bokonist

99 ms·

721.
by bokonist 18y ago
This isn’t rocket science. Keynes suggested stuffing bills into bottles and burying them down mineshafts; Milton Friedman once proposed tossing cash out of helicopters. But as long as the government is spending money, we might as well spen
722.
by bokonist 18y ago
I made almost the exact same comment you made: http://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/6oba0/its_ten_yea...
723.
by bokonist 18y ago
Some people are losing their jobs because they were in sectors that had too much malinvestment ( housing). But many other are losing their jobs simply because of friction caused by the increase in demand for money. All contracts ( wage con
724.
by bokonist 18y ago
This post does a decent job explaining the phenomenon: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2008/08/de-gust... The core problem is that economics cannot use falsifiable experiments, and it is very highly politicized.
725.
by bokonist 18y ago
Japan tried Keynesian policies. The result was the infamous lost decade: http://www.heritage.org/research/economy/bg2222.cfm
726.
by bokonist 18y ago
http://books.google.com/books?id=Poy_16kUIV8C&printsec=c... In 1914, London had 16 murders from a population of 7.1 million. That's a homicide rate of .22 per 100,000. By comparison, Detroit had a murder rate of 46 in 2007. That's
727.
by bokonist 18y ago
If suburban living had been a mere preference, it would show up in real estate prices, not in population loss. To get massive population loss, people have to be unwilling to buy at any price. When the crime rate increased in the 70's, peo
728.
by bokonist 18y ago
I said the typical city has a rate 10X to 100X that of a Victorian era European city. Lower crime cities (Boston, San Francisco) have around 10X the rate, high crime cities (Baltimore, Philly, Detroit, DC) have had crime rates up to 100X.
729.
by bokonist 18y ago
Many people did not choose the suburbs freely. They were driven out of the cities by incredibly high levels of violence. The typical American city now has a homicide rate 10X to 100X that of a Victorian era European city. That's not a ty
730.
by bokonist 18y ago
Currencies do not need to be backed by anything. They are simply intermediary goods, valuable because of a coordination game. There is no "collecting in mass". The dollar is the final good. The U.S. has no debts outstanding in anything
731.
by bokonist 18y ago
Stop being pedantic. At some point everyone must trade their labor for goods other people produce. This transaction incurs taxes that you must pay in dollars, or you go to jail.
732.
by bokonist 18y ago
Presumably, if an individual wishes to consume far less, they also work far less. There is no reason to work 50 hours a week just to hoard a bunch of dollars until the grave. If they work less, then the supply of employment decreases natu
733.
by bokonist 18y ago
You would need to back up the currency with commodities that have 1) minuscule storage costs and 2) a very high stocks to flow ratio. Also, all commodities used must have identical stocks to flow ratio, or the pricing between the commoditi
734.
by bokonist 18y ago
If you do not make money, you starve. Also, it's not just taxes - there are tens of trillions of dollars of outstanding dollar denominated debt. Millions of people and corporations have contractual obligations to deliver dollars. If they
735.
by bokonist 18y ago
Mencius Moldbug describes it best: "Money is the bubble that doesn’t need to pop. As long as there is demand for indirect exchange, at least one asset will be stockpiled by hoarders, hence experience demand that is not a consequence of any
736.
by bokonist 18y ago
Good catch. The increase in taxes is actually greater than shown in the graph, since payroll taxes have increased enormously.
737.
by bokonist 18y ago
Trying to define a label as broad as conservative always results in gross generalizations. But I basically agree with you and was trying to make a similar point. The Left-Right divide is about ideology, not status quo versus "change". But
738.
by bokonist 18y ago
Clearly this fellow is not a biologist, or someone who even reads the science section on Google News The author attacks neo-epicureanism not evolution. The author believes in evolution. In that case, 51% of American Christians are liter
739.
by bokonist 18y ago
I too grew tired of debates over religion years ago. But this article actually substantially altered my way of thinking about religion. That hasn't happened to me in a very long time, so I thought it was worth posting. Your mileage may v
740.
by bokonist 18y ago
Did you read the article?
741.
by bokonist 18y ago
The modern "conservative" is someone who wants to turn back the clock thirty years. Since the schools and universities are solidly leftist, the country as a whole moves left over time. The "conservative" of today is thus liberal by the st
742.
by bokonist 18y ago
I'm curious, what was the job that required this certification? Why would the employer require her to take this useless course?
743.
An Analysis of the 2008 financial crisis, written in 2006(commentlog.org)
5 points by bokonist 18y ago|0 comments
744.
by bokonist 18y ago
Any idea why the government officials stop them from building anything?
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Tribal Biases and the Inauguration(overcomingbias.com)
1 points by bokonist 18y ago|0 comments
746.
by bokonist 18y ago
It's not the crash that invalidates it, it's the extreme variance. At one point, the S&P had two swings of 10% in one day . These kinds of swings were common, and they often happened without any shocking news arriving in between the
747.
by bokonist 18y ago
How can you believe the efficient market theory after the events of October 2008? The stock market may be unpredictable, but it is far from rational. IMHO, the analysis "A Random Walk Down Wall St" does not really understand the nature of
748.
by bokonist 18y ago
My favorite posts and sites: Mark Cuban's post on stocks: http://blogmaverick.com/2008/09/08/talking-stocks-and-money/ A blog of a hedge fund trader in Japan: http://nihoncassandra.blogspot.com A blog of a hedge fund trader in London:
749.
by bokonist 18y ago
For the claim about Zimbabwe, see here: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/08/country... I don't have a one stop source for the claims about FDR and the New Deal. But these three are a good start: John Flynn's The Rooseve
750.
by bokonist 18y ago
Consider these facts: - the US has a government funded k-16 education system - almost all political journalists rely on government press credentials to do their reporting - most journalists rely on cultivating strong relationships with the

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