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Sam Grove
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3 months ago
in Freeman Editor on Glenn Beck Tonight! on Foundation for Economic Education
Credit card consumers can do what I do, refuse to apply for cards with high interest and close your account with any agency that raises your rate to unacceptable levels.
Of course, if the inflation rate gets high enough, you won't find any credit at low rates.
Of course, if the inflation rate gets high enough, you won't find any credit at low rates.
8 months ago
in The Principles of Weisbergian Political Economy on Will Wilkinson
I think what can be determined from this is that in a regulatory environment, a certain balance is required. If tilted too much one way, the business environment can be stifling, tilted too much the other way, the business environment can get too "exuberant".
This does not address the desirability of a regulatory environment except in the sense that the knowledge to create proper balance can be lacking, giving rise to the constant need for further "adjustment".
A politically/centrally regulated economy is not stable. The feedback loop has to much delay and distortion.
This does not address the desirability of a regulatory environment except in the sense that the knowledge to create proper balance can be lacking, giving rise to the constant need for further "adjustment".
A politically/centrally regulated economy is not stable. The feedback loop has to much delay and distortion.
8 months ago
in The Principles of Weisbergian Political Economy on Will Wilkinson
We might consider that failure to regulate these 'securities' was willful and part of a bargain to 'encourage' lenders to make 'sub-prime' (read "bad") loans.
It is known that regulatory reform of the mortgage GSEs was proposed and opposed and defeated. Was Barney Frank just ignorant of the potential problems?
Or was he part of the bargain made to allow lenders to find a way to make money off of bad loans to fulfill policy goals?
The fact of the crisis occurring in a regime of extensive regulation tells us that having a regulatory system is no guarantee of effectiveness and further, can manage to coordinate problems into a crisis of GSE proportions.
Proponents of regulated economies like to cite some ideal state where the regulatory regime works in harmony with the market producing optimal results, even after failure after failure. Recall that a large justification for the creation of the FED was to prevent big depressions. The FED was established in 1913, sixteen years before the market crash of 1929.
It seems obvious in citing the mistakes of the FED board and other interventions of government at the time that they did not know what they were doing and thus did not comprehend the nature of markets.
Seventy-nine years later, they still don't.
They're all Keynesians now.
It is known that regulatory reform of the mortgage GSEs was proposed and opposed and defeated. Was Barney Frank just ignorant of the potential problems?
Or was he part of the bargain made to allow lenders to find a way to make money off of bad loans to fulfill policy goals?
The fact of the crisis occurring in a regime of extensive regulation tells us that having a regulatory system is no guarantee of effectiveness and further, can manage to coordinate problems into a crisis of GSE proportions.
Proponents of regulated economies like to cite some ideal state where the regulatory regime works in harmony with the market producing optimal results, even after failure after failure. Recall that a large justification for the creation of the FED was to prevent big depressions. The FED was established in 1913, sixteen years before the market crash of 1929.
It seems obvious in citing the mistakes of the FED board and other interventions of government at the time that they did not know what they were doing and thus did not comprehend the nature of markets.
Seventy-nine years later, they still don't.
They're all Keynesians now.
1 year ago
in Ethanol Subsidies Ignite Inflation, Walloping Americans with Modest Incomes on OpenMarket.org
My local bagel supplier has been commenting on the increasing price of flour. This was also front page news recently.
1 year ago
in “Privacy” Shouldn’t Be Taken to An Extreme on OpenMarket.org
The legal contortions required to create a convoluted balance between rights and power has brought us no shortage of insanity.
The problem lies in the police power of the state and the immunity allocated to it.
The problem might reduced if this immunity were modified.
Policing could be done by contract leaving the contractor to assume a conditional liability.
If a contractor acquires information of criminal activity, it may do whatever is required to expose the crime and take whatever evidence to support it in court.
Evidence of a crime should always be admissible, but if no crime is proved, then the contractor must assume legal liability for any violations it has perpetrated against innocent parties.
Of course, a large part of the problem with all this is the state's insistence creating crimes without victims.
The problem lies in the police power of the state and the immunity allocated to it.
The problem might reduced if this immunity were modified.
Policing could be done by contract leaving the contractor to assume a conditional liability.
If a contractor acquires information of criminal activity, it may do whatever is required to expose the crime and take whatever evidence to support it in court.
Evidence of a crime should always be admissible, but if no crime is proved, then the contractor must assume legal liability for any violations it has perpetrated against innocent parties.
Of course, a large part of the problem with all this is the state's insistence creating crimes without victims.
