[April Lexington]

Its as if these folks don't believe in natural law of the marketplace. Human nature is a constant (albeit in chaos most of the time). People will always take the larger over the smaller. The better over the worse. The fresher over the stale (ever see anyone in a grocery store rummaging through the apples to find the most dented and bruised?). These laws are embedded in our human nature. We want. and ... when things we want are scarce, we compete for them.

Adam Smith noticed (NOT a quant, by the way) that when two people do a win-win deal, both are better off) This became his invisible hand. I liken it to Jesus "golden rule" or Hillel's simmilar observation. Of course, both were quoting Leviticus. Win-win is good, I screw you is bad...

So what does this have to do with Bernankedom? Simple... human nature creates paradigms/rules in the marketplace and if you don't understand the rules/dynamics and you try to adopt policies that contradict or circumvent the rules... you lose. The USSR was a great example. For 70 years, up was down and down was up. It collapsed under its own weight when market forces finally shattered the Utopian dreams of its dictatorial founders. They just couldn't pound 150 million round pegs into 5 square holes!

These boys are hopeless (and, notice how they are all male!).

[Nathan Zachary]

"These boys are hopeless (and, notice how they are all male!).

Imagine how bad it would be if they were all female! :o)

[ichabod1]

But did our experiment with communism start about the same time? Did we continue with progressivism right through WW2 and then have it go underground in the 50s then to burst back out in the 60s-70s, hide again in the 80s back in the 90s, and now attempting to do the impossible?