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  • The Bailouts Are Doomed - All of Them
    You use words well, Alan; and blaming Congress is astute. After I realized congresscritters are tyrants, thieves and liars, I was seldom surprised by their actions.
    Jan 07 03:52 am |Rating: +3 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Keynes vs. Von Mises
    Good article, Katy. It's rare to find a university graduate who can analyze unstructured problems.
    Jan 07 03:21 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Will the Obama Plan Work?
    Craig Brown's opinions are not based on logic, so they are at best useless. Start with the fact that governments can spend only what they take from others. Brown sees the economic activity created by government spending, but he doesn't see the activity that never occurred because the government took the citizens' money. If he realized this, he would wonder whether the citizens or government spend money more effectively. The answer is obvious when one realizes the citizen spends his own money, and government spends other people's money.

    Seeing such an elementary error of logic is discouraging. I am convinced that American universities teach students not to think.
    Jan 07 02:55 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Returning to a Gold Standard Is a Bad Idea
    Cam Hui jumps from ridiculing James Grant to creating straw arguments to arguing by vigorous assertion. On the subject of gold standard, we have history to show the falseness of his arguments. America had a genuine gold standard from birth to about WWI; and its economy was healthy, with nothing like the Great Depression. Our economic troubles started when the Federal Reserve Bank was created in 1913.
    Jan 04 03:05 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • What Constitutes 'Worthy' Stimulus Spending?
    Calling these government spending programs stimulating is fraudulent. Governments must first take money from citizens, which is negative stimulus. Citizens will get greater value from the money than will the government, because people spend their own money more carefully. So the so-called government stimulus schemes, to the extent they involve spending, make us poorer.
    Jan 04 02:43 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Southeastern Asset Management: 10 Reasons to Be Bullish on Stocks
    Morningstar reports that Longleaf Partners Fund's (LLPFX) total returns trailed its category peers, large blend funds, by 6 and 5 percentage points annually over the trailing 3 and 5 years, respectively. It was a little worse relative to the S&P 500's total return. Are you sure you want to pay attention to the opinions of its managers?
    Jan 04 02:33 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The U.S. Dollar Is Following Argentina's Path
    To Armageddon Baby:
    Each dollar the Fed creates by buying government bonds adds to the money supply (M1) and so is currency inflation. Each dollar is subsequently loaned numerous times (the multiplier effect), and those credit dollars are money just like the original dollar the Fed created. The credit dollars also add to currency inflation. People's insouciance about inflationary effects from huge federal deficits presumably derives from the theory that, due to scarcity of credit, the number of credit dollars is currently reduced; so currency inflation will not occur. Even if that theory is correct now, the money supply will increase when credit availability returns to normal.
    Dec 05 22:15 pm |Rating: +1 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Canadian Royalty Trusts Will Never Return to Their Former Glory
    To Paultaut: "Do you actually believe that Virtually Simultaneous stimulus Packages throughout the world will keep Oil prices below $100".

    The U.S. stimulus measure was economically harmful, and the prospective one will be harmful also. (That's because it was money transfers at gunpoint.) Any stimulus plans by foreign governments will do only harm, unless those politicians have been visited by an angel. I don't expect any investor to agree, but would it change your actions if I were right?
    Nov 24 20:21 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Reich's Reasons for a New Fiscal Stimulus Bill
    Money spent by government ("demand") is first taken from me at gunpoint, and it is that much less that I spend. If the government instead gives the money to citizen B to spend, the effect is still only to substitute another person's spending decisions for mine. In both cases I am a victim of armed robbery, and the economic effect is null at best.
    Nov 16 20:41 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Obama and Taxes: What to Expect
    Most senators are tyrants, thieves and liars; and that certainly applies to Hussein Obama. So, Russell, why do you pay attention to anything Obama said about taxes during the campaign? You look too young to remember the 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton promised a middle class tax cut. After he was elected, he said (paraphrasing) "Tax cut? Silly me! I meant increase." And that's what we got. Don't be so naive.
    Nov 13 02:32 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Selective Data: State by State Unemployment
    Sometimes grouping data differently is for spin; other times it is to illustrate a point better. It depends on what question you are trying to answer. If you want to know the trend of national unemployment, the national aggregate data is appropriate. If you want to know why unemployment rates differ among states, then ranking states by unemployment rate would be appropriate. Develop the habit of rating the appropriateness of data that people throw at you.
    Nov 13 02:11 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • The Most Misunderstood Chart of All Time
    Readers' minds are being sidetracked by the irrelevant discussion of the significance of the 1934 peak. The graph's purpose is to show that aggregate interest-bearing debt, relative to GDP, is at record high level. That conclusion remains, regardless of whether you think the 1934 peak is misleading.
    Nov 13 01:37 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • It's a Great Time to Be an Inflationista
    Re inflation versus deflation, SW mixes his opinion with that of the typical politician; and that is a little confusing. The subject can be simplified. Inflation helps borrowers and hurts lenders and people on fixed incomes; deflation has the opposite effects. (But interest rates adjust for anticipated changes in money supply, so only surprises have surprising effects.) So neither inflation nor deflation (whether of prices or money supply) are inherently preferable. It just depends on whom you want to help or hurt. The best condition for the national economy is price stability. End of story.
    Nov 05 02:26 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Solar Investment: Epic Correction Leads to Depressed Sector with Plenty of Potential
    Solar energy and most other "sustainable"... energy schemes would collapse without congressional subsidies. That is a danger to investment that is never mentioned. Investors believe the thieves in Congress will forever steal for them, but is it prudent to trust thieves.
    Nov 03 00:33 am |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article
  • Verasun Energy: Thin Margin Co's Are One Bad Economic Turn Away from Disaster
    To Tim Plaehn: I think Danno is irritated by the tyranny inherent in the ethanol program. The Constitution forbids Congress from requiring me to use a particular gasoline recipe, but that doesn't stop the criminals in Congress. Verasun and its owners were benefiting from crime. Verasun's bankruptcy shows there is occasional justice.
    Nov 02 21:43 pm |Rating: 0 0 |Link to Comment |View article

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