Tuesday, February 03, 2009




Despite much attention to U.S. government policies since the early 1930s, key questions remain unresolved. Cold War … wise people store up knowledge even though words are chopped in half abondened at the end of lines left swivelling like cut worms eaten by Ukranian during the great famine Are We All Socialists Now? Not at All"


Can we change the heart of economics? Stimulus and Response: Watching Our Rulers Destroy Our World
The extra-constitutional (and thus unconstitutional) "bailout" and "stimulus" programs of the Bush and Obama administrations during the present economic crisis bring to mind Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose failed interventions turned a recession into the Great Depression, according to Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute. Yet, further back in U.S history, one can find a vastly superior approach to dealing with economic fluctuations - one that brought the country phenomenal economic growth during the first century and a half of its existence.

As recently as the major recession of 1920-21, the government took a hands-off position, and the downturn, though sharp, quickly reversed itself into full recovery, Higgs writes in an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor.In another recent article, Higgs argues that although the policies of our leaders in Washington, D.C., are ill designed to restore health to an ailing economy, they are well suited to making the leaders appear to be doing something. They are pouring credit madness on credit madness because they have no real understanding of how the economic world actually works, and, even if they understand, they are politically beholden to the owners and managers of failing economic behemoths who profited handsomely from the artificial prosperity of the boom and are now staring into the abyss.


• Many questions are being raised about the stimulus package's contents and efficacy. Hardly anyone, however, is asking the most importation question: Should the federal government be doing any of this? Instead of stimulus, do nothing – seriously; [As we wait to see how the politicians in Washington will alter the stimulus package the Obama administration is pushing, many questions are being raised about the measure's contents and efficacy. History shows that the economy can recover strongly on its own, if politicians stay out of the way; Neither Liberty nor Safety: Fear, Ideology, and the Growth of Government We have nothing to fear but hype itself]
• · The “stimulus package” is to sensible economic policy as—
military justice is to justice, John Maynard Keynes is to F. A. Hayek “I Love Lucy” is to “Much Ado about Nothing” Pat Robertson is to Mother Teresa a shipload of gravel is to the Rock of Gibraltar Reader’s Digest is to Tolstoy’s War and Peace
rap music is to classical music Tolstoy’s War and Peace ; The use of gross exaggeration - labelling every car crash a tragedy, every flood, a natural disaster, every stock market fall a depression - is mad. Every month 5 billion people loose a job yes 5 billion …
• · The media plays a crucial role in disseminating information regarding issues of public importance to the rest of society. The current global financial crisis and the bank failures that have contributed to it are issues of immense public interest and significant complexity. It is therefore the responsibility of the press to explain what has happened and what measures are being taken by government and financial institutions to address the current state of affairs so that members of the public may evaluate the actions taken by key decision makers and make informed decisions regarding their own circumstances. Banking Crises ; Zimbabweans identify with those words – for Martin Luther King’s dream is our dream. What however will make the actions of President Obama so effective is that they cannot be dismissed as racist. So we can take heart that Robert Mugabe’s regime has been served a powerful warning today that whilst there is a window of opportunity open it must be grasped quickly and in good faith. Hope is indeed on the way You make peace by talking to your enemies Senator David Coltart: Hope is on the way
• · · Neil Waters writes about confidence, candour, consistency and cheerfulness are useful leadership qualities in today's uncertain economic times Four qualities leaders need now, ; What Moses, Attila the Hun and 280,000 books can't tell you about the art of management You wouldn't read about it, Bob
• · · · Winning the Dream ;
• · · · · Common sense, not to mention the evidence, tells us that a larger population cannot possibly be in the interests of Australia. How the growth lobby threatens Australia's future; As Groucho Marx said to some unfortunate, "I never forget a face, but in your case, I'll make an exception". In policy, as in life, it matters when and how you make exceptions … It's Bruce Hawker No.1 and a distant second to anyone else. If you want an opportunity to present your case [to the State Government] you do it through Hawker Britton Tsunami of Lobbyists ; The march of the Chinese into Australia's resource space has intensified
• · · · · · There's nothing like a gathering of the corporate great and good to put the sparkle into the top end of town and the American Australian Association benefit dinner honouring Frank Lowy, the Westfield founder and executive chairman, was a well-needed tonic for the uncharacteristically humbled gathering. Being Frank: we have thousands of TV channels and shops but nothing is on ; China’s political tunnel China's deepening economic crisis is provoking social discontent that will place the Beijing leadership in an impossible political predicament, says the renowned democracy campaigner Wei Jingsheng. A cold wind in Beijing