Archive for September, 2008
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Supply and Demand: Wall Street Will Drown Alone
Supply and Demand: Wall Street Will Drown Alone:
There are two basic obstacles that Washington might create in this process, both of which are included in the Bernanke-Paulson-Bush proposal. One is to pile on regulation and further impede entry by new firms that might provide financial services to the non-financial sector in the years ahead. The [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Monday, September 29th, 2008
PLEASE, Just Say No!
]PLEASE, Just Say No!:
The House will be voting today on the Bush Bailout. I do not presume that any members of Congress (either House or Senate) will read The Austrian Economists blog spot. But I just want to put this out there. Vote NO to the bailout. Stop the madness, and instead support real change [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Monday, September 29th, 2008
So, how have past banking bailouts worked out?
Hit & Run > The Thing We Have to Fear is Fear-Mongering Itself - Reason Magazine
from a working paper on banking crises for the IMF:
Existing empirical research has shown that providing assistance to banks and their borrowers can be counterproductive, resulting in increased losses to banks, which often abuse forbearance to take unproductive risks at [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Pass the Bill…NOT!
Pass the Bill: (Italics in original)
We’ve been flailing around with enormous, unprecedented, ad hoc rescue attempts for over a year, and they haven’t worked. Despite what lunatic Republicans think, despite what the public thinks, despite what even some of the reality-based blogosphere apparently thinks, our financial system really does seem to be on the verge [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Let Them Fail
Let Them Fail:
The most important “wisdom” of market process theory is to get out of the way of the process of adjustment. The poor decisions in one period must be penalized, the malinvestments made by businesses must be cleaned out, and the opportunities for hitherto unrecognized profit opportunities must be allowed to be exploited. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Take a break this weekend for some great music
8pm at Bayou Bend (Westcott @ Memorial)
Gate opens 7:15
$25, $20 for students, seniors, and MFAH members
bring your lawn chairs and blankets
1 Comment » - Posted in Music by Joe White
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
EconLog, The Case Against the Bailout, Arnold Kling: Library of Economics and Liberty
EconLog, The Case Against the Bailout, Arnold Kling: Library of Economics and Liberty:
1. Today’s economy differs from that of the 1930’s. Then, it may be that financial sector may have contributed to the downturn elsewhere. Today, the financial sector is the downturn.
2. The bailout blends finance with government. It is the Fannie Mae and Freddie [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
“There’s nothing free-market about it.”
Corporatism, Not Capitalism: The free market has nothing to do with the current crisis - Reason Magazine:
When you, Joe Citizen, spend frivolously and default on your loans, the bank takes your house. When the government spends your tax dollars frivolously, it simply cooks the books to cover its excesses. When the books are left in [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Random News by Joe White
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
Could someone please do a production of Iolanthe in Washington?
I’ll buy tickets for all the members of Congress. They don’t have to be there for the whole show; they could skip the entire first act, if need be (though they’d miss the great Act I finale). As long as they are there to hear the last verse of Lord Mountararat’s song [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Music, Thoughts by Joe White
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
The Most Interesting Points Can Not Be Put In Your Footnotes!
The Most Interesting Points Can Not Be Put In Your Footnotes!:
In the early ’30s, Mises reminded people that what they were living through was not the crisis of capitalism, but the crisis of the interventionist state. We are about to have another lesson in what Mises meant by that.