Tag: money
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Federalist No. 44
Although it is not the central point of Federalist No. 44, I found it very interesting to read the fervent distrust of paper money that the defenders of the Constitution had based on their experience – especially considering our present circumstances of economic uncertainty that are largely due to the instability of paper currency (which…
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An Education on Social Class
I read a chapter today that was intent on destroying the myth of American egalitarianism and our "classless" social structure. I almost laugh at the idea of a society without classes based on the amount of time we spend talking about the middle class (and how to get in or out of it). I also…
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Support But Don’t Trust
I am a strong supporter of our government. I obey the laws (even little ones like speed limits and seat belt laws) and pay my taxes without complaint and without seeking any tricks to minimize those taxes. Supporting the government, however, does not mean that I trust the government when they ask for expanded powers.…
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Real Capitalists
My reaction to Obi wan’s claim that "pro-capitalist conservatives have pushed for governmental intervention into our capital markets" was that nobody who supported the bailout has any claim to being a capitalist. I find that my position is much more clearly stated by Judy Shelton in the Wall Street Journal: Honest capitalism requires the following:…
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Government Gray Area
When the House voted down the bailout on Monday I was very surprised by the result, but I was not particularly surprised to hear that of the Representatives facing close re-elections, only two voted in favor of the bailout. This looks like a blatant reminder that the primary concern of elected officials tends to be…
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Something for Nothing
As I have been thinking and reading about the credit crisis my mind has been chewing on the idea that there are two very different kinds of investing. One is the kind of investing where you put in an initial outlay of resources and follow that with efforts to improve the investment (whether that is…
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Amateur vs Professional
The financial amateurs in Congress have given us the 110 page text of their bailout plan which they will probably vote on today. It’s pretty much like the 102 page draft I wrote about on Saturday. They added the option to insure troubled assets in addition to the option to buy such assets. They also…
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A First Glance at the Bailout Bill
I don’t claim to have read the full 102 page text of the bailout draft proposal yet, but I wanted to share my first reactions after jumping around to some of the sections that caught my interest. Section 110 – Executive compensation (p. 29) I like the idea of controls on executive compensation for participating…
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Economics 101 (Bush Edition)
Wasn’t it so nice for our president to give the country a lesson in economics. He worked hard to reinforce the image of Washington knows best. Unfortunately his lesson left out a few details that are less than flattering for Washington. Let’s review the text of his speech. I’ll skip all the real fluff and…
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Curbing Innovation
When talking about a $700 Billion intervention it only makes sense that taxpayers and members of Congress would want that money to go where it’s needed rather than to propping up salaries of $50 Million/year to executives of failing companies. But Wall Street, its lobbyists and trade groups are waging a feverish lobbying campaign to…