Arkady's Thoughts

Yesterday the BLS issued a very positive report suggesting that unemployment across the board went down to levels we have not seen in a year.  Here is a snapshot: Even the number that I always pay attention to, U-6, shaved almost 2% in one year.  There is no way to spin this, this is an improvement when viewed alone.  If we are primary a consumer driven economy then getting people back to work is the only way to recover true organic growth.   So what gives?  For a long time many skeptics including myself have been suggesting that we are going to see higher and higher unemployment, stating so even as early as last year.  I think there is a very clear explanation and incidentally this is precisely the same explanation that has us staring at $108 oil and soon to be $4 gasoline.  The federal reserve has been furiously pumping money into the economy, the same money he was unable to pump in two years ago due to bank's refusals to lend.  The...

"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a "dismal science." But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance." - Murray N. Rothbard I am absolutely delighted to see this for several reasons.  First of all, this is really well done in both substance and style.  Second of all, this covers a topic that most Americans know almost nothing about!  Most Americans believe the inner workings of Keynesian, Monetarist or Austrian theories is not a requirement to understand, it becomes a moral imperative when these very same people passionately argue political viewpoints whose basis rests in the very economic theories they are not interested in learning.   So this presents a conundrum, how can we have an educated voting electorate when politics have become so intertwined with economics?...