Bob Murphy

Author Archive

No More Jim Cramer!

OK, I confess that I have been reading Jim Cramer’s analyses on CNBC, and I read his column in my wife’s New York magazine whenever I see them. But that all stops NOW. In the Sept. 29 issue of NY magazine, Cramer actually said this: Still, a recovery from a storm this big is going […]

Kudlow Supports $700 Billion Bailout, Unless It Involves Government Intervention

Ahh how Larry Kudlow wrestles with his endorsements. On the one hand, he doesn’t see how the government caused the credit crunch through its meddling and hopes of a bailout (now confirmed). On the other, he knows politicians always screw up the economy. Thus he utters the following ridiculous statement: If the bailout bill allows […]

Americans Oppose Corporate Welfare; Feds Agree to Disagree

I wish the margin were higher, but it reassures me that the average Joe ain’t half bad: the American people oppose the Paulson Plan: Americans oppose government rescues of ailing financial companies by a decisive margin, and blame Wall Street and President George W. Bush for the credit crisis. By a margin of 55 percent […]

A Major Recession Seems Due–Just Look at the Pretty Picture

Folks, I am not a “chartist,” because I wouldn’t want to go the John Nash route of spotting spurious causal connections. But, if you accept Austrian Business Cycle Theory, then the following graph of the levels of M1 is very interesting. (Click for larger image.) Specifically, you can tell a little story that the Fed […]

Cramer Says Paulson’s Plan Will Stop Home Price Declines

Help me out here folks. In the following passage, Jim Cramer has committed himself to predicting that house prices will stop falling if Paulson’s Plan gets approved. Right? Opinions abound when it comes to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s proposed $700 billion bailout plan for U.S. banks. And a lot of them are negative. But Cramer’s […]

Why Hank Paulson Made Sprint Be Mean to Me

Now this is going to start off on a wild tangent, but bear with me. We are working toward this thesis: Resolved, Treasury Secretary Henry “I Love the Free Market (I Have a Thing For Weakness)” Paulson is directly responsible for the mean treatment I received at the hands of Sprint. OK, so I just […]

Tyler Cowen Endorses (?!) Blowing Up Homes

I have been good for a few days, and avoided my nervous tic of ridiculing Tyler Cowen’s blog posts. (This is mostly because I think he’s been good on opposing the Paulson Plan.) However, I cannot bite my tongue when he today writes this: So I have a modest proposal. The Fed/Treasury can identify those […]

"Free Market" Bush and Paulson Discredit Free Market

The leftists have not missed the irony in the latest power grabs by Paulson & Friends. This is why it’s so annoying when mainstream Republicans run on a “small government” message and then do the opposite in office. From the article: Of course, the ironies and the potential pitfalls of this administration enacting a socialist […]