Our Economy 1

A very interesting and prescient item published in 1949.  Well worth the time it takes to read.  https://fee.org/articles/the-intellectuals-and-socialism/

A very, very, very interesting and very short piece.    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/eliminating-currency-communism/

A very, very sad piece regarding the incessant intrusion of progressivism in school texts.  This item addresses watering down of truth in economics texts.    https://fee.org/articles/how-econ-textbooks-sanitize-the-horrors-of-communism/ 

An interesting interview by a very competent investor who happens to be a libertarian, author, and CEO of Casey Research. Quote: "Nick Giambruno: Doug, what do you think is the root problem of the US economy and financial system?  Doug Casey: There are several, including incompetence, corruption and, of course, just plain stupidity. But there’s not much you can do about those things; they’re intrinsic to government. But perhaps something can be done about ignorance, which starts in school: What, for instance, do most people learn about economics and finance? Very little. As Mark Twain said, “It’s not what people know that’s the problem, it’s what they think they know that just ain’t so.”  All of the economics that’s taught in the schools—what little that is taught—is completely backward. Plus, almost everything you hear on television is conventional, unsound, and wrong.  I’d like to believe anybody that’s reading this right now that has at least heard of the “Austrian school of economics,” understands the value of gold, and knows a bit of basic economic theory and history. Without at least some fundamentals, people stand to suffer a huge drop in their standard of living if the economy goes sideways."    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2017/03/23/doug-casey-has-never-seen-anything-like-this/

An excellent piece detailing the screw ups directly attributable to the Federal Reserve and put our country in the bind we are in....it goes without saying that the partners in crime are our politicians. Quote: "Was there any single decision which, had it been reversed, would have changed the course of history? Every decision—including decisions not to do something, as many of our bad economic decisions have been—is a consequence of prior decisions, an interlinked web stretching from the distant past into the future. You’ll hear some on the right point to certain actions by the government itself—such as the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires banks to make mortgage money available in low-income neighborhoods. (Defaults on C.R.A. lending were actually much lower than on other lending.) There has been much finger-pointing at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two huge mortgage lenders, which were originally government-owned. But in fact they came late to the subprime game, and their problem was similar to that of the private sector: their C.E.O.’s had the same perverse incentive to indulge in gambling.  The truth is most of the individual mistakes boil down to just one: a belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal. Looking back at that belief during hearings this fall on Capitol Hill, Alan Greenspan said out loud, “I have found a flaw.” Congressman Henry Waxman pushed him, responding, “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right; it was not working.” “Absolutely, precisely,” Greenspan said. The embrace by America—and much of the rest of the world—of this flawed economic philosophy made it inevitable that we would eventually arrive at the place we are today."   http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/01/stiglitz200901-2

Government manipulation of economic numbers are nothing but manipulations to hide the facts from the public.  This item deals with the implications of government GDP manipulations.   Quote: "According to official US economic data, the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has expanded for 22 quarters, raising real GDP 12.1% above its high prior to the 2008-09 economic contraction. Yet, US manufacturing output and US industrial production have not recovered to their pre-contraction high.  So what is driving the real GDP growth? In my opinion, the rise in real GDP is an illusion produced by the under-measurement of inflation."    https://www.theburningplatform.com/2017/03/04/can-truth-prevail/

  

This is a most interesting discussion of libertarians wrestling with the ins and outs of left vs right political positions doing combat with libertarian notions. Their thinking might cause you to challenge yours.    https://fee.org/articles/beauty-and-truth-a-conversation-on-liberty/ 

A very interesting summary of the implications of Amazon on the retail industry.  https://fee.org/articles/the-amazon-effect-is-creative-destruction-at-its-finest/

If his assessment proves true then things will start improving in the business sector.    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/02/26/kudlow-trump-a-breath-of-fresh-air-hes-ending-war-against-business-and-success/

This item discusses the costs imposed on us by the US tax code.  It costs us $1 trillion annually.    http://freebeacon.com/issues/tax-code-compliance-costs-economy-1-trillion-annually/?

This item is most interesting.  Quote: "In her rate hike announcement last week, Janet Yellen said the Fed was so confident in the health of the US economy that it was raising the Federal Funds rate by a paltry quarter point. Investors are on board, with a wave of irrational exuberance sending the Dow closer to its 20,000-point milestone. However, the Fed’s decision suggests the need for a strict comparison with its statements last December: a time when a similar expression of economic confidence would prove to substantially miss the mark for rate hike expectations and GDP growth.  In a special episode of the Schiff Report, Peter Schiff shows how the Fed’s economic optimism is a ploy to maintain credibility with the markets and to cover up the fact that significant rate increases are impossible."    https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/12/no_author/fed-fakery/

The Federal Reserve has deserves sanction for many past economic disasters.  This assessment deals with a challenge now before them.  Will they cause another disaster?   https://www.theburningplatform.com/2017/03/04/why-the-fed-needs-to-raise-rates/#more-144483    Avoiding economic problems was the "rationale" used to establish it in the first place.  It has failed repeatedly.  Not only should this non-government agency be audited to see what they are really up to, it should be abolished and its functions returned, as the Constitution directs, to the legislature.  How a new set up for this function should be performed upon return to the legislature deserves serious consideration.

This is provided for your consideration.  The article content is my purpose.  I am not endorsing their products.   https://www.theburningplatform.com/2017/02/17/the-truth-behind-globalists-war-on-cash/