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Who Dat. . .

--Jason

Hayek v. Keynes

Worth watching all the way through.

via EconStories.tv, worth bookmarking and checking back on it the future.

The full lyrics to Fear the Boom and Bust are below the fold.

]]> We’ve been going back and forth for a century [Keynes] I want to steer markets, [Hayek] I want them set free There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it [Hayek] Blame low interest rates. [Keynes] No… it’s the animal spirits

[Keynes Sings:]

John Maynard Keynes, wrote the book on modern macro
The man you need when the economy’s off track, [whoa]
Depression, recession now your question’s in session
Have a seat and I’ll school you in one simple lesson

BOOM, 1929 the big crash
We didn’t bounce back—economy’s in the trash
Persistent unemployment, the result of sticky wages
Waiting for recovery? Seriously? That’s outrageous!

I had a real plan any fool can understand
The advice, real simple—boost aggregate demand!
C, I, G, all together gets to Y
Make sure the total’s growing, watch the economy fly

We’ve been going back and forth for a century
[Keynes] I want to steer markets,
[Hayek] I want them set free
There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it
[Hayek] Blame low interest rates.
[Keynes] No… it’s the animal spirits

You see it’s all about spending, hear the register cha-ching
Circular flow, the dough is everything
So if that flow is getting low, doesn’t matter the reason
We need more government spending, now it’s stimulus season

So forget about saving, get it straight out of your head
Like I said, in the long run—we’re all dead
Savings is destruction, that’s the paradox of thrift
Don’t keep money in your pocket, or that growth will never lift…

because…

Business is driven by the animal spirits
The bull and the bear, and there’s reason to fear its
Effects on capital investment, income and growth
That’s why the state should fill the gap with stimulus both…

The monetary and the fiscal, they’re equally correct
Public works, digging ditches, war has the same effect
Even a broken window helps the glass man have some wealth
The multiplier driving higher the economy’s health

And if the Central Bank’s interest rate policy tanks
A liquidity trap, that new money’s stuck in the banks!
Deficits could be the cure, you been looking for
Let the spending soar, now that you know the score

My General Theory’s made quite an impression
[a revolution] I transformed the econ profession
You know me, modesty, still I’m taking a bow
Say it loud, say it proud, we’re all Keynesians now

We’ve been goin’ back n forth for a century
[Keynes] I want to steer markets,
[Hayek] I want them set free
There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it
[Keynes] I made my case, Freddie H
Listen up , Can you hear it?

Hayek sings:

I’ll begin in broad strokes, just like my friend Keynes
His theory conceals the mechanics of change,
That simple equation, too much aggregation
Ignores human action and motivation

And yet it continues as a justification
For bailouts and payoffs by pols with machinations
You provide them with cover to sell us a free lunch
Then all that we’re left with is debt, and a bunch

If you’re living high on that cheap credit hog
Don’t look for cure from the hair of the dog
Real savings come first if you want to invest
The market coordinates time with interest

Your focus on spending is pushing on thread
In the long run, my friend, it’s your theory that’s dead
So sorry there, buddy, if that sounds like invective
Prepare to get schooled in my Austrian perspective

The place you should study isn’t the bust
It’s the boom that should make you feel leery, that’s the thrust
Of my theory, the capital structure is key.
Malinvestments wreck the economy

The boom gets started with an expansion of credit
The Fed sets rates low, are you starting to get it?
That new money is confused for real loanable funds
But it’s just inflation that’s driving the ones

Who invest in new projects like housing construction
The boom plants the seeds for its future destruction
The savings aren’t real, consumption’s up too
And the grasping for resources reveals there’s too few

So the boom turns to bust as the interest rates rise
With the costs of production, price signals were lies
The boom was a binge that’s a matter of fact
Now its devalued capital that makes up the slack.

Whether it’s the late twenties or two thousand and five
Booming bad investments, seems like they’d thrive
You must save to invest, don’t use the printing press
Or a bust will surely follow, an economy depressed

Your so-called “stimulus” will make things even worse
It’s just more of the same, more incentives perversed
And that credit crunch ain’t a liquidity trap
Just a broke banking system, I’m done, that’s a wrap.

We’ve been goin’ back n forth for a century
[Keynes] I want to steer markets,
[Hayek] I want them set free
There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it
[Hayek] Blame low interest rates.
[Keynes] No it’s the animal spirits

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”

John Maynard Keynes
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”

F A Hayek
The Fatal Conceit

Go ahead, sing along, sing it to your friends, sing it to your family, just sing it baby!!!

Reason TV - How to Fix Health Care: Lasik Surgery For The Medical Debate

via Reason TV (worth bookmarking)

Bill Whittle hits a long ball again. . .

Bill Whittle is becoming a very competent video-pundit:

The Great American Bank Robbery

Pass It On!

via The Hammer (Link opens in new tab/window)

Let the battle for the House begin. . .

From the Republican Whip Team:

Godspeed Representative Cantor.

--Jason

Capitalism IS the greatest good. . .

Milton Friedman via Instapundit. It's short, so watch it all. . . he hits it outta the park. Something we should all realize and internalize . . . because he's right.

--Jason

Wings. . .Factions. . . Democrats. . .

Whatever you want to call it doesn't matter, but the idea holds. . .

The Carter wing of the Democrat Party is now led by Barack Obama. The Clinton wing is out in the cold, so cold that it's literally being sent into exile with Hillary as Secretary of State.

For what it's worth, I prefer the Clinton wing of the Democrat Party to the Carter/Obama wing.

--Jason

Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

Lyrics (only 52 words):

I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied 'round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin' in the snow
And I turned 'round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime. . .

An eerie little ditty in a four-part harmony. At first listen you might feel a bit inspired, even euphoric, but listen again. . .

--Jason

]]>

Merry Christmas, eat a kangaroo. . .

Let's talk about eating kangaroo. When I was a restauranteur, I put kangaroo on the menu. Yes, it was a bizarre move to serve kangaroo in the middle of Colorado; but it was something that we tested and played with using a variety of different sauces and preparations. Eventually we hit on a few preparations that made sense and had a good flavor profile. So we rotated them through the menu. They weren't stars by any means, but they weren't dogs either. Price points tended to the higher end, but you could also work out burgers and appetizers to balance a decent margin.

While this article about eating kangaroo is laden with the current "abrupt climate change" hysteria, the concept of consuming kangaroo makes sense on a number of different fronts. Kangaroo is a lean meat which can fit into health conscious consumer's diets. It's a tasty meat, a bit gamey, but no more so than elk; which can make for a fabulous meal for the adventurous. While I think environmental reasons are about the last reason for consuming kangaroo, I will suggest that one can "sell" this unconventional meat to customers, family or friends using that angle. This is one way to create some buzz among greenies and charge a premium for it if you're so inclined.

What attracts me most about eating kangaroo is the long term potential for a domesticated ranchable species which thrives on land that other livestock does not. That translates into some serious long term economic potential. Let's also give a nod to diversity of the food chain and a firm thumbs up for variety.

Oh yeah. . . Merry Christmas.

--Jason

Congress gets a raise. . .

So. . . Congress. . . which is arguably the number one, most culpable, entity responsible for the current financial crisis has just allowed itself a pay raise.

Something like this makes me BEYOND angry. Seriously, when if first read this, I was sure that I was reading an old article, but nope, it's current. Then for the briefest instant, I could feel anger, but then it passed into a sense of calm. I realize that I've never actually been this angry before. It's simply that I don't have a point of reference for the feelings I have.

I will say that if someone came to me and laid out the plans for revolution. . . I'd seriously give him a listen.

--Jason

Global Warming My Ass. . .

See that?? That's a New Orleans streetcar with snow "sticking". When will this farsical BS of global warming be called for what it is. . . a total charade.

Here's a bunch of scientists blasting the global warming cult. It's a good start.

But. . . did you see that? That was snow in New Orleans. . . that's like only one step removed from hell freezing over.

--Jason

I told you so. . .

It's no secret on this blog that I'm a firm skeptic when it comes to global warming. I don't care really what the correct term is, whether it be climate change or catastrophic global man-made superheating of the atmosphere that will kill us all. It's all BS.

The fact is that the Earth is going to continue, as it has for millions upon millions of years, to have wildly varying climates over time. Sometimes it's going to be hot, sometimes it's going to be cold. Sometimes, it might get REALLY REALLY cold, and sometimes it might get REALLY REALLY hot. You see. . .the Earth itself wobbles on it's axis, that's right people, the Earth doesn't spin perfectly. . . it tilts this way and that way. These wobbles can have dramatic year to year, or decade to decade climate change.

Then there's the sun. That big seemingly uncontrolled nuclear explosion that is so gargantuanly huge, that the force of it's own gravity has turned that explosiong into a furnace that created most of the atoms bigger than hydrogen present in our solarsystem, and which also. . . by the way. . . creates nearly all of the energy and HEAT in the solar system. While I'm at it, let me just point out that the very recent activity of the sun is unprecedented in recorded history and we are most likely in for one hell of a cold snap here on Earth.

Yeah, that's right. I'm so anti- the concept of anthropogenic global warming that I'm actually a member of the global cooling crowd. I'm far, far more concerned by the sun's behavior and it's near immediate effect on us than I am any insignificant changes we puny humans might be able to bring about on this planet.

Ok, enough of a rant. If you read this far, let me reward you with an excellent article on the incoming president of the European Union and uber-anthropogenic-climate-change-skeptic™ Vaclav Klaus, the religous nature of the climate change zealots/cultists and a touch on some real science that should make you think twice about stocking up on essentials and preparing for a heckuva hard time.

--Jason

Live feeds from Mumbai. . .

New Delhi TV via Fox2 video stream. . .

CNN's IBN Live stream. . .

War on America: Seen from the Indian Ocean

Here's a Pajamas Media "quick and dirty" on Mumbai and possible involvement of Pakistan.

There's no telling how the outcome will turn out in terms of bias, but it's interesting and informative to watch the wikipedians work.

--Jason

Obamapaloodle. . . .

This week's weekend caption contest at Wizbang gives us a few laughs at the The One. It should be noted that the picture below is apparently NOT a photoshop.

I'm partial to faustian's caption:

"I would like to point out to our black friends that the white dude just behind Obama was a Republican.
Those guys in the sheets were democrats."

But the top six are all winners.