[mattduke]

According to Keynes, savings destroys the economy. Oh, and hurricanes are good for growth too. Not to worry, if you won't spend yourself into the poorhouse, the government will do it for you.

wsj

[bratticus]

So just don't sit there--buy something!

[bratticus]

Those terrible poor people--how could they do this to us?

[efarmer]

Please do not discourage me and break my concentration,
if all goes well, I shall have borrowed my way to prosperity
in time to become a Republican and protest the Obama
stimulus spending as it takes place. With all the rich
people I know being broke on their ass, I will fit right
in a be accepted with any luck at all.

[canis_lupus]

efarmer --

Your posts look the way they do on the screen because you hit the 'enter' key at the end of every line, like we used to do with typewriters.

As a result, your posts (I read them all) have the eerie feel of poetry when read like poetry.

I take the smiles in my day where I can get them, I suppose.

Has anyone else noticed this? Read the above post one line at a time and see if you get the same vibe!

[bratticus]

recession haiku blues

my hand reaches in
finding nothing worth a shit
no bail out for me!

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('canis_lupus', 'e')farmer --

Your posts look the way they do on the screen because you hit the 'enter' key at the end of every line, like we used to do with typewriters.

As a result, your posts (I read them all) have the eerie feel of poetry when read like poetry.

I take the smiles in my day where I can get them, I suppose.

Has anyone else noticed this? Read the above post one line at a time and see if you get the same vibe!

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('efarmer', 'P')lease do not discourage me and break my concentration,
if all goes well, I shall have borrowed my way to prosperity
in time to become a Republican and protest the Obama
stimulus spending as it takes place.

[ReverseEngineer]

Wasn't it just last week people here were lauding the Chinese for their Thrifty Ways, and taking Americans to task for being Spendthrifts? Now the Republican Party Line is Americans need to Spend More? WTF? Will these nincompoops never quit? They can't roll over and die already?

What a bunch of sad clowns. Its embarassing.

Reverse Engineer

[Starvid]

Well, you do manage to twist Keynesian economics into something completely different.

At its purest, Keynesianism is the understanding that it is better to have people produce something than having them unemployed and idle. The same with capital. Better have it work than sitting idle.

A very simple example: imagine World Depression Two hits. Lots of people lose their jobs and can't find new ones. As they are our countrymen and we're all patriots we certainly aren't going to let them starve or freeze to death. Then, what's the best thing to do, either put them on the dole and have them do nothing, or pay them to do something useful, like sweeping the streets or removing grafitti?

Or building railroads, walkable communities and nuclear power stations...

For further understanding, I recomend this post from a certain Nobel prize winning economist.

[perdition79]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'A')t its purest, Keynesianism is the understanding that it is better to have people produce something than having them unemployed and idle. The same with capital. Better have it work than sitting idle.

A very simple example: imagine World Depression Two hits. Lots of people lose their jobs and can't find new ones. As they are our countrymen and we're all patriots we certainly aren't going to let them starve or freeze to death. Then, what's the best thing to do, either put them on the dole and have them do nothing, or pay them to do something useful, like sweeping the streets or removing grafitti?

Or building railroads, walkable communities and nuclear power stations...

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'W')ell, you do manage to twist Keynesian economics into something completely different.

At its purest, Keynesianism is the understanding that it is better to have people produce something than having them unemployed and idle. The same with capital. Better have it work than sitting idle.

A very simple example: imagine World Depression Two hits. Lots of people lose their jobs and can't find new ones. As they are our countrymen and we're all patriots we certainly aren't going to let them starve or freeze to death. Then, what's the best thing to do, either put them on the dole and have them do nothing, or pay them to do something useful, like sweeping the streets or removing grafitti?

Or building railroads, walkable communities and nuclear power stations...

For further understanding, I recomend this post from a certain Nobel prize winning economist.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('perdition79', 'A') huge war would be Keynesian as well, because it solves both the idle labor issue and that pesky overpopulation problem.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mattduke', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'W')ell, you do manage to twist Keynesian economics into something completely different.

At its purest, Keynesianism is the understanding that it is better to have people produce something than having them unemployed and idle. The same with capital. Better have it work than sitting idle.

A very simple example: imagine World Depression Two hits. Lots of people lose their jobs and can't find new ones. As they are our countrymen and we're all patriots we certainly aren't going to let them starve or freeze to death. Then, what's the best thing to do, either put them on the dole and have them do nothing, or pay them to do something useful, like sweeping the streets or removing grafitti?

Or building railroads, walkable communities and nuclear power stations...

For further understanding, I recomend this post from a certain Nobel prize winning economist.

[AlexdeLarge]

Zorg's Keynesian Economics Review

"............Or can your empire come crashing down.....because of one little cherry?"

[sjn]

Doesn't this all rest upon the assumption that human consumption of natural resources is inherently desirable, and that somehow through this consumption we can create a better world than that which came about by the processes that shaped our very species?

It would seem to me history has demonstrated very clearly that this ideal has resulted in the destruction of our living environment, the mass extinction of species and potentially catastrophic climate disruption.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sjn', '
')It would seem to me history has demonstrated very clearly that this ideal has resulted in the destruction of our living environment, the mass extinction of species and potentially catastrophic climate disruption.

[sjn]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('sjn', '
')It would seem to me history has demonstrated very clearly that this ideal has resulted in the destruction of our living environment, the mass extinction of species and potentially catastrophic climate disruption.

[MonteQuest]

For many years, economists held the view that since money saved was later invested; you could never save too much. This notion was revised by economist John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s, who asserted that thrift is virtuous only up to a point. An increase in the savings portion of your disposal income reduces the expenditure on goods and will lower total demand in the economy. This thrift is commendable up to the point others in the economy wish to borrow your savings for investment. Herein lies the paradox.

On the face of it, saving more of your disposable income would seem to lead to an increase in overall savings, but an economic multiplier model predicts that total savings will remain the same and income will decline.

Thus, the paradox of thrift implies that more savings will harm the economy.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nother way to illustrate the logic of the paradox of thrift uses the analogy of the leaky bucket. Consider what will happen if the savings hole in the bucket is made a little larger, which corresponds to people becoming thriftier. Initially there will be a larger flow of water out. But this cannot continue indefinitely. Equilibrium exists when the inflow equals the outflow, and the inflow has not changed. This means that the water level must drop so that the pressure forcing water out the bottom will be reduced. Less pressure means less outflow, and at some lower level of water equilibrium will be reestablished.

[Quinny]

The difference between economics and business is at the heart of many problems in our economy. As you say, balance is key and this is true in all areas.

Many on the right trumpet the need for 'business sense' when running government - in my experience this narrow minded view always leads to disaster.