Archive for September 2010
Obama’s policies are playing havoc with the US economy
Gerard Jackson 27 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
As soon as Obama threw his hat into the presidential arena I warned that if he were to win the consequences for the US economy would be very grave. Time — and a very short time at that — has borne out this prediction. Rather than stimulate the economy I warned that his policies would — if not reversed — lead to economic stagnation. At best a situation where the rate of capital accumulation barely keeps abreast of population growth thereby preventing a significant rise in real wages. This, I argued, would be due to the massive increase in government misdirecting resources to consumption.
Why another stimulus won’t save the US economy
Dr Frank Shostak 7 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
Despite the massive fiscal stimulus package of nearly $800 billion approved by the Congress early last year, and trillions of dollars pumped by the Fed, the rally in various key economic data seems to be coming to an end. After falling to 32.5 in December 2008 the ISM manufacturing index peaked at 60.4 in April this year. In August the index stood at 56.3. Also the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 9.6per cent with almost 15 million Americans out of work.
Is the Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens about to sink the Australian economy?
Gerard Jackson 27 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
One could not be blamed for concluding that Glenn Stevens is an excellent reason why the Reserve Bank of Australia should be abolished. Like all the bank’s bureaucrats (the Australian Treasury is every bit as bad) he has no genuine grasp of monetary theory and is utterly ignorant of the vital importance of capital theory. To be fair, Australia’s economic commentariat are not any better. And that includes the denizens of our so-called think tanks, particularly those who think insults and smart-aleck comments are preferable to a genuine economic debate.
Australia’s GDP figures hiding a dangerous trend
Gerard Jackson 27 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
For sometime I have been warning that the Australian economy is far from healthy. Now the Bureau of Statistics reported early this month that the economy expanded by 1.2 per cent in the June quarter with household spending jumping by 1.6 per cent and personal saving falling from 3.4 per cent to 1.5 per cent. Naturally, this led members of the economic commentariat to announce a strengthening in consumer confidence which in turn will encourage further growth.
Posted in Australia, Australian economy, Australian manufacturing, Economic growth, Housing, Investment, RBA
Corporate Quislings cave to greens on a carbon tax while the right wave feather dusters
Gerard Jackson 27 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
Despite outlandish propaganda by socialists entrepreneurs succeed in a free market by not only producing better and cheaper goods but lower-priced higher quality goods as well as producing entirely new goods. Those entrepreneurs who fail the consumer test fall by the wayside while those who succeed in satisfying consumer wants go on to even greater success. But when government intervention expands genuine entrepreneurs are squeezed out in favour of predatory hustlers whose skills are not found in producing for the market place but in lobbying politicians for privileges that result in the exploitation of the public.
Jeffrey Goldberg, Castro apologist and The Atlantic’s newly minted Cuba ‘expert’
Humberto Fontova 27 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
Hired help might be hard to find nowadays — but not for Fidel Castro. Jack Benny had his Rochester. Louise Jefferson had her Florence. And Fidel Castro now has his Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s freshly-minted ‘Cuba Expert’.
Jimmy Carter vs. Ted Kennedy: Forget health care — what about the Kremlin?
Paul Kengor 27 Sept. – 3 Oct. 2010
Jimmy Carter’s recent criticism of Ted Kennedy struck me with personal irony. Just as Carter’s book hit the media, my latest book, which features Carter on the cover kissing Leonid Brezhnev, was likewise just hitting the media. The irony is that Carter and Kennedy are both detailed at length in my book as arguably the book’s two biggest dupes.
Posted in Uncategorized