Nightmare On Pennsylvania Avenue
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 7:40PM I stopped reading fiction books or watching fiction movies a long time ago. I even stopped reading mock-news comedy sites like theonion.com. Why? Because none of them can compare to the insanity of real life.
Take this one, as example. The prince of peace, Barack Obama, nominated a new man to head the "White House Council of Economic Advisors" on Monday.
I have to admit, for a split second I almost leapt off my balcony to the beach 29 floors below! I thought it said that Krugman - Paul Krugman - had been nominated to be Barack Obama's top financial advisor!
Considering that Paul Krugman has been lobbying for war to get the economy working and his latest scheme that he drew up in his lab was to fake an alien attack (see "Krugman's New Extraterrestial Economic Plan For America") so we could put everyone back to work building light sabers and plasma rays. Then, after everyone had spent a few years focusing all their efforts on that he would announce that it was all just a grand ruse to "get the economy going". In his mind, we'd all fawn over him for coming up with such a great way to get us all back to work! Sure, we spent two years destroying incalculable human and natural resources. But, hey, that's better than not having anything to do, right?
Thankfully, I had misread and it wasn't Paul Krugman.
Alan "Freddy" KruegerIt was Alan Krueger... a man who has been working in the White House for two years and who has his doctorate in Keynesian Economics from Harvard University.
I knew, just from reading that he had his PhD from Harvard that he would be a moron. That's just a given with those "credentials".
I strapped myself in (to ensure I wouldn't throw myself off my balcony) and began reading his list of "accomplishments".
It starts by saying that he wrote a book whose mission was to convince people that raising the minimum wage does not increase unemployment.
Thank goodness I was strapped in tight! Are you kidding, Krueger? I can refute your entire book in one sentence and there is no rational thing you can say in response. Ready?
If that is true then raise the minimum wage to $1,000/hour and tell me how that will not result in unemployment rising to 99.5% or higher. At that rate, only people currently making more than $1,000/hour would be employable.
I mean, really. This is Obama's new senior advisor?? This will probably shock him then, but removing the minimum wage completely would result in full employment. Heck, I'd even hire Alan Krueger to wash my car all day long for $0.15/hour. That may be something he is actually good at, too.
But, maybe he has accomplished something in his career... let's read on.
The next big thing he is known for is being "instrumental in the cash-for-clunkers program".
Yes, what a stroke of genius that was! Let's offer heavily indebted Americans incentives to trade in their perfectly good, working used cars and to go further into debt to buy new cars. Then, let's take the used cars and destroy them. Yes, good, working cars... throw them on a scrap heap. Net result? Americans are more indebted and hundreds of thousands of good cars are destroyed (causing the price of used cars to rise 20% btw).
Sheer genius, Alan!
What's your next masterpiece? Cash for Houses? Anyone with an older house that they have paid off can call the government and have them come and burn it to the ground and then offer them incentives to buy a new, much more expensive house that they can't afford! This keynesian economics stuff is easy! I'm surprised anyone even has to go to Harvard for this. Just pick something... anything. Destroy it and have the government write you a cheque for doing so!
The U.S.S.R. failed 20 years ago this month. It failed because it made the incorrect assumption that the economy can be managed from the top down by a bunch of propellerheads with mathematical equations.
Economists and thinkers like Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, who had stated that socialism and economic central planning would not work were vindicated at that time. You can see a speech by Murray Rothbard just days after the fall of the Soviet Union here:
Mises, Rothbard and the Austrian school of economics was right. It continues to be right and will always continue to be right. However, politicians and the public in general don't like the message. The message is that there is no free lunch. Now, the lure of trying to centrally manage an economy has made a great comeback. This time, in the U.S.S.A.
This nomination of Alan "Freddy" Krueger only ensures that the Nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue will continue on to the bitter end.
Our holdings in real assets, gold, silver, precious metals stocks and internationalizing our assets, especially outside the US, continues to be the most rational of choices.
Reader Comments (16)
There is nothing more bizarre or darkly humorous than real life. No satire needed.
If Krugman advocated for a housing bubble in 2002, then you have shocked me. I have known for years that Krugman can't get things right. But I didn't realize that even Krugman could be that wrong! Seriously, the housing bubble has ruined many lives and destroyed the savings of countless families. Krugman's statement isn't that funny either, from that perspective.
Your proposed housing clunkers program is the ultimate satirical statement.
On a darker note, I have been harbouring a fear that the Obama administration would mount an attack on "the rich," also known as the fiscally prudent, before his flame burns out. That would be "not quite so humorous" either. I've had some worry that darker forces are being mounted.
I just got married last week and want to come to Acapulco for my Honeymoon. Can you hook a fellow anarchist newleywed couple up with a nice deal on a suite for the second week in September? Look forward to hearing from you.
Just married last week and looking to embrace Acapulco for a honeymoon second week of September. Is there an anarchist rate for a suite? Would love to come down and check out the area, hopefully even go to dinner with you if possible. Love anarchast and TDV goes without saying. You da man.
All the best,
Ralph
The terms moron, imbecile and idiot described measurable levels of mental "deficiency," in fact an IQ score range. (Moron is higher, imbecile intermediate, idiot lowest, but still indicating a measurable level of intelligence.)
I do spend a lot of time in my work getting people to think more carefully before using these terms, as many people have friends or family members with learning or intellectual disabilities, and the language is used with cruelty on the playgrounds and on the streets.
In fact, by using such terms are "retarded" or "idiot" in your writing, you are implying that the individuals you mean to insult have a level of deficiency that is measurable.
To be more accurate, I think your concern is actually with bottomless, immeasurable stupidity, in which case these terms are not applicable.
In this case, you may unintentionally be insulting individuals who have intellectual disabilities (who in fact have measurable levels of intelligence), while at the same time implying that your adversaries have limited as opposed to nearly infinite deficiencies (that is: over-rating those whose thinking is immeasurably off-base - take Mr. Krugman for example. To call Mr. Krugman an idiot would be to vastly over-rate his intelligence, while also insulting all the actual idiots of the world - who by dint of their established level of intelligence demonstrate detectable levels of awareness and insight).
Just food for thought.....
Jan, ignorance is not the basis on which to form an opinion.
Where I live in Northwest Ontario, the minimum wage is $10 per hour, and that's in Canadian dollars vs US dollars. However, I have hired a couple of young guys in their early to mid 20s who do a lot of work for me at $20 per hour. They are smart, skilled, industrious and efficient. I could go down to the local employment agency and hire a fellow on a waiting list for $10 an hour.
So why am I paying these two fellows twice minimum wage? Well, to start, when these guys want to work, they call me and ask me what I need done. I come home after work and they show up in my driveway, because they've been waiting to find out what they can do for me. If I'm late, they wait patiently. They also work at least twice as fast as the usual guy, make almost no mistakes, produce superb results, clean up after themselves (even pressure wash my lawnmower when they're done). They can mow my full 100'x100' lot in 45 minutes. In brief, I figure I'm getting more at $20 per hour than I would at $10 per hour from the guy who just signed up and waited to get for the minimum wage job.
How did this happen? It's called the free market. As they say, you get what you pay for (if YOU get to choose what you are willing and able to pay).
That is, those who are on the ball can always do better because they are providing a service that a customer or employer desires. When I'm forced to hire somebody at $10 per hour and the person feels "entitled" to that amount by right, he (or she) is actually setting a ceiling on his value. Take away the minimum wage - and yes, the union contract, job guarantees, no layoff clauses, defined benefit pension plan, etc. - and those who perform better will earn far MORE than the union could ever win them. Unions, minimum wage, they are all value destroyers. The minimum wage is not a floor but a ceiling.....