Thursday, September 2, 2010

Economists Haven't A Clue

Here are two complimentary excerpts from Joel Skousen's World Affairs Brief which make the case.

Romer's parting message: Spend for stimulus
Story
President Obama's top economist, in her valedictory speech before stepping down Friday, urged Congress to "find the will and wisdom" to spend more money to create jobs - challenging the waning appetite for stimulus spending on Capitol Hill ahead of November's elections.Describing the recession as "terrifying and so difficult to cure," Christina Romer, head of the Council of Economic Advisers, said the economy needs more government stimulus spending to tackle a stubbornly high unemployment rate.She told a National Press Club audience that she does worry about the nation's long-term debt, which stood Tuesday at $13.45 trillion, but said that shouldn't preclude additional short-term spending. "Concern about the deficit cannot be an excuse for leaving unemployed workers to suffer," she said. "We have tools that would bring unemployment down without worsening our long-run fiscal outlook, if we can only find the will and the wisdom to use them." The administration says the spending and tax cuts are sustaining more than 3 million jobs...

Death By Globalism
Story
Have economists made themselves irrelevant? If you have any doubts, have a look at the current issue of the magazine, International Economy, a slick publication endorsed by former Federal Reserve chairmen Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan, by Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, by former Secretary of State George Shultz, and by the New York Times and Washington Post, both of which declare the magazine to be “ahead of the curve.” The main feature of the current issue is “The Great Stimulus Debate.” Is the Obama fiscal stimulus helping the economy or hindering it? When the jobs have been shipped overseas, fiscal stimulus does not call workers back to work in order to meet the rising consumer demand. If fiscal stimulus has any effect, it stimulates employment in China and India. What we have in front of us is an unaware economics profession. Don’t look for an answer from either side of The Great Stimulus Debate. They haven’t a clue despite the fact that the answer is obvious -Paul Craig Roberts/CounterPunch

It doesn't take "will and wisdom" to spend money when you are out of money - as Romer suggests. Anyone not paying interest on credit card debt knows that the exact opposite is true. It takes "will and wisdom" not to spend the money that you don't have. Our country (through globalist pressure) has sold out its industries and maxed its credit. We haven't even begun to pay for this foolishness.

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