Johnny Depp is one in the movies — the control of them to enable long distance free trade is a cost that should be absorbed in the competitive marketplace. When Gooferment steals wealth from the USA’s taxpayers to “protect freedom of navigation”, then they are subsidizing imports and exports.

Like the gas tax is impossible to “see” in the price of a can of beans, so to this “protection of sea traffic” is NOT reflect in the market price of imported goods.

That’s a STUNNING realization to me.

So to the Gooferment subsidization of ports, airports, and highways. You can’t see that in competitive purchase decision down at Walmart. If there was a “Made in America” TV, of course it would be at an absurd cost disadvantage because all the “costs” are not in the price tag. 

That’s the realization this article brought to me. 

Argh!

Another case of Gooferment causes the problem and then causes more problems “fixing” the original problem. 

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: Janet Yellen and the “FED” should go to the trash pile of history

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

https://dailyreckoning.com/91851-2/

POSTED JANUARY 25, 2017
Trump Missed His Biggest Chance to Drain the Swamp
BY DAVID STOCKMAN 

*** begin quote ***

Janet Yellen insists that she would serve out her full term (until January 2018) and has rather cheekily lectured Congress about the dangers of political interference with the central bank.

Oh, my.

Before December — after the election — the Fed spent the past year sitting hard on interest rates for no plausible reason whatsoever. The main reason was to perpetuate the stock market bubble and thereby ensure the election of Hillary Clinton and a perpetuation of the current Wall Street/Washington regime.
To his credit, Donald Trump called her out on this blatant political meddling during the campaign, calling it “shameful” and designed to keep the stock averages levitated through November 8th.

He was exactly right. Yet notwithstanding his shocking victory, Yellen has the temerity of a pot calling the kettle black. Her Keynesian-statist party has been rebuked by the American public, but the terminally grating school marm who occupies the big chair in the Eccles Building petulantly insists that her right to rule has not been diminished by an iota.

*** end quote ***

The Federal Reserve Bank is a misnomer. IT ain’t “federal”. It reserves nothing. And, it ain’t a “bank”. It is a private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians.

It’s designed to corrupt Americans and the world into accepting a unbacked fiat currency.

The benefit of a real gold standard is to restrict what the Gooferment can spend. Imagine if it couldn’t borrow and spend beyond what it could steal from the taxpayers. A lot less war and welfare spending, for sure.

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: The “invisible hand of the free market” makes life better for everyone

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

On Thursday, January 19, 2017 8:50 PM, I wrote:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/hobica/2017/01/18/jet-lag-altitude-sickness-dehydration/96677564/

*** begin quote ***

In a study entitled “Effect of Aircraft-Cabin Altitude on Passenger Discomfort” in the New England Journal of Medicine, the authors write that people who “travel to terrestrial altitudes above 6,500 feet experience acute mountain sickness, a syndrome characterized by symptoms of headache, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, lassitude, and sleep disturbance.” The researchers call this “Acute Mountain Syndrome.” The ill effects are even more pronounced the older you are.

*** end quote ***

Laugh!

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Sharing with my Luddite friend this great and interesting news.

“Jet lag” is merely misdiagnosed “Acute Mountain Syndrome”!

Wow, what a finding.

The article says planes are being reengineered to eliminate this.

Great!

To which, he responds:

*** begin quote ***

Yeah, they will end jet lag because nobody will be able to afford to fly!

*** end quote ***

No, it’s the “invisible hand of the free market”. Improve or die. Serve your fellow man or starve. 
Look at commodes. At one time only the ULTRA ULTRA rich kings could have indoor plumbing. Now virtually everyone has it.

Same with cars. Clean water. Computers.

Only in Gooferment projects does the costs escalate and the results plummet.

When entrepreneurs risk their own money, progress happens. Because no one watches the store like the owner.

Economics 201.

Laugh!

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Seems so OBVIOUS to me, Sigh!

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: I think the SF “building department” is useless

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3865998/The-leaning-tower-San-Francisco-350-million-luxury-high-rise-Millennium-Tower-SINKING.html

The leaning tower of San Francisco: The $350 million luxury high-rise Millennium Tower is SINKING 

  • The Millennium Tower, in San Franciso, has already sunk 16 inches since it was completed seven years ago
  • The $350 million building has also begun to tilt –  and now has a six-inch lean at the top of the tower
  • Leaked documents show the city’s Department of Building Inspection and developer Millennium Partners were aware it was sinking faster than anticipated before it opened in late 2009 but didn’t make it public 
  • Engineers hired to assess the problem have said that it shows no immediate sign of stopping

By HANNAH PARRY FOR DAILYMAIL.COMPUBLISHED: 00:54 EST, 24 October 2016 | UPDATED: 03:35 EST, 24 October 2016

*** begin quote ***

Pamela Buttery noticed something peculiar six years ago while practicing golf putting in her 57th-floor apartment at the luxurious building. The ball kept veering to the same corner of her living room.

Those were the first signs for residents of the sleek, mirrored high-rise that something was wrong. 

‘What concerns me most is the tilting,’ says Buttery, 76, a retired real estate developer. ‘Is it safe to stay here? For how long?’

*** end quote ***

Wow, there’s a “engineering blunder” as Brother Austin Barry would say.

I assume that the lawsuits will begin immediately!

Feel sorry for anyone who bought one after it was discovered but before it became public knowledge.

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: Anyone still naïve about politicians and who they serve

Monday, October 17, 2016

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/15/exclusive-american-worker-forced-train-foreign-replacement-reveals-how-hillary-clinton-betrayed-him/

EXCLUSIVE — American Worker Forced to Train Foreign Replacement Reveals How Hillary Clinton Betrayed Him
by JULIA HAHN
15 Oct 2016
Washington D.C.

*** begin quote ***

As Emmons watched Clinton’s office rebuff his “desperate” pleas for help–choosing, instead, to stand with a foreign corporation at the direct expense of the American workers she was elected to represent–that was the moment, “my naïveté was over,” Emmons said. “That was when I realized exactly what this was: I realized it’s the government against the people.”

“As naïve as I was then, I now know that politicians like Hillary are not out to do what’s right for the people of America; they’re out to do what’s right for the people who donate money to them,” Emmons said.

*** and ***

The story of citizens like Mike Emmons and his colleagues has become an all-too-familiar one: American tech workers are gathered together for a meeting with their executives—in this case, by Siemens in Lake Mary, Florida, in 2002. The unsuspecting workers are then informed that, despite their stellar performance record and years of service to the company, they’re all being fired and replaced by predominantly foreign-born Indian workers. However, before they are to be officially let go, they’ll be forced to train their foreign replacements. If they refuse, the American workers will not receive their severance. Companies like Siemens, Disney, Southern California Edison, Xerox, Northeast Utilities, and countless others are able to do this through forming contracts with India-based outsourcing firms like Tata that import thousands of foreign workers into the country on L-1 and H-1B visas and use them to supplant American workers who had been working there previously.

*** end quote ***

All of us in the Information Technology field have seen this type of competition.

The H-1B visa program is supposed to be for “critical skills” not available in the American marketplace.

What a joke.

The politicians have been paid off by corrupt Crony Capitalists.

And, it’s Joe and Jane Sixpack that get screwed.

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ECONOMICS: CFC — Gooferment ekkynomics that keeps on giving

Saturday, October 15, 2016

http://ericpetersautos.com/2016/10/08/buy-steel-not-gold/

Buy Steel (Not Gold)
By eric – October 8, 2016

*** begin quote ***

First, it decreased supply via the infamous “Cash For Clunkers” program (a “clunker” being defined not by mechanical condition, incidentally, but by the car’s gas mileage numbers). The government paid people inflated sums of other people’s money (an estimated $3 billion) to turn in perfectly roadworthy used cars in for unwarranted, early destruction … in order to “stimulate” demand for new cars.

This was like burning down every third house in a neighborhood to create a “need” for new housing.

*** end quote ***

I like that “burn down every third house” as a short hand description.

Sorry, but how can these “RXes” possibly help the economy.

The USA would be so much better off if the Gooferment would take a long vacation!

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ECONOMICS: Four reasons for a dim employment forecast

Sunday, October 2, 2016

http://larrysummers.com/2016/09/26/men-without-work/

Men Without Work
09/26/2016
Over the weekend, the FT published my review of Nicholas Eberstadt’s important new book Men Without Work.  

*** begin quote ***

I think this is likely a substantial underestimate unless something is done for a number of reasons.  First everything we hear and see regarding technology suggests the rate of job destruction will pick up.  Think of the elimination of drivers, and of those who work behind cash registers.  Second, the gains in average education and health of the workforce over the last 50 years are unlikely to be repeated.  Third, to the extent that non-work is contagious, it is likely to grow exponentially rather than at a linear rate.  Fourth, declining marriage rates are likely to raise rates of labor force withdrawal given that non-work is much more common for unmarried than married men.

*** end quote ***

This is a really dismal view of what’s in store for the men of the future.

As well as for the uneducated, or those who can not generate value.

Sad. 

Everyone better be teaching their children to be entrepreneurial.

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: The US Military is obsolete and just misdirected

Thursday, September 29, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/09/fred-reed/bombing-enemies-cant-fight-back/

An Obsolescent Military: Bombing Everything, Gaining Nothing
By Fred Reed
September 26, 2016  

*** begin quote ***

All of which is to say that while the US military looks formidable, it isn’t particularly useful, and aids China by bankrupting the US. Repeatedly it has demonstrated that it cannot defeat campesinos armed with those most formidable weapons, the AK, the RPG, and the IED. The US does not have the land forces to fight a major or semi-major enemy. It could bomb Iran, with unpredictable consequences, but couldn’t possibly conquer it.

The wars in the Mid-East illustrate the principle nicely. Iraq didn’t work. Libya didn’t work. Iran didn’t back down. ISIS and related curiosities? The Pentagon is again bombing an enemy that can’t fight back—its specialty—but that it seems unable to defeat.

The wrong military, wrong enemy, wrong war, wrong world.

*** end quote ***

Wow, Fred Reed had really nailed this one.

Militaries are famous for fighting the LAST war.

The Civil War was fought as if the war didn’t have any accurate weapons. WW1 was fought with massed troops fed into machine guns. WW2 was fought similarly. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Argh!

When will we realize that the Gooferment is fat, slow, and stupid.

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ECONOMICS: EBT — the hidden soup lines

Friday, September 9, 2016

http://www.theburningplatform.com/2016/09/04/the-anti-cinderella-man-part-one/

The Burning PlatformThe Burning Platform
THE ANTI-CINDERELLA MAN (PART ONE)

*** begin quote ***

First of all, if there were soup lines, the corporate media would just ignore them. If they don’t report it, then it isn’t happening. Secondly, the soup lines are electronic, as the government downloads the “soup” onto EBT cards so JP Morgan can reap billions in fees to run the SNAP program. Just because there are no pictures of starving downtrodden Americans in shabby clothes waiting in soup lines, doesn’t mean the majority of Americans aren’t experiencing a depression.

*** and ***

Long-term discouraged workers were defined out of official existence in 1994. If you stop looking for a job because there are no jobs available, the BLS pretends you no longer exist and you are dropped from their unemployment calculations. John Williams at Shadowstats rightfully adds these discouraged workers, who are willing to work, back into the calculation and surprise, surprise, the real unemployment rate in this country has been between 18% and 23% for the last seven years. Those rates are identical to the worst years of the Great Depression.

*** end quote ***

So what will it take to “make America great again”?

Well, they always say the first step to solving a problem is to admit you have one!

And, imho, “we” have several!

(1) honest money;

(2) Crony Capitalism;

(3) the FED;

(4) the warfare / welfare state; and

(5) the Gooferment Skrules.

None are easy to solve if we don’t have any moral, ethical, or personal backbone!

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: What will trigger an “Economic Depression”?

Friday, July 29, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/07/no_author/america-needs-old-fashioned-depression/

America Needs a Good, Old-Fashioned Economic Depression
By Jay Zawatsky The National Interest
July 25, 2016

*** begin quote ***

Yes, central bankers can print currency units, but not food, energy or other commodities necessary for sustaining life. As basic commodities become more scarce or are priced out of the reach of average folks, wars, riots, rebellions, diseases and repressive governments will result. All of this human suffering will be the progeny of ZIRP, QE, and NIRP, which in turn are the progeny of the replacement of the gold standard by the Ph.D. standard.

*** end quote ***

If we stipulate that this is good “economic medicine” and central banks have no incentive to stop “printing currency units”, then what is the trigger for a depression? Or what is the recognition factor that wakes up “We, The Sheeple” to the reality of one big ugly “economic” chicken coming home to roost.

In Venezuela, it had to be the unavailability of toilet paper at any price.

What will it be here in the USA? 

Since “printing the currency units” will lead to inflation, it’s important to hide that fact from “We, The Sheeple”.

But sooner of later, the inputs to production will be bid up and that has to be reflect in the price to the end consumer. At some point, the outputs can not be produced for a profit and compensate for the risk involved.

So when the shelfs begin to be missing “stuff”, that’s the trigger.

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ECONOMICS: Krugman is Obama / Clinton cheerleader

Monday, July 18, 2016

http://contrakrugman.com/ep-43-krugman-says-investors-have-given-up-hope-so-what-happened-to-that-obama-recovery-paul/

Ep. 43 Krugman Says Investors Have Given Up Hope…So, What Happened to that Obama Recovery, Paul?
16 July 2016     |     Tom Woods  

This week, Krugman considers several possible explanations for why long-term interest rates are so low around the world. The one he settles on: investors have concluded that the weak economy is the new normal, so to speak, so they’re willing to accept low yields. But this explanation contradicts Krugman’s repeated insistence that the Obama recovery is stronger than ignorant right-wingers give it credit for. Which is it?

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If “economics” is a natural science — which I believe it is, then how can it’s “laws” be ignored without consequences.

Imagine physics if the speed of light was not a constant?

Imagine chemistry if elements’ characteristics were ignored.

Imagine math if π was published as 3.14 exactly. 

Chaos!

Economics’ supply and demand is an observed logically consistent “law” (i.e., lower your price and people can buy more; raise your price and the opposite happens).

Interest rates are a reflection of people’s time preference. Not what the Gooferment says it is.

Argh!

When the FED just “prints” money, people make terrible decisions!

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ECONOMICS: $15 minimum wage

Monday, July 11, 2016

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/07/09/democratic-party-platform-calls-for-15-minimum-wage-in-win-for-sanders.html

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION
Democratic party platform calls for $15 minimum wage in win for Sanders
Published July 09, 2016  FoxNews.com

*** begin quote ***

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ effort to shape the Democratic Party’s election platform scored a major victory Friday with the approval of an amendment calling for increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

*** end quote ***

Haven’t heard anything this stupid since the bit about Alabama setting the value of pi to be the “Biblical value” of 3.0!

Seriously though, how can a major political party defy the LAWS of economics?

It’s as if they think that, like King Canute, they can change the laws of the physical Universe.

The Laws of Economics are as real as any of the other laws of the physical Universe like the Law of Gravity.

Argh!

How STUPID can the average American voter be to vote for them?

Argh!

http://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/pi.asp

*** begin quote ***

This wonderful bit of creative writing began circulating on the Internet in April 1998. Written by Mark Boslough as an April Fool’s parody on legislative and school board attacks on evolution in New Mexico, the author took real statements from New Mexican legislators and school board members supporting creationism and recast them into a fictional account detailing how Alabama legislators had passed a law calling for the value of pi to be set to the “Biblical value” of 3.0. 

*** end quote ***

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ECONOMICS: Social Security “Insurance” Bankrupt

Sunday, July 3, 2016

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2016/06/scathing-new-report-shows-just-how.html

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016
Scathing New Report Shows Just How Bankrupt Social Security Really Is
By Simon Black

*** begin quote ***

Last week, a group of analysts published an astonishing report about the future of Social Security in the United States, and their remarks were nothing short of damning.

According to their calculations, for example, these analysts claim that Social Security is already running a huge deficit to the tune of tens of billions of dollars each year.

In fact, this Social Security funding deficit has been taking place for several years now, and it’s actually accelerating. So the problem worsens each year.

*** and ***

Don’t get me wrong– I don’t mean “fix Social Security”. Oh no. That program is toast.

I’m talking about fixing this for yourself.

Retirement is one of those life events that is completely predictable. We know it’s going to happen.

And with a little bit of education, planning, discipline, and execution, we can vastly influence the outcome and prevent any major catastrophe from interfering with our goals.

You can dramatically boost your own nest egg, for example, and have much greater say over your retirement assets by setting up a structure like a solo 401(k) or a self-directed IRA.

It also makes sense to invest in your financial education; learning more about investing will clearly be beneficial in boosting your returns, and this can have a profound effect over time.

Especially if you’re younger, increasing your average return by just 1% over the course of 20-40 years can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional retirement savings.

You may also want to consider retiring abroad where you can live the lifestyle you’ve always wanted at a fraction of the price, and substantially stretch the time and value of your retirement savings.

Look, I’m convinced that Social Security will become a national emergency some day. Just remember that since its demise is conspicuously predictable, the impact on your life is completely preventable.

*** end quote ***

Social Security Insurance is like a Ponzi scheme.

At least the Ponzi victims made a free choice to “invest” in the scheme.

Every “worker” today has no choice but to accept an “investment” with an estimated negative return of between of 2 and 15%.

Further it’s a wealth transfer from poor minority men to rich white women.

So, why do we still have this racist scam.

Set people free to save for their own retirement.

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ECONOMICS: 2% inflation = 47 cents of purchasing power after 30 years

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

http://contrakrugman.com/ep-35-debt-default-good-or-bad/

Ep. 35 Debt Default: Good or Bad?
15 May 2016     |     Tom Woods     |    

You’ll never guess: Krugman contradicts himself this week, but only Bob Murphy, who knows Krugman’s columns inside and out, caught him. This week the topic is whether it’s a good idea at some point to repay the national debt at less than face value. Krugman is horrified, so maybe it’s a good idea….

Krugman Column“The Making of an Ignoramus” (May 9, 2016)
“Keynesians on Treasury Default: Depends Who’s in the White House,” by Robert P. Murphy
“Trump’s Right — Paying Back the National Debt with ‘Discounts’ Is Already Official Policy,” by David Stockman
“Repudiating the National Debt,” by Murray N. Rothbard

Related EpisodeEp. 33 Krugman and Hamilton Sitting in a Tree

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Key takeaway: 

If the Fed does meet its target inflation rate of 2%, then arithmetically over thirty years your dollar’s purchasing power is down 53%.

It’s a silent theft of your wealth.

Good luck saving with that scenario. Back to the analogy — what do you want find a pirates chest full of: US “dollars”, Confederate dollars, or gold coins?

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: One great reason to raise the minimum wage

Monday, May 16, 2016

http://tomwoods.com/podcast/ep-659-afraid-of-president-trump-how-about-presidents-in-general/

Ep. 659 Afraid of President Trump? How About Presidents in General
12th May 2016
Tom Woods

*** begin quote ***

Michael Malice makes his triumphant return to the show with a discussion of a possible President Trump, and why Trump Derangement Syndrome seems to make people forget how bad the other presidents have been.

*** end quote ***

Michael Malice hit a great reason to raise the minimum wage.

Get the stupid people who screw up your order out of the process.

Look at Wendys putting in the kiosks.

Wawa and QuickCheck has.

Feel sorry for the unemployable.

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ECONOMICS: So much for a “great economy”!

Friday, May 13, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/05/michael-snyder/global-depression-begun/

Rail Traffic Depression: 292 Union Pacific Engines Are Sitting In The Arizona Desert Doing Nothing
By Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse
May 11, 2016

*** begin quote ***

Because rail traffic is down so dramatically, many operators have large numbers of engines that are just sitting around collecting dust.  In his article, Wolf Richter shared photographs from Google Earth that show some of the 292 Union Pacific engines that are sitting in the middle of the Arizona desert doing absolutely nothing. 

*** end quote ***

All the politicians and bureaucrats squawking about the “great economy” can’t make it so.

Argh!

What we need is to unleash the entrepreneurs.

* A ten year moratorium on new regulations, laws, tax policy changes, and other Gooferment diktats.

* A 10% tax rate for individuals and corporations.

* Ten years of zero Gooferment deficits.

* and put all mandates and liabilities must be put on a track to be fully funded in 10 years.

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ECONOMICS: “Income Mobility” is another liberal scam

Thursday, March 31, 2016

http://contrakrugman.com/ep-28-income-mobility-really-does-exist-paul-krugman/

Ep. 28 Income Mobility Really Does Exist, Paul Krugman
26 March 2016
Tom Woods

*** begin quote ***

We managed to dig out some economics from yet another standard Krugman attack on the Republican Party. This time it’s his skepticism about the existence of very much income mobility in America. We’ll say this: if government programs had the record of success in this area that the (hampered) market economy has, Krugman would never let us hear the end of it.

*** end quote ***

Krugman Column “On Invincible Ignorance” (March 21, 2016)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/21/opinion/on-invincible-ignorance.html?_r=1

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Bernie, and to a lesser extent, Hillary beat this “drum” often.

But in this podcast, the team — Bob Murphy and Tom Woods — destroy the whole argument.

Obviously, by deliberately not tracking individuals, the Left gets a great talking point that is totally wrong.

I especially like the “rags to riches and riches to rags” stories. 

Makes sense.

And, how do immigrants, who arrive with virtually nothing, survive and succeed with that starting point?

Conflicts with the narrative that the Leftists want to push.

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ECONOMICS: “The Bureau of Lies & Scams”?

Thursday, March 10, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/03/jim-quinn/lies-damn-lies-bls-statistics/

Lies, Damn Lies, & BLS Statistics
By Jim QuinnThe Burning Platform
March 5, 2016

*** begin quote ***

So, we have the BLS reporting tremendous job growth over the first two months of 2016, while actual payroll tax data and actual corporate layoff announcements showing little or no growth. Who to believe? Wages are dropping. The number of hours worked is dropping. The number of part-time jobs is soaring. The number of self-employed Ebay sellers is going up. Retail sales are terrible. Polls show most people think the economy is on the wrong track. Corporate profits and all economic indicators indicate recession. Establishment politicians are being tarred and feathered. Do you believe the facts or do you believe the government manufactured propaganda, propagated by their corporate MSM mouthpieces, and peddled by the Wall Street criminal bankers?

*** end quote ***

He correctly calls it the “The Bureau of Lies & Scams”!

It should be unnecessary to estimate anything!

Use the tax withholding data — number of people paying taxes and how much they pay — and there is no need for fudging (i.e., adjustments).

Over time all the “seasonal effects” will sort themselves out.

Unfortunately, “We, The Sheeple” are fooled by all the “adjustments”.

But you just have to look with your own eyes. Just yesterday, I rode by several half empty shopping centers and several completely empty one. Add all the stand alone sites that are empty and available!

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: The FED is very political and left-leaning

Thursday, January 28, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/01/no_author/fed-pricks-bubble/

Market Tanking After Fed Pricked Their Own Bubble
By Samuel Bryan 
SchiffGold.com
January 26, 2016

*** begin quote ***

“I think [Yellen] wants to elect Hillary Clinton. She doesn’t want to hand the White House over to Republicans or Donald Trump. I think she doesn’t want to have happen to Hillary what happened to John McCain. When the wheels came off the bus in the last year of the Bush administration, a Republican had no chance. Obama’s whole claim to fame is that he inherited a disaster and now everything is great. The truth is he inherited a disaster and now it’s a bigger disaster…

*** end quote ***

It’s a shame because if we had a “true told standard”, the politicians could not mess with the “money” or the interest rate.

The boom ’n’ bust cycle is caused by the mistakes (what the Austrian School of Economics calls “malinvestment”) of entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate executives. Look at the empty cities that the Chinese have built for bad decisions.

When an entrepreneur, using his own capital, makes a bad decision, they bear the damage.

When the politicians and bureaucrats make a bad decision, it’s the taxpayers and Joe-Sixpack who are hurt.

Look at TARP which was passed to by distressed mortgages and allow Joe-Sixpack to stay in his home and work it out. Instead, it “magically” was transformed into a bailout for Wall Street and the Big Banks. They paid out big bonuses to their executives and, together with those executive, made big contributions to the politicians, their PACs, and their parties — both of them!

Argh! And, you wonder why I am cynical about all of them?

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ECONOMICS: Cardboard and skyscrapers are pointing to a down economy

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/01/mark-thornton/crazed-skyscrapers/

Will 2016 Be the End of the Current Skyscraper Boom?
By Mark Thornton Mises.org
January 2, 2016

*** begin quote ***

The important thing to remember is that skyscrapers do not cause economic crises. Rather they are just a very noticeable example of the distortions taking place throughout the economy when interest rates are kept artificially low by the central bank.

In addition to record breaking skyscrapers, there are many less perceptible changes taking place. Entrepreneurs are building bigger, longer term projects and production processes. Relative prices, i.e., interest, land, capital, and labor prices, are being distorted. Technology, nearly everywhere, is on the fast track. The economy is booming.

*** end quote ***

And like the recent fire and two reported elevator crushings, I’m not sure that I want to be in “skyscrapers”. Or anything more than two or three stories. Maybe I’m getting old and fearful.

A recent conversation with a garbage executive confirmed that the “cardboard index” had collapsed. Despite Amazon from single handedly dropping all manner of “stuff” wrapped in cardboard, the recycling prices paid for cardboard had collapsed. This is an indication of economic activity.

So, as the doom ’n’ gloomer in the peanut gallery, I’d urge financial caution and lower expectations.

The world has become a lot more dangerous and the US has become even more divided on personalities and issues. 

So fellow turtles, pull in your neck and wait the storm out.

It’s gonna get ugly out there.

“Gentlemen, prepare to defend yourselves!” Sergeant Major Basil Plumley (played by Sam Elliott): [about to face an onslaught of attacking NVA soldiers] http://buff.ly/1E8nOVr

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ECONOMICS: No surprise — no growth in the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee

Monday, June 15, 2015

http://patch.com/new-jersey/ridgewood/new-jerseys-economic-growth-among-worst-usa?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=politics%20%26%20government&utm_campaign=alert

New Jersey’s Economic Growth Among Country’s Worst: New Report
New Jersey’s gross domestic product grew a mere 0.4 percent in 2014, ranking 46th in the nation.
By TOM DAVIS (Patch Staff)June 13, 2015

*** begin quote ***

New Jersey’s economy is barely ticking upward, with its growth ranking near the bottom in 2014 – and falling far below the national average.

New Jersey’s gross domestic product grew a mere 0.4 percent in 2014, ranking in a three-way tie for 44th in the nation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The nation’s real GDP grew 2.2 percent in 2014 after increasing 1.9 percent in 2013.

The state’s growth slowed from previous years, In 2012, the GDP grew 2.5 percent, and in 2013, there was 0.8 percent growth.

The state had the slowest growth of any state in the Mideast region, way behind New York’s 2.5 percent GDP growth.

Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a liberal Trenton-based think tank, told NJSpotlight that the state needs to invest more in education, public transit and transportation infrastructure, as well as colleges and universities.

“You can’t create a strong economy and create jobs without a strong foundation,” MacInnes said told the publication.

*** end quote ***

“Invest” my <synonym for donkey>!

Spending more money — stolen from over taxed residents of the Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee — will not spark any type of growth. Except it the taking class of teachers’ unions, other Gooferment unions, politicians, and bureaucrats!!!

Cut the minimum wage.

Cut the corporate and individual tax rates.

Convert Gooferment pensions to 401s like private businesses are doing.

Introduce a meaningful school choice voucher program.

Reduce education expenses by consolidation of the 600+ “school districts” into 21 county ones.

UNWIND the regulatory state.

End the “(pseudo) War on (some) Drugs” and pardon all non-violent drug offenders.

Eliminate property taxes to fund Gooferment Skrules. (Eliminate Gooferment Skrules entirely!)

And, my personal favorite, end the inheritance tax.

THEN watch the Stte become a magnet for people, business, and happiness!

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: Do “the poor stay poor, the rich get rich”?

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

FROM FACEBOOK

*** begin quote ***

Leonard Cohen – Everybody Knows

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows

*** end quote ***

Hmm, not so sure that “poor stay poor, the rich get rich” is accurate here in America. There are economic studies that show tremendous movement between the financial strata. WHile there are some people who are born poor and die poor, but that’s not cast in concrete like in some countries. And, rarely does a “family fortune” survive three generations.Also, how does one explain the immigrants from Asia and India who arrive with nothing and wind up with thriving businesses in a few decades. #Tom Woods

http://tomwoods.com/podcast/ep-298-income-inequality-non-solutions-to-a-non-problem/

Ep. 298 Income Inequality: Non-Solutions to a Non-Problem
4th December 2014
Tom Woods
Nineteen ways income redistribution harms society.

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ECONOMICS: Forget gay marriage; is marriage over

Sunday, April 26, 2015

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/no_author/men-go-on-strike-against-marriage/

Why Men Won’t Get Married Anymore
Women complain chaps today won’t settle down. Sorry, ladies, but it’s all your fault, argues a wickedly provocative new book
By Peter Lloyd
Daily Mail
April 21, 2015

*** begin quote ***

When it comes to marriage, men are on strike.

Why? Because the rewards are far less than they used to be, while the cost and dangers it presents are far greater.

‘Ultimately, men know there’s a good chance they’ll lose their friends, their respect, their space, their sex life, their money and — if it all goes wrong — their family,’ says Dr Helen Smith, author of Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood And The American Dream.

‘They don’t want to enter into a legal contract with someone who could effectively take half their savings, pension and property when the honeymoon period is over.

‘Men aren’t wimping out by staying unmarried or being commitment phobes. They’re being smart.’

*** end quote ***

This is a scary trend. That will remake society.

It’s part of the trend that makes the woman rich out of any marriage. 

Palimony was just the first step.

Used be that divorce was a Hollywood thing.

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: Pulling up the lower rungs of the economic ladder

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

http://cafehayek.com/2015/04/minimum-logic-maximum-straw.html

Minimum Logic, Maximum Straw
by DON BOUDREAUX on APRIL 18, 2015
in SEEN AND UNSEEN, WORK

*** begin quote ***

What minimum-wage hikes do unleash, however, is devastation upon a relatively small number of largely invisible workers – workers who are the least skilled and most disadvantaged.  Raising the minimum wage destroys jobs for many of these poor workers while making the jobs of other such workers more onerous.  But because these workers are so relatively few in number, their suffering, while very real, is easy to miss when looking at the aggregate data.  This fact explains why some – by no means a majority – of minimum-wage studies (particularly those that examine only short spans of time) find no negative employment effects.

*** end quote ***

Minimum wage “laws” are devestating to the poor, minority, low income, and senior citizens.

Why are they pushed?

Cui bono.

How many of the salaries of union and “public service” jobs are tied formally or informally to the minimum wage?

Of all the stupid legislation, this ranks right up there with the dumbest of the dumb (i.e., rounding off Pi; time zones; etc.).

Argh!


ECONOMICS: Dietary Supplements are cheap insurance

Friday, November 28, 2014

http://www.worldhealth.net/news/dietary-supplements-may-reduce-healthcare-costs/

Dietary Supplements May Reduce Healthcare Costs
Posted on Nov. 10, 2014, 6 a.m. in Healthcare and Public Policy Dietary Supplementation 

Dietary Supplements May Reduce Healthcare Costs

Hospitalizations for all U.S. adults over the age of 55 with coronary heart disease (CHD) cost the United States in excess of $64 billion in 2012. However, new research suggests that regularly taking certain dietary supplements may help to cut the number of hospitilizations for CHD, and thus also cut expenditure.

Christopher Shanahan and Robert de Lorimier, PhD, examined peer-reviewed, published studies that looked separately at relationships between omega-3 supplement intake and the risk of a CHD-attributed event, and B vitamins intake and the risk of a CHD-attributed event. The researchers then projected the rates of CHD-attributed medical events across U.S. men and women over the age of 55 with CHD and applied a cost benefit analysis to determine the cost savings if people in this targeted population took omega-3 supplements or B vitamin supplements at preventive intake levels.

Results showed that if every high-risk person (U.S. adults over 55 with CHD) in the target population were to take omega-3 supplements at preventive intake levels daily, there would be an average of $2.1 billion in avoided expenditures per year and a cumulative of $16.5 billion in avoided expenditures between 2013 and 2020.

Whilst if every high-risk person in the target population were to take B vitamins at preventive intake levels daily, there would be an average of $1.5 billion in avoided expenditures per year and a cumulative of $12.1 billion in avoided expenditures between 2013 and 2020.

“Many dietary supplement products are available in the market today that have been shown to have positive effects on heart health through associated clinical studies…Thus, the potential decrease of total health care expenditures in the United States is a strong argument for the daily use of dietary supplements,” the authors said. “This is a relatively low-technology, yet smart, approach that can be used by consumers, physicians, employers, and policymakers as a means to reduce personal and societal health care costs.”

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BUT of course, there’s no opportunity for Big Pharma to make big profits. And then be able to make big “campaign contributions”.

The big winnerw would be the poor victims of disease and the Taxpayer.

And we know where that ranks in the priority scheme.

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ECONOMICS: The Federal Reserve is Financial Repression

Thursday, October 30, 2014

http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/88227/how-federal-reserve-purposely-attacking-savers

How The Federal Reserve Is Purposely Attacking Savers
But bungling badly as it does
by Chris Martenson
Monday, October 20, 2014, 12:36 PM

*** begin quote *** 

he answer is that while inflation always steals from savers, it really does its dirty work when the central bank and government conspire to create a condition of pervasive and unavoidable negative real interest rates.

This is the heart of Financial Repression: an environment in which you literally cannot save money without paying a penalty.

The main takeaway of Chapter 18 on Fuzzy Numbers is not that the government fibs a little now and then (okay,all the time) merely because that’s politically expedient, but it does so in service to a larger and more pernicious aim: forcing people to accept an inflation rate that is higher than either their income growth and/or the market’s safe rate of return.

As soon as you are locked into a negative interest rate regime, your capital is losing purchasing power. But simple accounting rules dictate that loss of wealth had to go somewhere. So where did it go? To somebody else.

Negative real interest rates transfer money from every saver to every over-extended borrower. This is especially true with the government (largely because of its special revolving door relationship with the Fed, which both issues the money out of thin air and then buys government debt forcing rates into negative territory).

It’s really that simple. The Fed has openly and actively suppressed rates — not to help the credit markets, as they claim, but to engineer a condition of Financial Repression. Because that’s what the government needs to stealthily take your wealth to pay down the prior debts it accumulated.

*** end quote ***

The War on Savers, the War on Capital, and the War on the Poor, Middle Class, and Elderly all intersect with the Federal Reserve.

Zero Interest Rate DESTROYS these communities.

Think about it from an Eccky-or-Icky-nomics POV.

It’s saying that there is NO preference to delay consumption.

It’s also saying there is NO way to preserve wealth for later use in retirement.

Argh!

* Savers are “rewarded” with inflation that depreciates their purchasing power.

* Capital can’t be formed with paying the inflation penalty.

* Since the poor have to spend most, if not all, of their current income, they face the inflation that erodes their future standard of living.

* Middle Class “wealthy” can’t preserve their financial assets into retirement. Why do the near fraudsters / hucksters, who advertise gold collectibles for IRAs, strike a chord with the future retirees? It’s their only chance to preserve their buying power.

* The Elderly on pensions, social “in”security, or savings are screwed by inflation increasing their costs and their capital earns nothing.

So, why do “We, The Sheeple” put up with it?

Bread and circuses!

Argh!

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