patrick.net

Honest Abe says

Providing government handouts in exchange for votes?

If it weren't for "tax cuts" which could be viewed as paying for votes, I don't see that republicans would have had any presidents in the last 22 years.

Honest Abe says

Virtually all of the California Senate and Assembly bills which: expand employer liability, hamper employment, increase government regulation, implement unlimited fees and taxes, drive up costs, make litigation the only dispute resolution, increase business costs and threaten jobs…are sponsored by liberal democrats.

The litigation one might be somewhat correct. But otherwise, all of these consequences are only the negative side of legislation that had other intentions and other (hopefully) positive consequences. So it doesn't prove anything. It would be like me pointing out the trillion plus part of the deficit increase and the thousands killed that comes from our recent wars, as if that was all that happened. I know you weren't necessarily for the wars, but you may be capable of understanding that just focusing on negative doesn't really prove anything.

You may have heard about how sometimes people consider the "pros and the cons" when making a decision. Sometimes with a tough decision someone might say "make a list of the pros and the cons." I guess it might be easy afterwards to look at the "cons" side only or the "pros" side only. But many of us are smarter than that.

Didn't I say I was going to stop, like 10 comments ago ?

marcus says

Didn’t I say I was going to stop, like 10 comments ago ?

LOL! Yeah, you better watch it, you might be slipping into insanity. However, it can be kind of fun sometimes...

Marcus makes some good points after all, and has a positive way of disagreeing without sounding like an elitist snob who argues in circles.

Thanks Abe. I appreciate that, and it makes me want to give further consideration to some of your criticisms of the liberal mind set.

this post is suposed to be about the fed's mandate to keep inflation low, and why. Not about the relative merits of Liberal vs Conservative idiology. Every thread degenerates into this culture war BS.

Inflation is a tax on the rich, unless the printed money is given back to the rich, which in this case it was, which is cronyism not socialism.

marcus says

Thanks Abe. I appreciate that, and it makes me want to give further consideration to some of your criticisms of the liberal mind set.

Admirable that you would consider thinking about something objectively simply because someone compliments you. 'Honest Abe' has actually used you to directly demonstrate his earlier assertions about your psychological underpinnings.

No, I think he meant it. And if you were paying attention, I was just talking about how there are two sides to every issue. Even us non-sociopaths like to be heard and understood, when we make an effort to converse. My comment was meant as much as anything as an attempt to set an example. Showing some respect back.

You also might want to note I said "consider further." Meaning putting more time, sorting through and filling in a lot of the details and context and other side to what is a litany of perceived negatives.

But yeah, he meant it, it wasn't a trap. Worst case, he was being polite, and helping that back and forth come to a graceful finish. But as the kids say, you killed it.

Still, nice try. I know it's not easy to be as misinformed (or uninformed ) as you are about the Federal Reserve.

Who cares if he meant it? That only strengthens my point.

You have clearly demonstrated that your logic is closely intertwined with your emotions. Both via your last exchange with Abe, and your last sentence to me (making assertions about something of which you have no specific knowledge, simply because you want it to be true).

You are a patent example of what Abe has described.

NastySlapper says

making assertions about something of which you have no specific knowledge, simply because you want it to be true

wtf ?

I spent hours discussing this, arguing this with you. And yes, I usually try as best as I can to listen to and understand the point of view who I am arguing with. That is where I got my "specific knowledge."

I fully expected Abe to be as closed minded as you or Ray have been when I argued with you. He surprised me, what can I tell you, even if he didn't mean it.

The ironic thing is that after we actually for once end a conversation on a nice note, you come in, what, with supposed logic, basically with only one message,... a message of hate,...attacking my psychological disposition. I wish you had the logic and lack of emotion to appreciate what you did there.

Happy Sunday to you too.

marcus says

know it’s not easy to be as misinformed (or uninformed ) as you are about the Federal Reserve.

Nice example of a dismissive comment without any substance. Marcus, fully explain exactly the reasons "Nasty" is "misinformed (or uninformed)." If you do, you'll separate yourself from other Libs on this (Hi ellie) site that just make blanket statements without feeling the necessity to explain your position.

You obviously not only didn't read the thread, you didn't read my response to Nasty trying to say the same.

See your Ford thread, and read it to understand why I know you never even consider what I write.

As an ecologist, I have seen how in nature, over time balance is always restored. This is going to hold true for the human animal as well of course. The reason things get out of balance is people try to intervene to uphold some ideal. For example, we think housing should be more affordable so we establish rent controls. This has the effect of reducing the available amount of housing as landlords often find they cannot make a desired return on investment and thus quit maintaining their property. The intervention was worse than the "disease." This is especially true since when it comes to rents people are totally limited by what they earn. There is no need to intervene in the rent market, if people can't afford it, landlords will be FORCED by the wage market to reduce their rent prices.

Central planning fails, and will continue to fail. We best quit fooling ourselves into thinking that government can solve the problems of scarcity in our world. More often than not as governments grow, through wasteful spending, misallocation of resources and needless wars they cause more scarcity than they prevent.

jljoshlee3 says

this post is suposed to be about the fed’s mandate to keep inflation low

The FED is the cause of inflation.

speaking of The Deceptions of Price Stabilization, here's a real Fairytale as told by the HUD Secretary and is reported in today's Las Vegas Sun

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/11/hud-secretary-says-vegas-housing-market-stabilizin/

Well, then, the world is all flowers & sunshine. We should all move to Vegas because the market is stablizing.

Should we tell the oodles of people out of work and the miles of homes in foreclosure that they're out of the woods? I don't think they can afford the paper and lost their internet access, choosing to buy food instead...

AdHo - your comment above is very clear and well stated. Its the 'invisible hand' at work. Unfortunately "the others" don't understand that simple concept.

AdHominem says

For example, we think housing should be more affordable so we establish rent controls. This has the effect of reducing the available amount of housing as landlords often find they cannot make a desired return on investment and thus quit maintaining their property

This makes some sense. But what you call balance wouldn't be pretty. Consider this.

Say you have an entire region of a major city with escalating rents, up to a price that 65% of the households can afford. Say the supply is such that 65% of the people that work in the area are enough to rent all of these units.

But among the 35% are people who are unemployed, underemployed or otherwise in VERY low paying jobs. How does letting balance occur address their needs? They were and are the reason for subsidized housing. Say their wages don't even support the cost of construction10 miles away?

Leaving the market to figure things out, you would eventually have huge ghetto areas with little better than shacks. In cold winter climates you would have to have public housing of some kind because the corrugated metal roofed shack doesn't work in New York or Chicago.

So you want supply and demand to determine the wage of the lowest skill jobs. And likewise for housing. It's not like this doesn't exist in many places in the world already.

Actually, I don't consider this balance. But if you do, please note that the balancing act isn't through there. If we go there, then crime including violent crime would be much worse, requiring government to spend much more on police and prisons. If you think about it, that would be just another way of injecting our government in to the "natural balancing process."

Oh, but this is something that Abe isn't willing to understand.

Well, someone's got to be the contrarian. If it weren't Abe & his merry men, it would be someone else. They seem to be bogged down in semantics.

I was reacting to:

Honest Abe says

Its the ‘invisible hand’ at work. Unfortunately “the others” don’t understand that simple concept.

But also I was hoping that he might even consider what I wrote and that the "simple concept" of the invisible hand, is too simple.

Marcus, I agree with you on many points, and also disagree with you on others. But I truly don't believe that anyone is standing behind the curtain. That concept is too "out there" for me.

What ? Maybe when you disagree, it is only that you don't understand, or that I'm not being clear enough.

Please elaborate about the guy behind the curtain. I have no clue what you mean. Is that a reference to wizard of Oz ?

Honest Abe says

AdHo - your comment above is very clear and well stated. Its the ‘invisible hand’ at work. Unfortunately “the others” don’t understand that simple concept.

Yes, it was a Wizard of Oz reference to his statement that there's an invisible hand at work. Abe states that "the others" don't understand that simple concept, but it seems to me that he's a bit paranoid in his belief that someone is pulling the strings on just about everything.

marcus says

What ? Maybe when you disagree, it is only that you don’t understand, or that I’m not being clear enough.

It could be either, or it could be that we simply disagree. But I don't - nor do you - appear to believe that we are at the mercy of some guy who directs us all with an invisible hand. That's crazy talk.

I have a friend who plays the obscure reference game with me. We leave messages for each other that take a while to figure out. Sometimes it gets away from us - sorry.

Appropriate that you mentioned semantics. "The invisible hand" is a reference to market forces. Abe and Adho were making a point that is not totally without merit. The Mises people take it to a whole other level.

For example many on this site may believe that the invisible hand of the market should have been allowed to take real estate more quickly down in price, to a true "equilibrium," that is, as far as it (the market) wanted. I agree with this in principal, but in reality things are more complex.

Markets tend to overdo it in both directions. Because real estate is leveraged in many cases, with mortgages, if prices had been allowed to fall more, it could have led even more to a negative feedback loop. That is, foreclosures causing lower prices causing more foreclosures and so on. And then negative psychology of this collapse feeding a negative spiral in other markets. At least this is a big part of the rationale for supporting the real estate market with mortgage subsidies, tax credits to buyers etc.

Ultimately it's about risk. The risk of total collapse was a risk that could not be taken. Those who say go with "the invisible hand" are right, that by supporting the market, and advocating what is actually sort of a false market, the government has created another problem.

Sometimes a choice is between 2 or more options which are both (or all) negative.

marcus says

Appropriate that you mentioned semantics.

(ellie giggles, reminded of the way her grandmother used to say, "funny you should mention...")

point taken. :)

Nomograph says

Honest Abe says
Its the ‘invisible hand’ at work.
Is that when you use your left hand so it feels like someone else?

he larry us

Nomo is the king of snark. Ya gotta give him a hand.