In fact, anytime politicians claim that some law, policy, agency, etc. will "fix" something, it is a safer bet to expect the opposite result.
A government "fix" means entrenchment of the problem.
BoscoHJuly 16, 2009 at 11:52 am
Even if Obama is sincere in his promises, he can't necessarily deliver on them. Congress is getting bolder and bolder about intervening in the economy.
BoscoH, why do I get the feeling that the only thing Obama is sincere about is furthering His power? How can so many people not see the enormeous ego? IMO, he is just another sleazy, corrupt, greedy, evil politician (granted, a highly skilled politician). Why would anybody think otherwise?
But you do have a good point. Even The Almighty Obammesiah doesn't have absolute power (at least not yet).
yet another DaveJuly 16, 2009 at 1:38 pm
tom harvey – funny stuff! And only $629,999.99 (that's just $78,749.99 in 2009 dollars!) A bargain at twice the price!
jorodJuly 16, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Just like the Soviet Union!!
Jeffrey EdelmanJuly 16, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Could someone comment on the validity/lack thereof of Krugman's latest post in Conscience of a Liberal blog on How Deficits Saved the World? It's interesting, but lord is it hard to understand….
Real economics is always simple, and, if it isn't simple, it isn't economics. For even the most complex theorems are comprised of simple elements, which can be explained in simple terms. And, if they aren't worth the bother of explaining them, they're hardly worth the bother of trying to understand them.
Obscurants like Krugman may be the shining stars of the blogoshphere to the Wall Street Journal (see its feature story today), but to those of us outside the maintream, and way ahead of it, the brightest lights are two scholars and gentlemen named Roberts and Boudreaux, right here at good old Cafe Hayek.
Human nature is human nature. It doesn't change and people who think that politicians can be put into a position of power without meddling are pretty much fools. Having GM under government control is like having a new car in front of the house, you've paid for it and you're going to drive it. In this case, not just the President, but Congress and the UAW all have a set of keys.
Human nature is human nature. It doesn't change and people who think that politicians can be put into a position of power without meddling are pretty much fools. Having GM under government control is like having a new car in front of the house, you've paid for it and you're going to drive it. In this case, not just the President, but Congress and the UAW all have a set of keys.
vidyohsJuly 16, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Oh, and speaking of the wonders of congress and the geniuses that occupy those august chambers.
While delivering work this morning I heard a radio announcement that congresscritters are seemingly guilty of insider trading (or, like Hillary just natural at making vast sums with little investment).
Seems like in the stock market, congresscritters make an average of 25% better returns on their money than the average Joe Sixpack.
Could it be, seriously could it be……naw it can't be insider trading. Congressional ethics are just far too high for that to be the case!
So, it turns out that the secret to making money fast is to be elected to a national office. Who'da thunk it?
MethinksJuly 16, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I love John Stossel and this is as surprising as the sun rising in the East every morning.
I can't WAIT until somebody jumps into the comment section to once again proclaim that just because government has nationalized a company/industry, it does not necessarily follow that it turn it into merde and that we just have to believe that because it's POSSIBLE for government to run something efficiently, it actually ever will.
Vid,
You know I'm no fan of the congress varmints, but that statistic by itself is not very meaningful. What are they comparing? Managed accounts? Self-traded accounts? What's the time horizon? What's included in the comparison? What's left out? Are they comparing people with similar education? etc.
vidyohsJuly 16, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I can't say, and they didn't. I just assumed it was bottom line profits to the investor on trading stocks, whatever or however they did it.
You now know as much as I do about the announcement and a whole hell of a lot more about the workings of investing that could make it meaningless or meaningful.
If you find out, would you let us all know?
MethinksJuly 16, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Vid,
I looked it up quickly. I think you may have something there.
Their portfolios significantly outperform the MARKET (much more relevant than just Joe Six Pack alone) and the studies seem to show that they do so consistently – too consistently and by too much for this result to be due to chance alone.
Turns out that while insider trading is illegal for you and me, it's perfectly legal for congress members. They also aren't required to disclose trades – not even in stocks of companies that they directly impact. There's a bill in congress to change that but since congress has to vote on it, what do you think the odds are that it'll pass?
All I can say, Vid, is that once the SEC finishes rigging the market so much that it is impossible for anyone except Goldman and JPM to trade (and impossible for either to "fail"), I'm going to close down my firm, run for congress and spend my time engaged in perfectly legal insider trading. If you wish, I'll make you an associate and you'll be clear to trade on inside information all you want. The cool thing is that we can collect bribes…er…receive campaign contributions from the lobbyists for the companies we directly impact and then make even more money by trading on the information we generate while becoming regularly outraged by the unethical behaviour of others. This is awesome. I LOVE government.
vidyohsJuly 17, 2009 at 6:13 am
Ahhh Methinks, here we are again with that definitive proof in our hands, "'em, at make de law, no gotta live by de law."
I know that I don't have to say this for you, as you full well understand it; but for the young fools like DK, and the old idiots like muirduck, they can be slapped upside the head with documentation of the malfeasance of government time and time again and it just does not penetrate. Their trust and desire for more just never wavers, and they wonder why we don't treat them with respect and show willingness to continue plowing the same old socialist ground with them.
Now as a budding politician, Methinks, can I count on you to make me an associate and rich in the process, or is this just an empty campaign promise?
vidyohsJuly 17, 2009 at 6:13 am
BTW, Methinks, I forgot to say thanks for passing the info on.
MethinksJuly 17, 2009 at 8:49 am
Vidyohs,
I reserve my empty campaign promises for my constituents, as is befitting both a budding politician like me and an old slobbering one like Barney Fwank. Also cool is the fact that you and I will have access to the very best health care (or else!) while the regular schmoes die or become crippled on waiting lists. I heart government.
vidyohsJuly 17, 2009 at 9:37 am
Methinks,
One correction, as the politician you will retire with your insider trading lucre, full salary, and full health benefits; while alas, I will have to be satisfied with my insider trading lucre and miserly health benefits from my previous life.
LOL! G(government)OD is great!
MethinksJuly 17, 2009 at 9:50 am
Vid,
At least you will get health benefits. The healthcare legislation those liars just pushed out of committee makes private insurance illegal.
Sure, you get to keep whatever insurance you have now, but you can't make ANY changes to it – the insurance company can't raise your premium, for instance, if its cost of providing you insurance rise – and you can't buy private insurance if you leave your current provider, employer or state. If any of those things happen, you'll have no choice but to get on the Obamessiah's healthcare wait list.
vidyohsJuly 17, 2009 at 10:16 am
Methinks,
You're the right person to speculate on this with me.
Considering the ways things are going now vis-a-vis healthcare, how long do you suppose it will be before we begin getting the word through the grapevine that such and such doctor will see you on the sly for strict cash payments. No paperwork.
I believe you will agree with me that there is nothing so sacred about the medical profession that precludes it moving into the blackmarket as the government tightens its noose around the legal and open market.
Back to the other subject of Congresscritters, I suppose it would be impossible to learn which if any, or all maybe, of the Congresscritters did not see a reduction in the value of their portfolios in the latest stock market dive?
Now that would really be some interesting information to have.
MethinksJuly 17, 2009 at 10:50 am
Vidyohs,
We're moving closer to the Soviet model (not even the European model of private and public insurance). It was illegal to receive payment from anyone except government in the USSR, but no doctor would perform a medical procedure without a bribe because they were paid pretty poorly – to keep costs down, you know. Because health insurance is so screwed up in the U.S., doctors are already liars. I'm endlessly amused by how my doctors code my visits. Plus, I don't think paying doctors out of pocket will be illegal – but the doctors may still have to charge you more than insured patients or risk being hauled in for insurance fraud.
However, in the USSR, we were not allowed to travel abroad. The USSA hasn't imposed that restriction yet, so I think the wealthy will just become medi-tourists while everyone else rots on wait lists for rationed what-will-passes-for-health care.
Basically, this congress and the Obamessiah are moving toward complete economic control. Future generations will be completely dependent on the state as serfs were dependent on and controlled by the feudal lords. Prepare for the brain drain and capital flight – until they close the borders.
I don't know how many of the congress critters saw a dive in their portfolios. But, really, what's a little decline in your personal stock portfolio when you wield such enormous power and are above the law?
As you can tell, I'm extremely optimistic.
vidyohsJuly 17, 2009 at 11:20 am
Here here! Well said. I am afraid for my kids.
Gotta go engage in some of my beloved capitalism now, only a lawyer would start a job at 12 noon.
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{ 28 comments }
Not allowed to fail, means not allowed to fail; and, here some people thought that just meant the manufacturer? Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Just as predictable as the sunrise.
Here's more news that is equally unsurprising, if BHO says he is going to do something, expect the opposite.
In fact, anytime politicians claim that some law, policy, agency, etc. will "fix" something, it is a safer bet to expect the opposite result.
A government "fix" means entrenchment of the problem.
Even if Obama is sincere in his promises, he can't necessarily deliver on them. Congress is getting bolder and bolder about intervening in the economy.
Good thing gravity isn't influenced by politics.
First car made in Detroit after govt takeover.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vX-5FngL9Q
And this leaked sales brochure lets us know what is coming down the pike in 2012.
BoscoH, why do I get the feeling that the only thing Obama is sincere about is furthering His power? How can so many people not see the enormeous ego? IMO, he is just another sleazy, corrupt, greedy, evil politician (granted, a highly skilled politician). Why would anybody think otherwise?
But you do have a good point. Even The Almighty Obammesiah doesn't have absolute power (at least not yet).
tom harvey – funny stuff! And only $629,999.99 (that's just $78,749.99 in 2009 dollars!) A bargain at twice the price!
Just like the Soviet Union!!
Could someone comment on the validity/lack thereof of Krugman's latest post in Conscience of a Liberal blog on How Deficits Saved the World? It's interesting, but lord is it hard to understand….
"lord is it hard to understand"
His M.O.
Real economics is always simple, and, if it isn't simple, it isn't economics. For even the most complex theorems are comprised of simple elements, which can be explained in simple terms. And, if they aren't worth the bother of explaining them, they're hardly worth the bother of trying to understand them.
Obscurants like Krugman may be the shining stars of the blogoshphere to the Wall Street Journal (see its feature story today), but to those of us outside the maintream, and way ahead of it, the brightest lights are two scholars and gentlemen named Roberts and Boudreaux, right here at good old Cafe Hayek.
Visit http://www.conservative.org for Live Streaming Commentary of all Votes and Hearings on Capitol Hill as Well as the Day’s Conservative News. http://WWW.CONSERVATIVE.ORG
Human nature is human nature. It doesn't change and people who think that politicians can be put into a position of power without meddling are pretty much fools. Having GM under government control is like having a new car in front of the house, you've paid for it and you're going to drive it. In this case, not just the President, but Congress and the UAW all have a set of keys.
Human nature is human nature. It doesn't change and people who think that politicians can be put into a position of power without meddling are pretty much fools. Having GM under government control is like having a new car in front of the house, you've paid for it and you're going to drive it. In this case, not just the President, but Congress and the UAW all have a set of keys.
Oh, and speaking of the wonders of congress and the geniuses that occupy those august chambers.
While delivering work this morning I heard a radio announcement that congresscritters are seemingly guilty of insider trading (or, like Hillary just natural at making vast sums with little investment).
Seems like in the stock market, congresscritters make an average of 25% better returns on their money than the average Joe Sixpack.
Could it be, seriously could it be……naw it can't be insider trading. Congressional ethics are just far too high for that to be the case!
So, it turns out that the secret to making money fast is to be elected to a national office. Who'da thunk it?
I love John Stossel and this is as surprising as the sun rising in the East every morning.
I can't WAIT until somebody jumps into the comment section to once again proclaim that just because government has nationalized a company/industry, it does not necessarily follow that it turn it into merde and that we just have to believe that because it's POSSIBLE for government to run something efficiently, it actually ever will.
Vid,
You know I'm no fan of the congress varmints, but that statistic by itself is not very meaningful. What are they comparing? Managed accounts? Self-traded accounts? What's the time horizon? What's included in the comparison? What's left out? Are they comparing people with similar education? etc.
I can't say, and they didn't. I just assumed it was bottom line profits to the investor on trading stocks, whatever or however they did it.
You now know as much as I do about the announcement and a whole hell of a lot more about the workings of investing that could make it meaningless or meaningful.
If you find out, would you let us all know?
Vid,
I looked it up quickly. I think you may have something there.
Their portfolios significantly outperform the MARKET (much more relevant than just Joe Six Pack alone) and the studies seem to show that they do so consistently – too consistently and by too much for this result to be due to chance alone.
Turns out that while insider trading is illegal for you and me, it's perfectly legal for congress members. They also aren't required to disclose trades – not even in stocks of companies that they directly impact. There's a bill in congress to change that but since congress has to vote on it, what do you think the odds are that it'll pass?
All I can say, Vid, is that once the SEC finishes rigging the market so much that it is impossible for anyone except Goldman and JPM to trade (and impossible for either to "fail"), I'm going to close down my firm, run for congress and spend my time engaged in perfectly legal insider trading. If you wish, I'll make you an associate and you'll be clear to trade on inside information all you want. The cool thing is that we can collect bribes…er…receive campaign contributions from the lobbyists for the companies we directly impact and then make even more money by trading on the information we generate while becoming regularly outraged by the unethical behaviour of others. This is awesome. I LOVE government.
Ahhh Methinks, here we are again with that definitive proof in our hands, "'em, at make de law, no gotta live by de law."
I know that I don't have to say this for you, as you full well understand it; but for the young fools like DK, and the old idiots like muirduck, they can be slapped upside the head with documentation of the malfeasance of government time and time again and it just does not penetrate. Their trust and desire for more just never wavers, and they wonder why we don't treat them with respect and show willingness to continue plowing the same old socialist ground with them.
Now as a budding politician, Methinks, can I count on you to make me an associate and rich in the process, or is this just an empty campaign promise?
BTW, Methinks, I forgot to say thanks for passing the info on.
Vidyohs,
I reserve my empty campaign promises for my constituents, as is befitting both a budding politician like me and an old slobbering one like Barney Fwank. Also cool is the fact that you and I will have access to the very best health care (or else!) while the regular schmoes die or become crippled on waiting lists. I heart government.
Methinks,
One correction, as the politician you will retire with your insider trading lucre, full salary, and full health benefits; while alas, I will have to be satisfied with my insider trading lucre and miserly health benefits from my previous life.
LOL! G(government)OD is great!
Vid,
At least you will get health benefits. The healthcare legislation those liars just pushed out of committee makes private insurance illegal.
Sure, you get to keep whatever insurance you have now, but you can't make ANY changes to it – the insurance company can't raise your premium, for instance, if its cost of providing you insurance rise – and you can't buy private insurance if you leave your current provider, employer or state. If any of those things happen, you'll have no choice but to get on the Obamessiah's healthcare wait list.
Methinks,
You're the right person to speculate on this with me.
Considering the ways things are going now vis-a-vis healthcare, how long do you suppose it will be before we begin getting the word through the grapevine that such and such doctor will see you on the sly for strict cash payments. No paperwork.
I believe you will agree with me that there is nothing so sacred about the medical profession that precludes it moving into the blackmarket as the government tightens its noose around the legal and open market.
Back to the other subject of Congresscritters, I suppose it would be impossible to learn which if any, or all maybe, of the Congresscritters did not see a reduction in the value of their portfolios in the latest stock market dive?
Now that would really be some interesting information to have.
Vidyohs,
We're moving closer to the Soviet model (not even the European model of private and public insurance). It was illegal to receive payment from anyone except government in the USSR, but no doctor would perform a medical procedure without a bribe because they were paid pretty poorly – to keep costs down, you know. Because health insurance is so screwed up in the U.S., doctors are already liars. I'm endlessly amused by how my doctors code my visits. Plus, I don't think paying doctors out of pocket will be illegal – but the doctors may still have to charge you more than insured patients or risk being hauled in for insurance fraud.
However, in the USSR, we were not allowed to travel abroad. The USSA hasn't imposed that restriction yet, so I think the wealthy will just become medi-tourists while everyone else rots on wait lists for rationed what-will-passes-for-health care.
Basically, this congress and the Obamessiah are moving toward complete economic control. Future generations will be completely dependent on the state as serfs were dependent on and controlled by the feudal lords. Prepare for the brain drain and capital flight – until they close the borders.
I don't know how many of the congress critters saw a dive in their portfolios. But, really, what's a little decline in your personal stock portfolio when you wield such enormous power and are above the law?
As you can tell, I'm extremely optimistic.
Here here! Well said. I am afraid for my kids.
Gotta go engage in some of my beloved capitalism now, only a lawyer would start a job at 12 noon.
Have a great weekend.
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