Public debt is not the issue — that's just a neo-con scare campaign

ETcallhome · Feb 26, 2016

Mars vs Venus..Men vs Woman..They use the same words but have a totally different meaning.
For instance, when a Woman says we need to "talk" a man stops what he is doing and waits for information. She goes on and on while he listens and then she hugs him. To her that it is "talk".

Now we have this other word. "Money". Means one thing to Mars, another thing to Venus.

jem · Feb 26, 2016

I don't typically parrot, I link. Technology and information were the first things that came to mind when I saw that chart.
When dealing with dynamic systems even utilizing models and regressions its still a lot of guesswork.

I chose to guy with my knowledge on this one... from experience... watching trading and investing. The Fed's policies have caused bubbles in stocks and real estate so I knew that the fed could not be the reason for cycle moderation.

Ricter said:
Sure, you're parroting that from the article I linked to, which also gives credit to monetary and fiscal interventions.
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ETcallhome · Feb 26, 2016

the bubbles we created were better than the depressions we prevented?

maxpi · Feb 27, 2016

Historically, depressions go away faster without any interference. The US applied way more stimulus in the '30's then most nations and was the slowest to recover.

wildchild · Feb 27, 2016

OddTrader said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Keen " Steve Keen is an Australian-born, British-based economist and author. He considers himself a post-Keynesian, criticising neoclassical economics as inconsistent, unscientific and empirically unsupported. "
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OddTrader is definitely a good description of you. Its not meant as a compliment.

ETcallhome · Feb 27, 2016

maxpi said:
Historically, depressions go away faster without any interference. The US applied way more stimulus in the '30's then most nations and was the slowest to recover.
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what's always baffled me about the 1930s was, we had limited money available when it came to helping the poor. But suddenly in 1940 we had UNLIMITED money when it came to fighting the war.

wildchild · Feb 27, 2016

ETcallhome said:
what's always baffled me about the 1930s was, we had limited money available when it came to helping the poor. But suddenly in 1940 we had UNLIMITED money when it came to fighting the war.
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Where did all that money come from? Its not like the debt in 1945 was over 6 time higher than it was in 1940 or anything like that. Bozo.

ETcallhome · Feb 27, 2016

wildchild said:
Where did all that money come from? Its not like the debt in 1945 was over 6 time higher than it was in 1940 or anything like that. Bozo.
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so where did it come from?

OddTrader · Feb 27, 2016

http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/sam/SamPrint/new/sam_master/rev427sept14/chap7000/7130.pdf

SAM
—
INTRODUCTION TO UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTING
Rev. 371

MARCH 2000

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF GOVERNMENTAL ACCOUNTING
7130
(Revised 5/85)

Although the basic principles of accounting apply in government as in commerce,
certain features of governmental accounting make its pattern quite different from that of
the typical set of commercial accounts. The underlying differences should be
understood to avoid confusion that sometimes results in attempting to apply, with little or
no modification, conventional commercial accounts to a governmental unit.

The distinctive features of governmental accounting are the reflection of the essential
difference in the method of financing governmental operations as contrasted with
business undertakings.

Private business must obtain its capital from voluntary investments made with the hope
of deriving an increment. Private business, then, to survive must realize a profit over
and above the cost of the commodities or services it sells in order to preserve its capital
and to return a profit to its proprietors or shareholders. Accordingly, commercial
accounts are focused upon "net profit" — the amount gained over costs, the difference
between income and expenses — and "net worth" — the current value of the invested
capital, the difference between assets and liabilities.

Government furnishes services to all directly or indirectly and levies taxes or provides
other revenue measures to meet the cost of those services. Governmental accounting
usually has no "net profit" to report. Particular sources of revenue generally have no
direct relation to particular items of expenditures. An excess of revenues over
expenditures is not "net profit" and is not necessarily an indication of good financial
policy in the government unit. Capital invested in government by its citizen-proprietors
(represented by such capital assets as land, buildings, highways, and equipment) is
investment in future public services. "Net worth," if that term can be employed, of a
governmental unit has an entirely different significance from "net worth" of a commercial
enterprise.

Another difference is the necessity that the governmental unit account its authorizations
to incur expenditures. It is a long established principle of free government that public
moneys be expended only as authorized by the legislative body. Hence, the
governmental unit must maintain budgetary accounts in which are reflected the
authorization for expenditures. While large commercial organizations are coming more
and more to establish budget procedures somewhat similar to those employed by
government, the budget and the accounts essential to its operation are still largely a
distinctive feature of governmental accounting.

Still another peculiar characteristic of governmental accounting is the employment of
separate funds. A business enterprise, even the largest and most extensive, usually is
engaged in activities closely interrelated with the ultimate objective of profit in one
particular field. The governmental unit, on the other hand, is engaged in an
ever-growing number of operations and activities which are quite unrelated to each other.
Particular sources of revenue or income often are dedicated to use for a particular
phase of the government's operations. The accounts must segregate these specially
dedicated resources and isolate them from all other transactions in a separate "fund."
While a business concern can maintain a single set of accounts for all of its
transactions, a governmental agency must maintain a number of independent sets of
accounts, one for each "fund."

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gwb-trading · Feb 27, 2016

ETcallhome said:
what's always baffled me about the 1930s was, we had limited money available when it came to helping the poor. But suddenly in 1940 we had UNLIMITED money when it came to fighting the war.
More...

Ever hear of war bonds?. The war was funded via large debt.