Glenn Beck Endorses Ron Paul
Does anyone know the full context of this? (HT2 EPJ) Like, is Beck really telling people, “I want Ron Paul to be the Republican nominee,” or did he say something three seconds later like, “It’s just too bad he comes off as a doddering old man and could never beat Obama”?
Anyway, my point in relaying this is to say that I have noticed first-hand that there’s not as much resistance in “right wing” circles to talk about Ron Paul. Back in the 2008 campaign, I could still tell that most self-described conservatives thought Ron Paul was persona non grata. But I think more and more of them are realizing that he has been consistent, and that–gosh–maybe we just don’t have the money to be policing the world right now.
The Truth About Robert Reich
Mises’ groupies will be able to tell where I’m broadcasting this from. Anyway, we decided I should respond to this video from Robert Reich.
Keynes, Krugman, and the Crisis
The infomercial for my next Mises Academy class is up today. It’s sort of like Christopher Hitchens teaching a class on John Calvin.
As usual, the graphics they made for my article are the best part. Look at how Krugman appears to be praying to Keynes.
(For those who are serious, let me say that I actually ordered Krugman’s macro textbook to prepare myself to teach this course. It will not be a hatchet job.)
I Thought “We” Made Money on the Capital Investments of TARP?
You know how Matt Yglesias & Friends like to say, “We made money on TARP,” by which they mean, “The US government made money on a subset of all transactions conducted under the TARP legislation”? Well, I was digging up some numbers for an upcoming article, and I came across something odd.
This (pdf or excel) is the latest report of TARP Investments. I’m looking at the Excel file, the first tab. And it looks like, even just focusing on the Capital Purchase Programs (i.e. the warrants and preferred stock in financial institutions, not the boondoggles of the auto bailouts), the government is reporting $2.59 billion in losses.
Anyone care to elaborate?
Obama Figures Out Why Unemployment Is So High
Actually if you watch the video, it’s not nearly as bad as some of his critics are making it out to be. He’s not saying, “We should ban ATMs and airport kiosks.” Rather, he has now become an Austrian, and is endorsing the structural explanation for unemployment.
Consumer Prices Up 3.6 Percent Over the Year
Well the CPI came out today. And even playing by the government’s own rules, the headline rate rose a seasonally-adjusted 0.2 percent in May. More important, from May 2010 to May 2011, CPI rose 3.6 percent.
And the reason Krugman should be a little concerned, is that “core” CPI–which he says is a better indicator of the underlying inertia–rose 0.3 percent in May. [UPDATE: I botched the original extrapolation; fixed.] So if you robotically extrapolate that, it works out to 3.7 percent core inflation per year–almost double the Fed’s ostensible target.
Just to clarify, Krugman wasn’t citing a prediction of negative headline CPI for May, but for June. However, I think the analysis he linked to was way way off for May, so we’ll see what happens for June. And to repeat, I think what’s happening is that Krugman and the Fed guy were expecting tame core CPI, coupled with moderating/falling gas prices.
Fighting Fire With Fire
One of the things that most amused me about the recent MMT flare-up was that to blow me up, they cited the identity of my boss at IER, and then simply quoted from my article.
So, since I’m rushed for time this morning, I’ll do the same with Krugman. Those who share my worldview don’t need me to spell out why the following is rather ironic and humorous:
Rick Perlstein sends me to Sam Husseini asking Paul Ryan why, if he’s so concerned with government spending on health care, he doesn’t support single-payer. Ryan’s response is pure gobbledygook: he never answers the question, cites irrelevant facts (Medicare costs are rising! But what about private insurance, which is rising even faster?), and in general stonewalls and runs out the clock.
This is not a serious person, even if he’s a Serious Person.
Argh I can’t help it, I have to offer some analysis: By the same token, Ron Paul doesn’t explain why, if he’s so concerned with troop levels in Afghanistan, he doesn’t support nuking Kabul. And he calls himself antiwar.
OOPS that first analogy actually made too much sense. Let me try again, to more accurately mirror Krugman’s post:
By the same token, Ron Paul doesn’t explain why, if he’s so concerned with blowback from our aggressive foreign policy, he doesn’t support nuking Kabul. And he calls himself antiwar.
Producer Price Update
According to today’s release, the seasonally-adjusted increase in finished goods for May was 0.2 percent. Nothing to get excited over.
Even so, just for the record, the year-over-year change (i.e. May 2010 to May 2011) for the three categories is as follows:
Finished goods: +7.3%
Intermediate goods: +10.3%
Crude goods: +22.8%
The BLS report on the Consumer Price Index comes out tomorrow. Krugman is rooting for a negative reading.
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