Comments on: A Trillion Here, a Trillion There. . .

By: Maryland Conservatarian

Maryland Conservatarian — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:15:04 +0000

“I hope we aren’t in for a replay of the 1930s.”

Amen – 8 years of an FDR-style government would be a disaster

By: bill

bill — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 19:54:45 +0000

Krugman has been op/ed’ing about the dangers of the housing bubble since 2005 and perhaps earlier.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/opinion/27krugman.html

That’s pretty ex ante, considering that Bush/Cheney/Bernanke/Paulston still don’t seem to fully grasp what they’re dealing with.

I’m sure President McCain, with zero private sector experience at age 71, will be a quick study on these problems.

By: Carl Bretanananewski

Carl Bretanananewski — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:01:42 +0000

The last 10 years have been anything but ruled by “free-market ideology” or “market fundamentalism”. True classical liberals abhor the existence of a state-sponsored Central Bank and all the cartelization that comes with its existence. Please don’t impugn a valid set of beliefs you clearly do not understand.

By: David Bernstein

David Bernstein — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 05:18:25 +0000

I’m a free market ideologue, and I saw the problems coming, arising from Greenspan’s interventions in the monetary market to try to keep the U.S. out of recession after 9/11. A classic “Austrian” bubble. I blogged about my concerns on Volokh. I don’t follow Krugman’s colums. Did he blog about the problems ex ante? Did the Democrats who took over Congress in 2006 recognize the problems, since they aren’t free marketers?

By: Patrick S. O'Donnell

Patrick S. O'Donnell — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:21:36 +0000

I found it interesting and a bit disturbing that Bilmes and Stiglitz believe, according to their “Opinion” piece in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, that the cost of the war in Iraq “will fall especially hard on Californians,” of which I am one. They cite three reasons: 1. our state’s population is among the youngest in the United States, 2. the comparative wealth of our state’s residents: we already contribute 14% of federal taxes while we make up 12% of the nation’s population, and 3. we are being hit especially hard by the steep rise in oil prices. In short, we will feel disproportionately the costs of this war.

They conclude as follows:

“Beyond that, the ongoing cost of the war has made it more difficult for the federal government to pay for roads, schools, medical research and aid to local communities. And then there is the opportunity cost: The money spent on the war could have fixed Social Security for the next 75 years or provided health insurance to all U.S. children.

In California, with its fast-growing and diverse population, the opportunity costs are especially painful. Over the next two decades, greater Los Angeles needs to invest $20 billion in bus and rail and $150 billion for transportation generally, according to the draft Los Angeles County MTA plan for 2008. The bustling Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach require an infusion of $3 billion for vital environmental and security improvements, according to a recent statement from the Long Beach and Los Angeles boards of harbor commissioners. They are proposing to increase cargo fees yet again to raise revenue.

But as we enter the sixth year of combat, the “burn rate” for each month we continue in Iraq is $12 billion — with the full cost (including paying for veterans and replenishing equipment) easily double that.”

MADNESS, UTTER MADNESS…