“Behind the first alternative
lurked Smoot….”

do you know what mr smoot et al

were really up to back

in those fark days ….after the crash ??

or is this just a bark line
like

that way leads to a fed that… lets banks fail

the relative strength and guilt
of the various “indicted drivers “

behind the Great Depression

are still little enigmas

true
like the value of outstanding loans

cross border industrial trade

contracted wildly too

but hey

look at plant construction

or industrial equipment production

if you want to

in fact

what positive economic indicator

didn't contract wildly during those early 30's years

what keynes offered was an inward looking
macro policy for britain …

that was not a closing of its cross border economy

……under emergency conditions

in his mind an alternative to beggar thy neighbor
and yet even if it had a possible general application

to any other great power of the day

…. herr schacht provided

a plan to fulfill quite another vision of …recovery

one based on the same apparent zero sum result

of expanding the external sector

any way both co existed in fact

facilitated rather then scotched

the great game approach

both plans … far from preventing

the set of final solutions

brewing in europe from 1919 on

probably brought them forward in time

ie …. the second and final round

of the great civilized war to neuter

a frightfully united

and rampant germany

btw
i tracked down

the keynes source for

the debauch the currency is lenin's plan etc

passage

the one
that is prolly

so much ron paul's fetish

counter spell

because it appears

as if

in that passage

the anti christ himself …keynes

is pre emptively condemning

out of his own mouth

his future followers with their fiscal spend spend spend …on credit Rx

its from a very broad and belle letristic pamphlet

composed in 1919 on the uncaged horrors

of the great peace treaty

a pamphlet

that istantly made him as famous

as its contemporary

'this side of paradise'

made f scott f

ie the keynes before he was
the keynes still 16 years away

from the keynes we mean

when we speak of keynesian economics

Posted by js paine at 02:31 AM

“a good deal (estimated at about 45-50%)
of the Chinese advantage in manfacturing

is due to better location/organization of resources

rather than cheap labor.”

better location/organization of resources

relative to other low wage asian production platforms

or compared to norte america

by location do u mean near existing
input suppliers and next stage output buyers

by organization

do you mean a docile plentiful wage force

are you talking about spill over effects

like silicon valley has

btw

by who's estimate ??

Posted by js paine at 02:28 AM

bruce wild one

if not protectionism
what ??

i've my plan
its simple straight forward and politically impossible

step one
cut payroll taxes back to paygo

and re rate the system

with a new un capped rate to the top

step two

continue the forex dollar drop

by a quota freeze/roll back

directed at fiddled currency trade partners

step three

declare a new jobs policy

goal 48 hour job search max

step three

after warning about a price level surge
the moral equivalent of a thousand foot tsunami

set up a mark up warrants system

step four
run

vast federal deficits

including massive rev sharing with the states

that effectively takes states out of

the tax and transfer business

step five
for circus effects as much as bread

a tit twister of a fedreal global base wealth tax

step six

build a pub/pri

great green machine industrial sector

run like

the arms sector 1940-1944

mission clean green product
self sufficiency max

while pushing labor input min

etc etc etc

last but not least
step seven

since we'd by then have turned our back
to the world

trade wise

open the borders wide

let any one in

that wants in

and with a three year citizen ship wait

what's your mad plan

or are you not into the agitprop art

of the possible impossible

Posted by js paine at 02:28 AM

“It was a privilege to serve”

wogie

is that some kind of blanket hall pass for uncle sam ???

serve what by how for why

citizens get to define all these

and they are not required to take dictation from
their superiours

i've never found it consoling
that some one faithfully

and with good intentions

served the devil

obviously
we can make certain distinctions here

putting your life on the line is indeed noble
but with the proviso

its for a noble cause

nam and iraq were not noble causes
want to serve

try the fire department
or the farc

Posted by js paine at 02:24 AM

“I'm just fed up with the alarmist claims that without constant inflation the nation will sink into another Great Depression.”

over blown
i knew you were

a right on cat

the “we got no choice
but to lie here

and take it

in the ass “

is the product of hobson's choice framing
of macro policy

that has been 60 years in the making

re -imposed state passivity
is the result

its as if the medical community
got us to renounce anti biotics

and return to blood letting

spectator
your quote on the terrors of inflation

reads more like herb stein

then jm keynes

if keynes wrote this
and i have no reason to doubt it

——-since i've seen it quoted

with the frequency of an urban legend —-

all decked out in bells and curled toe slippers
as it is

with its peppering of lenin
and its col. blimpish lingo …

” debauch the currency”

he must have been talking
—-as was his several sided way—-

out of the ladies garden club

side of his mouth

these are not his deeper thoughts here
thoughts produced

with his best blend of logic and imagination

and they were produced if produced by him at all

like grand ma's bonnet

to conceal his ultimate intentions

this is not keynes giving council
to a closed meeting of the policy elite

this is not keynes
as oracle

placing his deep insights

at the service of public weal

Posted by: paine | Link to comment | April 14, 2008 at 05:07 AM

paine says…
“sound central banking”

means

at the cross roads of decision

“debauch the people not the currency ” eh ??

Posted by: paine | Link to comment | April 14, 2008 at 05:09 AM

paine says…
“Just as consumer-price inflation is often described as a situation of ‘too much money chasing too few goods,’ asset-price inflation could similarly be characterized as ‘too much money chasing too few assets.’”

that “cleveration”
gets itself into more confounding of the subject

and compounding of the problem than its worth

product and asset markets bare
not even second cousin level similarity

to say asset price spirals are credit policy creatures
is not to say its all about

a too much of anything

chasing

a too few of everything else

spec spirals like wage price spirals
are sustained by credit policy not induced by them

a monetized fiscal expenditure
that continues past the point of full capacity utilization

is a proper candidate for the too much too few maxim

not any of the set ups we face today
outside say

zimbabwe

“Yes but is 1920s-Germany-style hyperinflation
a lesser evil than 1929 Depression ?”

if you can ask that question with a straight face

you need to do some reading up
on the two subjects

“The USA built an economic system dependent on inflation accompanied by the illusion of price stability.”

the notion of a policy produced
“delayed price surge “

implied here

—-to make the senttence coherent—-

could use some explication

“Most people have no idea how destructive such a policy
—-inflation —-

is to the fabric of society.”

perhaps that's because
most people are not

living off

forever fixed nominal money streams

and from that fact draw fairly sensible

conclusions

most anti inflation hysterics
are either self serving — “bond holder” horse feathers—

or the endemic product

of 100 years of bond holder agitprop

“The (corporate ) elite — for the lack of a better word — doesn't really care if America works for most people, as long as America works for them.”

exactly
and it has worked quite nicely for them

now

for  close to thirty years

but
like all those aging commercial passanger jets

its

about time for an overhaul

——-
once again

the gilman squawks among us

his trolleration acts apon
the dry wood of our hyper seriosity

like lucifers spark

anne suggests

“… reading Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz
and Mark Thoma and Brad DeLong and Warren Buffett

among others “

to get a better purchase
on the present watershed moment anne ???

or to gleen

what is the best to be done

in this second best of all possible second best worlds ???

i fear none of these souls
are bold enough

and wise enough

and disinterested enough

to meet the challenge

all of em
fail at least one of these three tests

“Krugman is still having trouble admitting that globalization is hurting workers, although he has tip-toed into that water lately.” = killer han geee raffffs

anne why keep that level of mockery up ???

its indeed not globalization as outlined in theory

that isa menace to america's job force

its globalization as practiced

by america;s own multi national corporations

forget the bush occ and its trillionation for a second
that's for the goo goo side of us all

plenty of time for indignation and moral high horsing

there

but here lets face the facts

competition with low ball producers is a real job killer here

you never say more then generously bind the wounds
and by use of the public purse and credit

rebuild zillion losers

like so many 6 million dollar men

where is the total picture here ???

your part only and partial picture
ignores the source ..

corporate ..american corporate

cross border arbitrage profits

unless you battle that

we lose and lose and lose

at some point even the best

loser rehab system fails

because

folks no longer want to just go out there

and lose again

where's the plausible
win streak for the base job class here

since as the sage sez

no matter what

approximately half of them

must end up below the median

and if the median keeps falling …

“experts” sometimes get bound up by their own orthodoxy”

ivy league pharasees especially

Posted by: paine | Link to comment | April 14, 2008 at 07:23 AM

paine says…
“As the power of the central government has grown, the inequality of income distribution has risen”

not so ..at all

the new deal is the best conuter example
if anything we need a greater

focus of power

at the national level

example

if we want both open immigration

and real full employment

( 48 hour job search max for anyone )

then we need to
regulated the corporate sector's

“independent ” price making system

we need a federal mark up warrent system
and a warrent trading market

in fact we need it
as much as we need such a system(s)

for utility pollution

“What is globalization is subject to policy of small or large countries, “

there is another half a partner

and the conutries
don't even hold up their half of the sky anne

their partner
the large border crossing private corporations

not only drive their own half on their own behalf

but haunt levitate or torture the other half's behalf

the policy of “countries ” is bag jobbed tanked
log rolled bambooozled bombed by proxy

and otherwise set one against the other

or made to sing in chorus

by their bevy

of limited liability

courtiers ravishers creditors and grooms

…
“Paine, how am I supposed to view new dealism as anything other than an outlier, a temporary aberration”

great question

i think you can find other episodes of a public purpose contrary to private ends emerging in earlier era's of corporate muck up

the first progressive/pop age
with its prog tax its fed and its reg agency movement

—-the new deal being a second sych age —-

the jacksonian age

fdr and co was not the first nor likely to be the last
effective modifier of commercial and hi fi

” corporate interests”

“in the long run, priviledge will win out “

i'd prefer to say
in the long run, priviledge will once again as always before

so get itself in trouble

that

it must —-at least for a period —-

abdicate its hegemony

“German workers, French workers, Swedish workers, Dutch workers “
vs american workers

anne the euro is over valued right now
watch these ” workers ” high wage jobs languish

and compact

its already happening

yes they got a better safety net

but but but
a safety net no matter how good is not…. a high wage job

bj feng
must live in a time capsule

buried back in 1927

outside

silent cal's summer cottage in vermont

his naive babbit like perspective is refreshing

its spring time in america ….19
tim duy

doesn't get anything right enough here

to be worthy of reading

his cry inflation is rising inflation is rising

refuses to watch the trend in nominal wages

which to his surprise apparently the long rate markets do notice

he has no clear picture to draw on the forex front

the g7 is the whole external sector ??

“not your garden variety Keynesian slowdown”
gets it precisely wrong

this is lkeynesian and its not a slow down

macro policy
can't “handle ” this situation

with managing credit flows alone

ie its a very classic kenynesian ….crisis

a braking down has begun
right there

in the pri sec's interface

between

the hi fi and the ” real ” economy

the hook ups aren't functioning effectively

interest rates paid by corporations
can be ignored

fiscal deficits need to expand dramatically
say to 10% of gdp

while the dollar continues its swan dive

here is the contradiction

a new deal paradigm

is the order of the day domestically

ie an inward only looking US macro policy

BUT an every nation for himself regime

ie chaos must be avoided internationally

possible to square these to conflicting objectives ???

well not by joining the tim duy befuddlement

the ” why don't one tool fit all ” befuddlement
fullcarry

quite the contrary

when it comes to inflation

i protest very little

price lifts are easy adjustments
compared to real output drops

to me
its the intentional jobicide induced by macro policy

that i protest

to me un necessary destroying

of existing jobs

and aborting the creation of new jobs

in the name of sound banking

that is a crime against humanity
“foreign savers”

no these
are trade credits backed by

the fed's dollar mine

but paine
when this paper

comes do

it will be paid back in cheaper dollars

all the better to hide just how low ball
the low ball price is my dear

Posted by: paine | Link to comment | April 14, 2008 at 06:21 AM

paine says…
“Did wages ever cause inflation?”

now that is a real serious question

was the dynamic caused by
wages trying to catch up with

the full revenue product of jobsters labor

or the profit margineers

attempt to retain the producers surplus gap

as corporate earnings

either way

the process was “validated ” by credit policy

its not that
nominal increases were passed thru without any real

consequence

it was the ever more hideous muddle

of policy combinations

we got in the low 70's

part validation part stymie

overblown…
i love you

“The unemployment rate is only 5%, and the GDP is steady. We are not in a Great Depression,”

agreed

” don't need high inflation just to try and drive the unemployment rate down another 1/10 of 1%. “

agreed
but we ought to drive it down to a pure frictional rate

and keep it there

and getting there and staying there

will cause a price spiral

unless we

throw together

a price setting co ordination system

a new improved nira

“It is not possible to calculate the natural rate of unemployment with that degree of precision.”

you're right …because its a figment
of a bunch of x class

hired ideologues

clever concoctions

Posted by: paine | Link to comment | April 14, 2008 at 10:52 AM

paine says…
” .. no recognition of the cause of the problem”

that phrase by itself
applies quite handsomely to yourself

herr spec

you might try draining
the mental swamps

you've sunk

your fixed set of alpine memes into

its like the ancient monocausal
explanation of the demise

of native hegemony

here in north america

“fire water”

Posted by js paine at 02:20 AM