Don’t Worry, Bernanke’s Pushing Us Back Towards the Cliff
I noted two weeks ago that the monetary base had dropped significantly in the new year, and wondered whether Bernanke had come to his senses. Looks like that’s a big fat negatory:
Bernanke Stakes His Reputation on CPI
Wow, I can’t believe Ron Paul wrung it out of him. But at around 4:45, Bernanke says that if price inflation really heats up, he will concede that his approach to the financial crisis was wrong. I suggest watching the whole video to see the exact context of his daring statement. (HT2LRC)
Murphy Interviewed on Young Americans for Liberty
I really like the podcast interface. (If that’s not the word I want, let me know. I am not totally familiar with the Intertubes just yet.) The Ron Paul vanguard talks with me about some basic economics from the PIG to Capitalism as well as the forthcoming PIG to the Great Depression and the New Deal.
Why Buy Gold?
Sure, I could justify my recommendation to buy physical gold with all kinds of jargon and thought experiments. But I will spare you. The real reason I think everyone should get his or her little pot of gold (just in time for St. Patty’s Day) is this:
You have to ask yourself, “Does Ben Bernanke really have a good plan for dealing with that?”
Then, even if you think so, you have to ask yourself, “Does The Man really let a Princeton economics professor who doesn’t know kung fu have control over the world currency?”
Holy Tax Increase, Batman!
This ABC News story (HT2EPJ) gives the breakdown of the $989 billion in new taxes under Obama’s budget forecast for 2010-2019. (Keep in mind folks that the federal government’s fiscal year starts on October 1. So that’s why the upcoming ten-year forecast starts in “2010.” Right now we are in the middle of Fiscal Year 2009 as far as the federal budget goes.)
However, I am almost positive that this astounding $989 billion figure does not include one dime of the additional $645 billion in new revenues from cap and trade auctions. Check out the bottom row of page 123 in the actual budget (pdf).
Props to Dan Simmons for bringing this to my attention, and also for finding this cool analysis (pdf) of the Greatest Hits in tax hikes and cuts. The previous one-year record was a little over $100 billion (in 2007 dollars) from the enormous tax hike in 1942. Obama’s new proposal blows that out of the water.
The Bailout Mascot
Mitche Hunt emailed me a description of the bailout mascot, and Google pulled up this page at the top. I think that’s the original source but not sure… Anyway:
The United States government today announced that it is changing its national symbol to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the governments political stance.
A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you’re actually being screwed.
To my fellow Americans, it really doesn’t get much more accurate than this.
Very Funny Commenter Points Out Matrix Bloopers
This guy really cracks me up. If you watch it, then come back and watch it again in a day, he is even funnier. Do you think that is really his accent, or is it an American doing a Borat/Siskel/Saget merge? What’s great is now that people have seen how easily you can bring traffic to your website by putting out a very entertaining video clip, the stuff on YouTube is going to get awesome.
Another thing: I don’t get what the guy on the ground with a bullet in his forehead is doing right then, but it’s clearly not the agent that Trinity shoots at point blank range (in the side of the head). So the “blooper” documented at around 2:55 is an open one in my book until I see more evidence. (I don’t work for Scotland Yard or anything.)
Mankiw Nails the China Bashing
Back when Treasury Secretary Geithner was telling China to stop “manipulating” its currency, I was puzzled: Didn’t that mean he wanted them to stop buying US Treasurys, and hence push up US interest rates and consumer prices? (Robert Wenzel over at EPJ was saying this too, I believe, but I don’t have the link handy.)
Well Greg Mankiw (HT2MR) nails it by quoting Geithner on “manipulation,” and then now Hillary Clinton on China’s duty to finance Obama’s spending spree. Mankiw comments:
The inconsistency in the policy here becomes fully apparent only when one understands how China “manipulates” its currency: It keeps the value of the yuan lower than it otherwise might be by supplying yuan and demanding dollars in foreign-exchange markets. Those dollars are then invested in U.S. Treasuries.
In other words, Secretary Clinton is now asking the Chinese to do precisely what Secretary Geithner asked them not to do.
Now this is just the kind of thing I meant in my earlier post about Obama’s possible sincerity. Some right-wingers will say, “Ha! What a moron! Clinton/Geithner doesn’t understand currency markets.”
But no, that’s not it at all. Each of them understands full well that if China stops buying Treasurys, that will make the dollar fall. We have to always remind ourselves that politicians say things for political effect, not in order to communicate their actual view of the world.
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