Sadly, I have not actually read these two works by Hayek–I really should. It is nice to see that Lampert is suggesting stockholders to read about the Austrian viewpoint of the situation we are in. It is good to see that not every head of big corporations are capitalists in good times and socialists in bad times.
“As a country, we need to rebuild confidence and trust and to understand what happened. Whether by business or by government, the misdiagnosis of situations leads to poor prescriptions for rehabilitation and recovery. When the misdiagnosis is done at the federal government level and involves large parts of a national economy, the consequences can be swift and significant.”
We absolutely need to understand what happened. The mainstream media has misdiagnosed the problem and is applying the wrong treatment. The swift and significant consequences of a poor prescription will be a long and extended depression.
Obama announced his plan to withdraw troops from Iraq within 18 months claiming that all combat troops will be out of Iraq by April 31th, 210. There will still be 50,000 troops left in Iraq–I thought leaving meant not being there.
As was expected, this end of the Iraq war is more of a show. We are still going to be occupying Iraq. We are going to continue to antagonize the people in the Middle East by being an occupying force. That is the reason why they hate us and continue to plot ways to attack us.
“I think the plan is significantly different than the plan Obama had during the campaign,” said McCain, referring to Obama’s campaign pledge to pull combat troops out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office if possible.
What’s new? Politicians are liars.
“The last of the U.S. troops are to be out of Iraq no later than Dec. 31, 2011. That’s the deadline set under an agreement the two countries sealed during George W. Bush’s presidency. Obama has no plans to extend that date or pursue any permanent troop presence in Iraq.”
As Obama decides to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan, it will be more and more likely that we will find reasons to keep bases in Iraq. We need to leave Iraq completely immediately. The terrorists are not attacking us for our Freedoms. They are attacking us because we are meddling in their affairs.
It is not our business to tell them how to live. Democracy cannot be spread by the barrel of a gun–not so sure we want to even be spreading Democracy. Liberty and Freedom can absolutely not be spread by killing and violating the very principles they stand for.
I am mostly in shock at the size of this budget. Our GDP is about $14 trillion. This budget for 2010 is a quarter of our entire GDP. That seems pretty big to me–not that $3.55 trillion isn’t a massive number by itself. The deficit will be greater than the GDP of our neighbors above–Canada.
Obama’s plan to cut the deficit by 50% to about $533 billion in 2013 is becoming less and less believable. Not only is the budget for 2010 ridiculous but, Obama intends to increase spending to $3.94 trillion for this year. All of this is bad for the economy. Increases in government spending is a decrease in productive spending in the private sector.
“The deficit would remain near $1 trillion over the next two years before dropping to $581 billion in 2012 and $533 billion in 2013, the year that Obama has pledged to cut the deficit he inherited in half.”
The first thing you do to get yourself out of a hole is to stop digging. Obama believes that you should dig at an even faster rate. We are now going to sink faster and deeper.
In order for Obama’s budget plan to work, he is assuming that the economy “will come roaring back with economic growth of 3.2 percent next year and 4 percent-plus rates in the following three years”. Right. His stimulus bill is going to make things worse so this highly optimistic idea of economic growth is wishful thinking.
These massive budget deficits planned for the next 4 years is going to skyrocket the national debt. We are talking about adding over $4 trillion to the national debt. The national debt is currently about $11 trillion. If we add another $4 trillion to that, our national debt will be greater than our GDP.
The financial and economic side of the Obama administration is clearly out of their minds. It is going to be difficult for the dollar to survive this and for the American economy to thrive with these massive burdens. It is important to remember that governments cannot create prosperity.
By Tommy Leung on February 26th, 2009 in Economics, Video
Great questioning from Ron Paul. Barney Frank interrupted Paul in the beginning there and then failed to realize what Paul was talking about in the end–foolish.
Bernanke said at one point that the Fed cannot create capital and that lending should come from private hands and thats why we need the stimulus. The problem with that view is that the stimulus is just creating money and giving it to “private” banks. No capital was created.
I really wanted to hear what Bernanke would have said about Paul’s last question regarding World War II.
Sears Chairman, Eddie Lampert, suggests that stockholders should read Hayek in these troubling economic times. He specifically suggests Road to Serfdom and The Fatal Conceit.
Obama announced his plan to 
I am mostly in shock at the size of this budget. Our GDP is 
