“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.”
~Albert Einstein
So, why are the same goons that created our mess trying to solve it?
The politics in our country is a joke!
By the way, we are not in a depression (the talking heads just won’t shut up). The restaurants and movie theatres are packed, the malls and box stores are packed, the parking lots are filled with SUV’s, etc…
Recession, yes, but we are NO WHERE NEAR a depression. Just some thoughts as I celebrate my grandmother’s 85th birthday; she lived through a “real” depression.
Yes, my post title is slightly misleading…
In the last recessions, did prices of all
asset classes drop? Did the government create
trillions in bailouts?
I wouldn’t say this isn’t a recession, but I wouldn’t take deflation off the table yet.
I guess the scary thing is that depending on policy response from the government, we are/were teetering on the edge of a possible depression, a possibility which hasn’t come up in a generation or more…
I agree with prominent economists like Mankiw and Krugman, Keynesian economics will save us from depression: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/the-keynesian-moment/
If the government were to tighten monetary and fiscal policy at this point (like they did when the market crashed in 1929), I DO think 25% unemployment would be headed our way.
(As an aside, isn’t it interesting how we’d consider 25% unemployment THE END OF THE WORLD, while many underdeveloped countries would drool at such a high rate of employment..?)
Hey Chris,
my grandparents also lived through it, you’re right, they have the “real” stories to tell about hard times, this aint nothin!
Though they did have a farm, and thus were never hurting for food…
I know this is off-topic to the post, but I was looking at NH-NL numbers from Yahoo on the major indexes. Does anyone know how reliable the Yahoo numbers are compared to IBDs NH-NL numbers? What is the degree of error between the two? Thanks. Steven Mac
Steven,
I sent you some information privately. Let me know if you receive.
You suggested that those who got us into the problem cannot get us out of it. Perhaps you’ll indulge this energy engineer then, (who has shaped perhaps the company he works for, and the lives of some of his coworkers, but hardly the economy) to provide his view of how to solve our economic situation…
Our new president-elect has proposed to implement a massive public works program to restore our highway/roads infrastructure. While this is generally a sound strategy, it has to be revamped as if we were already living in the future.
What is true is that roads will lead to our salvation. Those roads must extend into the future rather than into the past.
What must be done is to create a new roadway. We must not however look back at the past and decide as a past president has. Rather, we must decide to do something which has never been done before, if we are to become something new.
Vehicles lighter than 500lbs are the foundation of the plan. It is for these that the new, two-lane roadway will be built, and upon this roadway our economy will be built.
Each lane of the new roadway will be optimized to accomodate light vehicles, which will be narrower than standard vehicles yet will still permit passengers sitting side by side. New speed limits and rules of the road will be utilized on the new roadway.
The new road will permit the emergence of myriad new vehicle companies and more.
The materials from which the road will be constructed will be specialized and like all aspects of the undertaking-sustainable. The lighting for the roads will be completely new, the barriers which separate the new lanes from existing lanes, the signals, the paint, the reflectors, the smart elements of the road, will all be of a completely new design.
The roadsides will be reserved for wind and solar capacity, plants for biofuel or other sustainable production, native habitat, or businesses which harmonize with the new plan for the new society.
The businesses servicing road traffic will incorporate new standards of sustainability and automation. At a roadside restaurant, your sandwich will be prepared by a machine; Future generations will design and maintain automation equipment rather than flipping burgers.
Fast battery recharge stations, battery swap enterprises, and renewable fuel providers will be the best and in fact the only permitted energy vendors (lest we slip into the past).
Special consideration and exemptions will be provided as incentives for setting up shop in these new locations, which will, before long, become the premium place to do business.
Guaranteed leases with highly favorable terms will be granted to those who are willing to innovate. The expectations and demands will be great, the rewards and incentives will be greater.
The road and everything traveling on it or surrounding it will be completely new, incorporate new technology, under a new set of standards that the rest of the world will be unprepared to meet, and which our own citizens will be uniquely enabled to take advantage of.
When it is done our nation will have 100,000 healthy new companies, exporting our technology to the rest of the world and continuing to innovate our own nation.
Our nation will be cleaner, greener, better educated, safer and will have a more secure future.
It will not happen overnight, but it will begin overnght