I received this YouTube clip from a friend of the Cobden Centre and I think it is fantastic. It shows the fundamental banality of the mainstream economists and their entrenched views: more “political cohesion”, more debt, spend, spend, spend …
Such advice will push our economies over the edge.
Investor Hugh Hendry gives Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz a taste of reality.
We are told to keep out comments “civil” – but listening to someone (supposedly a “Nobel”) waffle on about “soldarity funds” and “social cohesion” would be enough to make a saint curse.
Joseph Stiglitz clearly knows nothing about Europe or about economics – yet in the establishemnt world he is a “leading economist” who is asked for his opinions about the Eurozone.
As for the United States.
By “it is impossible for the American government to default” he means the Feds can always print money money to “pay” their debts.
That is a de facto default – but he does not see that.
“Ah but Paul – I have inflation linked bonds….”
Yes and if Comrade Barack wins the election those “Dollars” of yours will not be recongnised as payment in wide parts of what is now the United States (let alone elsewhere) within a few years.
Yes – the economy will collapse in 2013 (not just because of the credit money bubble – but also due to the increase in taxation and the Executive Orders, such as the one last Thursday that gutted welfare reform), and that will have polticial consequences (very radical political consequences) after the State elections of 2014.
On his mother’s knee (before he was even old enough to go to school) Barack Obama was taught to hate the United States – to hate free enterprise generally. This hatred was reinforced by his mentor “Frank”, and by his education at Occidental, Columbia (all those Cloward and Piven conferences) and Harvard Law (see which academics he allied with in each case), and by DECADES of work with his Comrades in Chicago.
Yet “realistic” people choose to ignore all this – and think they can carry on bribeing this man with campaign contributions.
As “Lenin” said – “the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them”, indeed some capitalists will even hand the rope over as a present.
Please note “realistic” people – actual realism is either to defeat Barack in November, or (if he wins – and all hope of free market reform is cut off) work on secession – in spite of all the problems (such as being smeared as “racist”) that such work would involve.
A country involved in massive economic and social breakdown is unlikely to be interested in “honouring the natinal debt” – and should (relatively) decent States manage to rescue themselves from the modern Union (i.e. being chained to a corpse) they are unlikely to recongnise the “national debt” or fiat “Dollars”.
“Paul this is all wild stuff”.
Then follow the establishment view – the view of teh Economist magazine (rally Economist comic).
All is well – and one should invest in real estate which is radically “undervalued” in the United States.
Go on…..
Invest in American real estate – if you really belive that establishment view.
Feeling a bit like you do not want to? Noticing that various Californian cities are going bankrupt and others are talking of taking property by force…..
Then do not invest in American debt paper either.
After all (to take just one factor – of so many) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (created by the Feds in the first place) are government owned.
Hear,hear !!!
Do all realize that that discussion was nearly three years ago…? Stiglitz calls absurd Hendry’s prediction (more of an assessment of the facts.) Go back in History, as far back as Mo Tze and Confucious, bad ideas are rewarded and good ideas are marginalized. States need bad ideas to flourish. The state itself is a bad idea, and there is no good form of it. Just less bad. Stiglitz was touting his book back then, and has another out now, just as delusional.
Hendry’s body language is delightful, a man who sees the wickedness for what it is, but also knows it is tradable. “What you are doing is wrong, I am making money off of it.” He and the shortsellers are necessary and sufficient regulation of the financial markets.
Of course now George Stiglitz now goes round saying that he and the other Keynesians predicted the credit bubble bust.
“Delusional” is a generious way of describing the man.