Posted on 08/16/2011 1:31:29 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The U.S. economy is in bad shape. A growing pile of economic data--slow GDP growth, falling employment, falling consumption--only confirms what more than twenty million people who can't find full-time jobs already know. Yet Congress and the White House are unable or unwilling to do anything about it. As spending from the 2009 stimulus bill peters out, fiscal policy is hurting the economy, and the Republicans' unanimous insistence on spending cuts is keeping it that way.
But some Republicans are not content with preventing fiscal policy from reducing unemployment. They also want to intimidate the Federal Reserve--a historically independent agency--from using monetary policy to reduce unemployment. Yesterday presidential hopeful Texas Governor Rick Perry said that it would be "treasonous" for Ben Bernanke to "print money" to attempt to stimulate economic growth.
In these economic circumstances, "printing money" is Ben Bernanke's job. The Federal Reserve has a famous dual mandate: maximum employment and stable prices. Right now, they're doing fine at one and abysmally at the other.
........As for inflation, although Rick Perry says that monetary expansion is "devaluing the dollar in your pocket," every indicator available shows that inflation is low. After a slight uptick due to commodity prices earlier this year, it has settled down again, with two-year inflation expectations at only one percent. So why isn't the Fed doing more to reduce unemployment?
....What's bizarre today is that we're seeing exactly the opposite of the traditional fear. Unemployment is high, the economy is stuck, and all the president and Congress can talk about is deficit reduction. In this situation, the Fed's independence should be a virtue: Ben Bernanke should be saying, "I know all those politicians have lost their minds, but I'm going to do what's right: I'm going to save the economy.".....
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I aint got enough time to pick this pile of shit apart. But then again..it is from a HAWVAWD man.
Its a shame that some spend good money to become idiots.
It’s the Marxism, stupid.
James Kwak is on crack.
James Kwak is certainly aptly named.
Save the economy by burning it down? Ben Bernanke should be run outta Dodge on a rail!!
Hey libs, where I come from it is called COUNTERFEITING and will land you a long prison stretch.
Go to work for the government and get a license to steal. The one and only lesson to be learned from liberalism.
He was against before he was against it before he was for it, http://money.cnn.com/2011/01/23/news/economy/texas_perry_budget_stimulus/index.htm
“James Kwak is certainly aptly named.”
As Bob Grant would say: “Where are you from pal?”
But this bozo thinks Perry wants to hurt the economy so Obama will look bad and lose the election. LOL
Not that the enlightened Kwak would ever even stoop to read about “the worst president ever, Warren Harding” ...but he could learn that in fact the Fed has NOTHING to do with ending a recession/depression...
Warren Harding figured it out in 1920...
Congress and the Executive Branch have lots to do.
So far they’re not doin’ it right..
Its been done before..
Harding cut the government’s budget nearly in half between 1920 and 1922. The rest of Harding’s approach was equally laissez-faire. Tax rates were slashed for all income groups. The national debt was reduced by one-third. The Federal Reserve’s activity, moreover, was hardly noticeable. As one economic historian puts it, “Despite the severity of the contraction, the Fed did not move to use its powers to turn the money supply around and fight the contraction.” 2 By the late summer of 1921, signs of recovery were already visible. The following year, unemployment was back down to 6.7 percent and was only 2.4 percent by 1923.
http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1319&loc=r
BTW..ole Warren ALSO fixed immigration...
Mr. Harding signed into law the Emergency Quota Act[3] which sought to control immigration following World War I and preserve the distinctive American culture by ensuring the majority of immigrants came from the historically compatible cultures of Northern Europe. This law aimed to bring wages of hard working Americans under control by limiting immigration to 3% of the 1910 census. It was followed on by a similar act in 1924, after Mr. Harding’s death.[4]
A Warren Harding prescription...if filled ...would ignite the afterburners on the US job machine and the economy. However DC would have to yield on a tremendous amount of power. Our job as We the People...is to persuade them of the “utility” ..shall we say..of doing so. In all probability the same minds that made the mess...aren’t capable of the solution however.
BTW any takers that ‘Bammy couldn’t even tell you that Warren Harding was one of his predecessors in office?
Even more telling about what our betters in the RinoCracy think of a Constitutional President..
http://www.usnews.com/listings/worst-presidents/warren-harding
Let me get this straight using “Obama Logic” - a full Oxymoron if there was one.
Printing money is good for the economy.
Ergo, the govt should print more money.
Question: What’s the diff between me printing my own money and the govt printing it?
After all, both can be used to purchase things - and therefore increase trade and keep folks in employment.
From Wikipedia:
James Kwak is best known as co-founder, in September, 2008, with Simon Johnson of The Baseline Scenario a commentary on the global financial crisis, mostly focused on the situation in the USA. Kwak received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in French intellectual history from the University of California, Berkeley (1997.)[1]
He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company and later was Director of Product Marketing at Ariba, where he led product strategy and marketing for the Platform Solutions division and the Ariba Network. He was a co-founder of Guidewire Software, an independent software vendor for the property & casualty insurance industry.
“The Federal Reserve has a famous dual mandate: maximum employment and stable prices. “
I didn’t know it was the Fed that controlled employment.
So if someone is laid off, they can sue Ben Bernanke for unjust termination, right?
“Objecting to this kind of treatment, Perry and other Republican leaders called for a repeal of the Texas-only conditions.”
Oh, wait.... it's because printing trillions of dollars again and again to keep pace with your out of control spending isn't patriotic. It's patri-stupid.
Deficits and the inflation to finance them, are the cornerstone of the welfare state.They are indispensable in order to lend the appearance of reality to the belief that the government is the source of free benefits, which belief is the fundamental delusion underlying the welfare state.
My thoughts also.
I’ve been skeptical of Perry, but he is growing on me. His statement about Bernanke, who I truly believe is among the most evil people on earth, struck a chord. I will remember if he is part of a competitive race by the time it gets to Virginia.
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