FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013
Heading toward the north on Amtrak: As you may already have heard, we're off on a mission of national import, heading toward the north on Amtrak.
We expect to post tomorrow. We recommend Paul Krugman's column, in which he knocks down the usual experts.
On this national holiday weekend, did we note a few sly Hollywood references? Hooray for Hollywood! Even if by-the-Potomac!
Coming: We accept the Hornaday Challenge!
Many experts disagree with Krugman that our deficits and printing of money isn't a big problem. E.g., see http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/currency-cold-war-heating-jeff-saut-121558683.html
ReplyDelete"What I am worried about is if politicians kick the can down the road," Saut explains of the ongoing budget negotiations and the risk that a negative outcome would impact the economy and, in turn, "cause Bernanke to flood the system, and crank up the printing presses again." It's a scenario that he predicts would cause the dollar index to go back down again and likely cause other nations to follow suit to offset the impact of a weaker dollar.
How it all ends is anybody's guess, but if I had to make one, I would say that this race to the bottom will not end well.
Like your own fantasies, David, the predictions of those who have disagreed with Krugman during the recent years of the dollar "printing press" have been wrong.
DeleteWhy should we listen to you today?
"The crisis will come within two years!!" That was the bleat two years ago (and indeed, four years ago as well).
Now you and yours, having been so undeniably wrong with specifics, are reduced to vagueness. "Eventually..." "In the end..." etc.
C'mon, we've more than tripled the money supply (last time I checked) under Obama's Fed. When, exactly, are we going to get the inevitable inflationary effects?
The models of your gurus have spoken: We should already be drowning in inflation! But we aren't, because you and yours are wrong.
Confess your failure, bring a new model or go home.
Exactly. The deficit scolds credibility sucks at this point. These people are like apocalypse predictors.
DeleteMatt and Nona -- You are both correct. Those of us who predicted inflation have so far been wrong. I don't blame you for disbelieving our models. (BTW the inflation predictions have been wrong for 2 or 3 years; the global warming models have been wrong for the last 15 years. I hope you apply the same sort of reasoning to the supposed threat of global warming.)
DeleteAnyhow, I continue to worry because history shows country after country where printing too much money led to runaway inflation. It may be, as Krugman says, that the US won't be hit like the historical examples. I hope Krugman is right. However, I think it's prudent to invest some of my retirement savings in inflation-adjusted ways, like TIPS.
Don't forget to buy gold while you're at it!
DeleteI'm thinking that Mr. Somerby is going north on Amtrak, that wonderful bit of quasi-socialist railroad we in the northeast rely on, when we can afford to do better than the bus.
ReplyDeleteEngaging DavidinCal about the distinctions between a government-subsidized enterprise that emphasizes benefits to users of a service rather than the heavily subsidized "Titanic creators" of that service (viz., 19th century railroad-building) -- well, that's beyond hopeless.
mch, I'd be glad to address Amtrak, a service I used when I lived back East. I'd be even happier to address the pending California high speed rail -- a boondoggle with more government subsidy and less service benefits to users than the 19th century railroads.
DeletePlease let me know if you're looking for a writer for your blog. You have some really good posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I'd really
ReplyDeletelike to write some content for your blog in exchange for
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Cheers!
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Sorry, champ. We've already got David in California!!
Delete