We must act immediately to stop the Weapons of Mass Destruction! oh wait this time I mean Economic Meltdown

[Rob Graham]

In the beginning it was, now, not so much. The proposed size of this bailout bill is bigger than any estimate of the total value of every bad mortgage in existence. And Isakson's $15K tax credit is gasoline on the fire, if you believe bad mortgages are the cause. The list of utter crap in this stimulus bill is rediculous. It is no more than an excuse for an orgy of spending on pet projects (only about 20% infrastructure, practically no immediate jobs relief, but money for local pork. The current proposal, combined with the $700B already approved, amounts to a ridiculous $9718 for every US taxpayer.

[BoneSoft]

From last week: Senator Warns White House Will 'Create Crisis' and 'Panic' to Push Stimulus[^] By the way, this one still cracks me up: Peloci promises no pork in stimulus[^].

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Visit BoneSoft.com for code generation tools (XML & XSD -> C#, VB, etc...) and some free developer tools as well.

modified on Thursday, February 5, 2009 10:11 AM

[Oakman]

John Carson wrote:

Nitpicking over 50 million here or there is just a distraction:

How about 300 - 400 billion. Is that a big enough number to be worth your notice?

John Carson wrote:

The other side mainly consists of the Rush Limbaugh know-nothing crowd.

Sorry, but that is no longer true. More and more economists, including nobel laureates are saying that the package should be pared down to goals that are, essentially, what Summers defined last summer including: BURTON ABRAMS, Univ. of Delaware, DOUGLAS ADIE, Ohio University, RYAN AMACHER, Univ. of Texas at Arlington, J.J.ARIAS, Georgia College & State University, HOWARD BAETJER, JR., Towson University, STACIE BECK, Univ. of Delaware, DON BELLANTE, Univ. of South Florida, JAMES BENNETT, George Mason University, BRUCE BENSON, Florida State University, SANJAI BHAGAT, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder, MARK BILS, Univ. of Rochester, ALBERTO BISIN, New York University, WALTER BLOCK, Loyola University New Orleans, CECIL BOHANON, Ball State University, MICHELE BOLDRIN,Washington University in St. Louis, DONALD BOOTH, Chapman University, MICHAEL BORDO, Rutgers University, SAMUEL BOSTAPH, Univ. of Dallas, SCOTT BRADFORD, Brigham Young University, GENEVIEVE BRIAND, Eastern Washington University, GEORGE BROWER, Moravian College, JAMES BUCHANAN, Nobel laureate, RICHARD BURDEKIN, Claremont McKenna College, HENRY BUTLER, Northwestern University, WILLIAM BUTOS, Trinity College, PETER CALCAGNO, College of Charleston, BRYAN CAPLAN, George Mason University, ART CARDEN, Rhodes College, JAMES CARDON, Brigham Young University, DUSTIN CHAMBERS, Salisbury University, EMILY CHAMLEE-WRIGHT, Beloit College, V.V. CHARI, Univ. of Minnesota, BARRY CHISWICK, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, LAWRENCE CIMA, John Carroll University, J.R. CLARK, Univ. of Tennessee at Chattanooga, GIAN LUCA CLEMENTI, New York University, R.MORRIS COATS, Nicholls State University, JOHN COCHRAN, Metropolitan State College, JOHN COCHRANE, Univ. of Chicago, JOHN COGAN, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, JOHN COLEMAN, Duke University, BOYD COLLIER, Tarleton State University, ROBERT COLLINGE, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, LEE COPPOCK, Univ. of Virginia, MARIO CRUCINI, Vanderbilt University, CHRISTOPHER CULP, Univ. of Chicago, KIRBY CUNDIFF, Northeastern State University, ANTONY DAVIES, Duquesne University, JOHN DAWSON, Appalachian State University, CLARENCE DEITSCH, Ball State University, ARTH

[Le centriste]

Rob Graham wrote:

The current proposal, combined with the $700B already approved, amounts to a ridiculous $9718 for every US taxpayer.

That is ridiculous, since this is American people money given to the big banks so they can lend it back to the same people, with interest.

[Mike Gaskey]

Oakman wrote:

And not one of them has a radio talk show

pesky damned facts. re: Summers / Volker[^] Seems Comrade Obama hasn't quite figured out this POTUS thingy.

Mike - typical white guy. The USA does have universal healthcare, but you have to pay for it. D'oh. Thomas Mann - "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.

[Oakman]

Le Centriste wrote:

American people money given to the big banks so they can lend it back to the same people, with interest

Nope, this is American people money given to the big banks so they can have parties in Las Vegas and go to the Superbowl.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.

[Chris Austin]

Oakman wrote:

How bleeping hard is that for the U.S. Senate to understand?

I just don't get these people. They have obviously set aside common sense. Have they even looked at statistics that show the affects of these no/low down mortgages have vs a traditional note? There is a reason that Fanny Mae eliminated the 3% seller contribution down payments; they were 3X as likely to be foreclosed on vs even the buyer putting down only 10%, Now, they have just said in essence that it is OK to pay your MasterCard bill with your Visa. Plus, I know firsthand, that no one is willing to buy notes from the originator these days without a minimum of 10% down and 3 months to a year of seasoning.

Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --?

[Rob Graham]

More frightening, or enraging, depending on ones perspective, is the $350B has already been parceled out, yet there is little sign that the banks have even begun to increase lending. Perhaps the wrong Banks got all the money, or maybe they didn't tell us what they really wanted to do with it...

[wolfbinary]

JPMC actually came out and said they won't say what was done with it. Most of the banks are acting that way. I don't think they even know where it went. It just went into the general fund and that's it.

[Reagan Conservative]

Jon --- you are starting to sound like me! As I said in my "whine" post a week or so ago, when is "the change" going to start taking place?? This is worse than "the same old politics of the past". It has reached a new height in less than 3 weeks on the job.

AF Pilot

[Reagan Conservative]

I see Carson didn't have a reply for that one!! Got my 5!

AF Pilot

[led mike]

Oakman wrote:

Of course. These days, Summers's paychecks are signed by the president. Once you work for the Prez, you toe the Prez's line

You could be correct of course. Although the difference might be that Summers is now working in politics and has faced the ugly reality that our honorable *gulp* civil servant congressmen and senators are incapable of doing the right thing. Of course they get a lot of help from the honorable *gulp* private sector. ;) Did I ever tell you my theory about atmosphere. The universe was once filled with atmosphere. Today it only exists around this small planet because people suck so hard. :-D

[Oakman]

Reagan Conservative wrote:

I see Carson didn't have a reply for that one!! Got my 5!

Thanks, but in fairness to John, his sleep schedule is about 12 hours off from ours.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.

[Rama Krishna Vavilala]

Oakman wrote:

and the Senate approved - a $15,000 no-pay-back tax credit for anyone who buys a new home.

Not because Johnny Isakson is my senator (from Georgia), but to me the proposal does make sense. Won't that simulate people to buy home? What am I missing here.

[Chris Austin]

Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

What am I missing here.

There is tons of historical data that shows that people who can't or don't make a down payment on their homes get foreclosed far more often than others. Fanny Mae closed a program in october that they had that was similar because the foreclosure rate was very high.

Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --?

[Rama Krishna Vavilala]

Isn't that 15,000 a tax credit just like the interest rate deduction? So it should encourage people to buy homes especially the investors with money who are looking for bargains. That is why, this bill seems to be a great one to me,

[Chris Austin]

Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

Isn't that 15,000 a tax credit just like the interest rate deduction?

My understanding is that it is for a primary residence.

Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

So it should encourage people to buy homes especially the investors with money who are looking for bargains.

Investors with money are buying houses. But not at retail, we are buying them at 40 to 60 cents on the dollar.

Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. --?

[John Carson]

Oakman wrote:

Sorry, but that is no longer true. More and more economists, including nobel laureates are saying that the package should be pared down to goals that are, essentially, what Summers defined last summer

I'm not impressed. Creationists can also come up with lists of academic supporters. There are many thousands of economists in the US. If just 10% oppose the plan, that would provide the basis for a much longer list than the one you provide. A quick visual scan of the list suggests that only two universities have significant representation: the University of Chicago and George Mason University, both bastions of free market economics. By contrast, there is only one person from Harvard, noone from Yale, noone from MIT, and the only people from Stanford are from the right-wing Hoover Institution, where Milton Friedman went after he retired from the University of Chicago. Of the three Nobel prize winners, two (James Buchanan and Vernon Smith) do not work in macroeconomics. James Buchanan is a "public choice theorist" whose opposition on libertarian grounds to a large role of government in the economy has been the unifying thread to his entire career. Vernon Smith does laboratory experiments focussing on consumer decision making and other microeconomic matters. I'm not denying that there are some distinguished economists on the list. I only claim that they represent a small minority of the profession (and a small minority of the opposition to the bill). If a vote was taken on the bill before the Senate among the economics profession, it would pass with a filibuster proof majority (and by a wider margin still if the vote was restricted to macroeconomists).

John Carson

[Oakman]

John Carson wrote:

I only claim that they represent a small minority of the profession (and a small minority of the opposition to the bill). If a vote was taken on the bill before the Senate among the economics profession, it would pass with a filibuster proof majority (and by a wider margin still if the vote was restricted to macroeconomists).

Unfortunately, economics claims to be a science - and as far as I know, scientists did not vote on whether to pass Newton's Laws, but rather subjected them to rigorous examination and testing. If, indeed, a number of (your word) distinguished physicists found what they perceived to be serious flaws in, say General Relativity, I would hope that they would not be shouted, down, voted out, or simply ignored. Perhaps things work differently in Economics and 50% +1 is enough to discover a new absolute truth.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Algoraphobia: An exaggerated fear of the outside world rooted in the belief that one might spontaneously combust due to global warming.

[John Carson]

Oakman wrote:

Unfortunately, economics claims to be a science - and as far as I know, scientists did not vote on whether to pass Newton's Laws, but rather subjected them to rigorous examination and testing. If, indeed, a number of (your word) distinguished physicists found what they perceived to be serious flaws in, say General Relativity, I would hope that they would not be shouted, down, voted out, or simply ignored. Perhaps things work differently in Economics and 50% +1 is enough to discover a new absolute truth.

1. Noone is shouting them down or ignoring them. It is simply a question of whether or not to accept a minority judgement over a majority judgement. It is worth noting in this context that there is very substantial overlap between the anti-government spending economists and the anti-bank-regulation economists. Their credibility is not at an all-time high at the moment. 2. The people who are objecting fall into two main camps: those providing nitpicking objections to small parts of the package and those with a blanket opposition to government spending in general on ideological grounds. There is a third much smaller camp of people like Martin Feldstein who don't object to the basic idea of a large stimulus package with substantial government spending, but are critical of the design of the package (doubting that it is offering the best bang for the buck). This last camp may be right but, even if they are, the package as currently constituted is still vastly better than that favoured by the no-additional-spending crowd. 3. This "truth is not determined by majority vote" stance is perfectly appropriate for those engaged in debating the substance of an issue from an expertly-informed position. For laypeople, it rarely makes sense and is very selectively applied. In another forum, I discussed the issue of climate change. With appropriate adjustments, I think the argument applies here as well.

His position, if I may summarise, is that what matters for determining scientific questions is the weight of evidence, as found in publications in refereed scientific journals. Fine, but how is a layperson to judge what the weight of evidence actually is? While it may be reasonable to expect a climate scientist to be familiar with the weight of evidence in the published literature (from reading enough of it), it is fantastic nonsense to expect that the typical citizen will be. The typical citizen needs to take someone's word for it. If s