I'm not criticizing the critics who've posted this thread, only I note how much worse off we would be if instead of a professor with no real world (ie Wall Street) experience, we had a Wall Street pro like Paulson calling the shots. The sheep shearing would boggle the mind. For instance, imagine how long it'd take Paulie to bamboozle a President McCain into some kinda left handed privatizing of Social Security, or some similar scams to pick the pockets of working schmucks. Five minutes, ten at most? The funny money games would be so extreme and difficult to figure that working schmucks (me, you, so on) wouldn't have a clue til it was too late -- by which time the rich and their shot-calling benefactors would long be settled into their comfy, Blackwater protected seaside palaces in the Gulf, next door to their sheik buddies. Can you say Michael Jackson?
sure T-dog... and why do we need trucks to carry oil all over the country just so that homo americanus may continue to fill his tank and pollute no end when we have trains, electricity, electric vehicles, abundant solar energy etc... why don't we take all that worthless shit out of the equation... leaves flying & plastic bags, simplifying a bit... as i said, big deal...
From a humanistic standpoint, i'll just {yawn} if u'll excuse me... your understanding of monetary policy management, of who was asleep at the wheel (hint: the OCC, ie US Gvt...) etc, is barely good enough for ET, although you do have a lot of company here... thks for the entertainment...
debt to gdp hasn't been this high since the 20s. add in derivatives to that leverage and its even worse. i wouldn't say that another depression isn't close to happening. pick your poison, depression or stagflation. although a depression might end up being the result once inflation really gets going and the global economy takes a dive.
Precisely! You catch on rather quickly. And which route may i ask is politically more expedient: raising taxes directly, or indirectly via monetization and the consequent inflation it causes? I rest my case. Argentina here we come, Da da da da, dah dah dah, da!