Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thepeel]

Friedman, like Bernake was a student of the depression. Friedman argued that the central bank has to be aggressive when needed, but robotic in times of stability. Bernake took this to a more extreme level, and this is why we see what we see from the Fed today. The quote you heard was referring to times of total stability, not volatility, as Friedman's position is much more nuanced in that situation.

The point of the liberty dollar, and what got this started, is that it should be "real currency". This was Ron Paul's point. That private citizens ought to be able to compete with the central government.

Yes, really. In Singapore, for example, inflation is at a 25 year high. In the USA, it is seriously understated. There is wide academic debate about the legitimacy of the CPI figures. You dig research, check it out.

[mindmetoo]

Friedman makes an interesting point about the fed. It's very hard to find any economist who is an expert in monetary policy who has anything bad to say about the fed. The vast majority of such economists are employed by the fed.

Now, thepeelpub, are you arguing for the elimination of "fiat currency"?

[thepeel]

[mindmetoo]

[thepeel]

Wow. I forgot about Peelpub. Man, that takes me back. I lived in Montreal for a time, and had an amazing time. If that city had anything resembling an economy, I'd settle there.

I had a very bad sunburn when I picked the name.

[mindmetoo]

Let me make a point about alternative currency and the problem. Remember Canadian Tire money? I recall back in 1991, during the 1991 recession, a lot of small mom and pops started to accept CT money in lieu of cash. CT money is much like any paper money. It's backed by the belief it can be exchanged for goods and services. Anyway, in smaller towns people had large wads stored up in coffee cans and tool sheds. And coffee shops and book stores need soap and toilet paper, all of which they can buy at CT. So it became fashionable to accept CT money in lieu of cash. However, very few places accepted it at face value. There was a natural discount, like 90 cents on the dollar. You could buy a coffee for 90 real cents or pay with $1 in CT money.

Why the natural discount?

Well, if Zellers has a sale on soap, you can't take advantage of the sale. You might also have to drive farther to spend your CT money. And you certainly can't pay your taxes in it. You don't want to accumulate too much.

To wit, an alternative currency, it seems to me, will suffer such a reduction in value until it is universal like "real money". I might accept Liberty Dollars or Mescal Hours or whatever but I might do so by not accepting it at the alleged face value but at a lower value simply because of the pain in the ass factor.

[agentX]

Many good ideas, and some not-so-good ideas.

I wonder what would constitute "wasteful spending" and what doesn't in his view.

More importantly, how will reducing corporate taxes and regulations keep corporations from committing fraud and crimes that got the US into this mess in the first place?

His plan is a little too short on the details and yet it reveals more about his delusions than he intended. I knew he was a racist but I didn't know he was a corporate kiss-ass as well.

[mithridates]

[mindmetoo]

[thepeel]

This quote basically summarizes my objection to the way the Fed is behaving post-Volcker.


�The Fed�s attitude is that they are here to clean up after bubbles burst, not prevent them from happening in the first place. This is a dangerous and irresponsible and reckless way to run the world�s largest economy.�

- Stephen Roach, Morgan Stanley, January 2008

[mindmetoo]

Peel still curious about three things regarding private currencies.

1) (as pointed out above) How do you get around that not everyone is not going to accept a private currency like the Liberty Dollar? Since that means loss of opportunity (say having to drive further to a store that accepts Liberty Dollars and doesn't have the thing you want on sale), it will mean people will be hesitant to take it at face value. So "hey you can covert your $10 bills into $9 Liberty Dollars!" How do you even sell that?

2) You're not going to be able to buy $10 alternative currency for $10. The Liberty Dollar, I believe, charges $7 over the prince of silver. Someone needs to make money in a private currency and they're going to charge you for it.

3) Exchange rates. When you want to switch between currencies there's going to be a fee. Why should we sap the economy of potentially billions of dollars on simply money changing fees?

[igotthisguitar]

Major disparity in news coverage.

Big media is completely shutting him out.

Online polls meanwhile are showing him at the top.

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/01/21/aol-straw-poll-jan-21-28/?ncid=NWS00010000000001

[thepeel]

[Kuros]

[Czarjorge]

Is Ron Paul going to run for President as an independent in the GE? If not, will the rampant posting and discussion of his ideas decrease?