Comments on: Still Searching for a Recovery http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/ Economic News, Markets Commentary, Gold, Oil and Investing Strategies. Sun, 27 May 2012 07:34:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Thinkor http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/#comment-3774 Thinkor Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:55:52 +0000 http://dailyreckoning.com/?p=13953#comment-3774 I am all for letting market mechanisms work with one big exception. Unless we want to excite the bloody nature of the sans-culottes, some kind of minimally expensive and minimally compensated government employment should be provided for able-bodied males who living in the shanty towns and the tent cities. It is critical that they not fear all is lost. I think this could be done by ensuring they are fed and (minimally) sheltered so that their able bodies are preserved. It may mean going deeper into debt or (God Forbid!) cutting existing government programs, but the cost of dealing with millions of violent, desperate men must be taken into account. I am all for letting market mechanisms work with one big exception. Unless we want to excite the bloody nature of the sans-culottes, some kind of minimally expensive and minimally compensated government employment should be provided for able-bodied males who living in the shanty towns and the tent cities. It is critical that they not fear all is lost. I think this could be done by ensuring they are fed and (minimally) sheltered so that their able bodies are preserved. It may mean going deeper into debt or (God Forbid!) cutting existing government programs, but the cost of dealing with millions of violent, desperate men must be taken into account.

]]> By: Iain Mac http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/#comment-3760 Iain Mac Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:52:03 +0000 http://dailyreckoning.com/?p=13953#comment-3760 "In England, the yahoos attacked poor Sir Fred Goodwin's house. Fred ran the Royal Bank of Scotland into the ground; you'd think the rabble would be delighted." Fred Goodwin's house is in Edinburgh, Scotland, Great Britain, UK. Not England. Please don't confuse the two as this rather irks many of us Scots. I'm sure you will appreciate this as your book, Financial Reckoning Day, comments on the Scotland-England relationship in its description of the Darien venture. Justifiably or not, some of this hostility remains today. “In England, the yahoos attacked poor Sir Fred Goodwin’s house. Fred ran the Royal Bank of Scotland into the ground; you’d think the rabble would be delighted.”

Fred Goodwin’s house is in Edinburgh, Scotland, Great Britain, UK. Not England. Please don’t confuse the two as this rather irks many of us Scots.

I’m sure you will appreciate this as your book, Financial Reckoning Day, comments on the Scotland-England relationship in its description of the Darien venture. Justifiably or not, some of this hostility remains today.

]]> By: Darryl http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/#comment-3757 Darryl Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:58:08 +0000 http://dailyreckoning.com/?p=13953#comment-3757 No sense of accountability at all... personally or professionally. Greenspan loses nothing for having screwed up so badly over such a looong period of time but he has the audacity (chutspah) to try and convince those whose lives he wrecked that he was actually a God-Given Guru to the economy. I expect a feckless attitude like that from a teenager, not a "pillar of finance" like the Chairman of the Fed. No sense of accountability at all… personally or professionally. Greenspan loses nothing for having screwed up so badly over such a looong period of time but he has the audacity (chutspah) to try and convince those whose lives he wrecked that he was actually a God-Given Guru to the economy. I expect a feckless attitude like that from a teenager, not a “pillar of finance” like the Chairman of the Fed.

]]> By: Fred Gibson http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/#comment-3712 Fred Gibson Sun, 29 Mar 2009 23:51:40 +0000 http://dailyreckoning.com/?p=13953#comment-3712 The bonus/executive pay/bailout scandle was not just an amusing diversion. It is the heart and soul of the whole recession/depression. If those bastards aren't hung out to dry, how will we ever teach the Bad Dogs on Wall Street to stop sucking eggs? The violence prone yahoos aren't looking for something for nothing. They are just looking for solutions. So far the only widely accepted plan we have is Obama's, so that is the plan the country is going with. I mostly agree with your sentiments, Bill, but although you are quite clear what should not be done, I somehow don't seem able to decipher a clear plan that you are advocating so the rest of us can get behind it. On another subject, I still don't think house prices have fallen as far as they must. What ever happened to the maxim that buyers should only spend two and one-half times the buyer's annual salary for a house? And, by the way, is endless univeral inflation all we can ever expect from capitalism? The bonus/executive pay/bailout scandle was not just an amusing diversion. It is the heart and soul of the whole recession/depression. If those bastards aren’t hung out to dry, how will we ever teach the Bad Dogs on Wall Street to stop sucking eggs? The violence prone yahoos aren’t looking for something for nothing.
They are just looking for solutions. So far the only widely accepted plan we have is Obama’s, so that is the plan the country is going with. I mostly agree with your sentiments, Bill, but although you are quite clear what should not be done, I somehow don’t seem able to decipher a clear plan that you are advocating so the rest of us can get behind it. On another subject, I still don’t think house prices have fallen as far as they must. What ever happened to the maxim that buyers should only spend two and one-half times the buyer’s annual salary for a house? And, by the way, is endless univeral inflation all we can ever expect from capitalism?

]]> By: George http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/#comment-3672 George Sun, 29 Mar 2009 13:00:25 +0000 http://dailyreckoning.com/?p=13953#comment-3672 Good job ! Apart from the insights , you guys are ratifying much of what we , the great unwashed , feel in our guts is the real deal . I am probably as surprised as you that there aren't many blog responses here. Maybe that's a vindication ? People don't appear to want to acknowledge the unvarnished truth. Thank you for paying attention . Good job ! Apart from the insights , you guys are ratifying much of what we , the great unwashed , feel in our guts is the real deal . I am probably as surprised as you that there aren’t many blog responses here. Maybe that’s a vindication ? People don’t appear to want to acknowledge the unvarnished truth. Thank you for paying attention .

]]> By: Dayahka http://dailyreckoning.com/still-searching-for-a-recovery/#comment-3635 Dayahka Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:46:22 +0000 http://dailyreckoning.com/?p=13953#comment-3635 Poor Alan, give him a break! I mean, how many people do you know who will willingly step up to the plate after a major goof and say: I failed, I did wrong, I screwed up, My theories were wrong, My actions were counter-productive? As for bubbles, well we seem to have identified the housing bubble and the bank lending bubble, but there seem to be a great many bubbles out there still to be burst. Let's define a bubble as a vastly overvalued something-or-other. If that is ok generically, then we have a lot more bubbles still to burst. Gold is in a bubble. Military overkill is a bubble. Restaurants, food, medical care costs, illegal drugs, legal (but toxic) drugs, education, cars, guns, all of these are bubbles whose value is way above reasonable. The entire American way of life is a bubble, a bubble built on the idea of excess: excessive weight (obesity), excessive salt, excessive food, excessive just about everything. And just as we have seen one or two bubbles burst recently, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg, for a great many more bubbles, including excessive pride or arrogance in American capability and lifestyle, are going to burst in the coming months. Poor Alan, give him a break! I mean, how many people do you know who will willingly step up to the plate after a major goof and say: I failed, I did wrong, I screwed up, My theories were wrong, My actions were counter-productive?

As for bubbles, well we seem to have identified the housing bubble and the bank lending bubble, but there seem to be a great many bubbles out there still to be burst. Let’s define a bubble as a vastly overvalued something-or-other. If that is ok generically, then we have a lot more bubbles still to burst. Gold is in a bubble. Military overkill is a bubble. Restaurants, food, medical care costs, illegal drugs, legal (but toxic) drugs, education, cars, guns, all of these are bubbles whose value is way above reasonable. The entire American way of life is a bubble, a bubble built on the idea of excess: excessive weight (obesity), excessive salt, excessive food, excessive just about everything. And just as we have seen one or two bubbles burst recently, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg, for a great many more bubbles, including excessive pride or arrogance in American capability and lifestyle, are going to burst in the coming months.

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