Posted tagged ‘Asset Bubble’

Must Reads For The Week 8/13/16

August 13, 2016

HILLARY + TRUMP = ECONOMIC IGNORANCE

Donald Trump Turns To Herbert Hoover Economics, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Mr. Trump wants to “prime the pump with more spending and debt.” Spending financed by debt, both public and private, is what got us here in the first place. In the last 10 years the Fed printed over $4 trillion, and the Government took on $10 trillion in new debt. That’s enough pump priming don’t you think? The Keynsian Economic well has dry up. The simple answer is to allow free markets to work unencumbered by Government spending and Fed monetary expansion. Unfortunately nothing is simple when politicians and bureaucrats are involved in the decision making.

Hillary Clinton’s 5 Ideas To Fix The US Economy, at money.cnn.com. How does this sound. 1) Government spending on infrastructure, 2) debt free college, 3) “encourage” (force) companies to share profits with employees, 4) make the rich pay more in taxes, 5) raise the minimum wage. This is simply more spending and debt wrapped up in Christmas paper with a bow on top.

ECONOMIC REALITY

Bankster Flips Out: Says Japan’s Government Isn’t Doing Enough Keynsian Spending, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Decades of Keynsian stimulus by the Japanese Government isn’t enough? It is always the same answer to every economic problem more spending.

What Should The US Do If Other Countries Use Tariffs And Use Other Methods To Distort Trade, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Government intervention with free trade through tariffs, subsidies, and regulations harms the economy of the country that implements these policies. If other countries want to harm their economies with these policies; Why would we respond to such stupidity by implementing the same policies?

The Minimum Wage: Taking Away The Right To Work, by Roy Cordato, at mises.org. How many times does it have to be said: when a wage is set above what a particular job produces, that job will go away. Why do you think the number of private sector union workers has declined from 35% of the private sector work force, to just over 6% of the private sector work force since the 50’s. Unions priced themselves out of the market and the jobs went away. When it comes to raising the minimum wage, it is our benevolent politicians who are pricing low skill workers out of the work place. Political rhetoric is seen, workers losing their jobs are unseen.

Latest Jobs Data: The Worst expansion In 30 Years Continues, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org.  All the stimulus spending by government and the money printing by the Fed hasn’t worked as the planners planned. Until these two activities are stopped. This is the new normal.

Will The Bubble Pop Even If The Fed Never Raises Interest Rates, by Brendan Brown, at mises.org. We are in new territory. Does anyone know how this will end? No. But it will end with a lot of pain. All we know is, at some point the activities brought about by low interest rates and printed money will have to be liquidated.

Consumer Optimism Is Not The Key To Economic Growth, by Frank Shostak, at mises.org. As we have asked before; What Comes First, Production or Consumption? You can’t consume what isn’t produced. Stimulating spending puts the cart before the horse. As Mr. Schostak says, “Demand is limited by prior production. To put it differently, his demand if fully covered (i.e., funded by the bread that he has produced). demand therefore, cannot stand by itself and be independent: it is limited by prior production….”. Interest rates coordinate production across time. Interest rates set artificially by government send false information through process of production. As a result production and consumption are mismatched. This is where we are after a decade of the Fed’s monetary manipulation.

Venezuela Has But One Choice: Capitalism or Chaos, by Carmen Elena Dorobat, at mises.org. Here is a quote by Ludwig von Mises which sums up what every article in this post: “THE ISSUE IS ALWAYS THE SAME: THE GOVERNMENT OR THE MARKET. THERE IS NO THIRD SOLUTION.”

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Must Reads For The Week 1/11/14

January 11, 2014
The pen is mightier than the sword...

The pen is mightier than the sword… (Photo credit: mbshane)

The Forgotten Man (“The War On Poverty” Edition), by Chris Rossini, at economicpolicyjournal.com. The 50 year anniversary of the war on poverty begs the question: how much could have been produced, (including jobs) with all the money spent to fight the war on poverty?

NY Fed President Warns: We Have No Idea If We Will Be Able to Smoothly Unwind the Trillions In Excess Reserves if That Money Starts to Hit the Economy, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Look at the chart of all the electronically printed counterfeit money the Fed has printed since the “08” crisis. This money is blowing up the stock market bubble, it certainly isn’t creating jobs, as the chart in the article below shows.

People Not In Labor Force Soars To Record 91.8 Million; Labor Participation Rate Plunges To 1978 Lows, at zerohedge.com. These charts show the truth about unemployment. The unemployment rate dropping to 6.7% is meaningless outside of politics. A majority of the jobs created last month weren’t full-time, as the chart in the post below shows.

More Than Half Of December Jobs Added Were Temporary, at zerohedge.com. If fewer people are working, and the people with jobs are working fewer hours, are we consuming more than we are producing? Are we reaching the tipping point.

The Real Unemployment Rate, at zerohedge.com. People who aren’t looking for work are not counted as unemployed. I guess the unemployment rate depends on who you count as unemployed. This article shows more of what we are talking about in the previous articles.

Fed’s Jeff Lacker Admits “Asset Bubble”, And Reluctance To Pop It, at zerohedge.com. This isn’t the first time Lacker couldn’t bite his tongue before the truth slipped out. Read Here.

The Most Popular Political Party In America Is…, by Larry Krieger, at Liberty Blitzkrieg Blog, via zerohedge.com. The charts in this article show the increase of people identifying themselves as independents, while identification with the Republican and Democrat parties shrink. The information age is cutting into the monopoly that Government propaganda sources, like the mainstream media and the education system, have enjoyed for decades. The progressive central planners in both parties are starting to lose their advantage and won’t go quietly. The argument for individual liberty is winning.

The United States Of Shame – What Is Your State Worst At?, at zerohedge.com. I think I want to move to Idaho.

The Dumbest New Ban In 2014: Incandescent Light Bulbs, by Nick Gillespie and Todd Karinan, at reason.com. GE, Sylvania, and Philips went to Government to rig the market for their new more expensive CFLs when consumers decided they didn’t want to purchase these light bulbs. Crony capitalism at its finest.