Comments on: Can Any Good Come from a Recession? http://blog.acton.org/archives/2245-can-any-good-come-from-a-recession.html "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:37:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Clare Krishan http://blog.acton.org/archives/2245-can-any-good-come-from-a-recession.html/comment-page-1#comment-2886 Clare Krishan Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:45:31 +0000 http://pb3.acton.org/?p=2137#comment-2886 Is our indebtedness corrupting our political perspicacity? Reuters reports a muting of defense of human rights in Tibet, while Maurizio d’Orlando claims the West now tolerates "economic dirigisme that are only superficially different" in China and Japan see www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11815&size=A Sorry to highjack this thread, but the topic is being neglected in the MSM in fear. Is our indebtedness corrupting our political perspicacity? Reuters reports a muting of defense of human rights in Tibet, while Maurizio d’Orlando claims the West now tolerates “economic dirigisme that are only superficially different” in China and Japan see http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11815&size=A

Sorry to highjack this thread, but the topic is being neglected in the MSM in fear.

]]> By: Clare Krishan http://blog.acton.org/archives/2245-can-any-good-come-from-a-recession.html/comment-page-1#comment-2882 Clare Krishan Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:17:31 +0000 http://pb3.acton.org/?p=2137#comment-2882 Oops - my bad, I see there's a commentary http://www.acton.org/commentary/440_printing_money_for_wall_street.php posted today on exactly this point (and the author is brave enough to speak truth to power, "fraud" is indeed what we are observing at the highest levels of our government... Oops - my bad, I see there’s a commentary

http://www.acton.org/commentary/440_printing_money_for_wall_street.php

posted today on exactly this point (and the author is brave enough to speak truth to power, “fraud” is indeed what we are observing at the highest levels of our government…

]]> By: Clare Krishan http://blog.acton.org/archives/2245-can-any-good-come-from-a-recession.html/comment-page-1#comment-2877 Clare Krishan Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:37:07 +0000 http://pb3.acton.org/?p=2137#comment-2877 Do Acton fellows have an "Austrian" point of view to share on the blog re: the influence to the US economy of insuring credit default at market rates when recession hits? The interview with de Soto at http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen17_2_1.asp posits that Keynes "corrupted" economics with his innovations to commerce in life insurance, since classical "supply and demand" data can only be mathematically analyzed post facto not contemporaneously with the market. "de SOTO: It turns out that Keynes not only corrupted economics. He also corrupted the practices of life insurance. He broke with the traditional policies of his company by valuing assets at market value instead of historical value. In the short term, it gave him an enormous competitive advantage. Keynes was able to distribute dividends to his clients against unrealized capital gains. When the stock market was going up, it was wonderful. But when the Great Depression arrived, his company nearly went bankrupt. Both the British and the American insurance industries are suffering from his disastrous departure from tradition. On the continent it is still the practice to value assets at historical cost and only pay dividends against realized capital gains." Does this "continental practice" explain a certain immunity to the ravages of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, indeed point to the cause of a certain trade imbalance, that leaves the continent(s) (Asia included) as creditor to the US's burgeoning debts? I have read recently that up to a third of the US economy is now fuelled by financial services (whereby the demand is domestic but the profits are foreign). How does this help j6p build a secure future for his family, and how is this good foreign policy in defense of Christian Truth? How does a nation act morally if its markets do not? Any insights appreciated... Do Acton fellows have an “Austrian” point of view to share on the blog re: the influence to the US economy of insuring credit default at market rates when recession hits?

The interview with de Soto at

http://www.mises.org/journals/aen/aen17_2_1.asp

posits that Keynes “corrupted” economics with his innovations to commerce in life insurance, since classical “supply and demand” data can only be mathematically analyzed post facto not contemporaneously with the market.

“de SOTO: It turns out that Keynes not only corrupted economics. He also corrupted the practices of life insurance. He broke with the traditional policies of his company by valuing assets at market value instead of historical value. In the short term, it gave him an enormous competitive advantage. Keynes was able to distribute dividends to his clients against unrealized capital gains.

When the stock market was going up, it was wonderful. But when the Great Depression arrived, his company nearly went bankrupt. Both the British and the American insurance industries are suffering from his disastrous departure from tradition. On the continent it is still the practice to value assets at historical cost and only pay dividends against realized capital gains.”

Does this “continental practice” explain a certain immunity to the ravages of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, indeed point to the cause of a certain trade imbalance, that leaves the continent(s) (Asia included) as creditor to the US’s burgeoning debts? I have read recently that up to a third of the US economy is now fuelled by financial services (whereby the demand is domestic but the profits are foreign). How does this help j6p build a secure future for his family, and how is this good foreign policy in defense of Christian Truth? How does a nation act morally if its markets do not?

Any insights appreciated…

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