tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084144703351548082.post3848062576909439325..comments2023-10-29T10:23:27.584-05:00Comments on Androcass: Recession, schmecession - 1/19/08Eric Easterberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11535369798458596223noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084144703351548082.post-81083675508084597292008-09-20T22:34:00.000-05:002008-09-20T22:34:00.000-05:00i can commit to a house and family, but no employe...i can commit to a house and family, but no employer ever said i could count on it. i'm not sure there's any alternative to "take what comes".<BR/><BR/>you stated your precise objection to the globalization of the software industry in a comment a while back. but all i remember hearing is "we lost something". and yeah, compared to 1998, this is a more competitive market. you know what? i'm sad, too! yeah, i wanna earn huge wages! times change. that fact's worth about two minutes of my contemplation per year.<BR/><BR/>to you, there's something more to it. what more could there possibly be? what more <I>of good sense</I> could there possibly be?<BR/><BR/>you and carrie have taught me a lot about the fear pervading the citizenry, even while you deny that this is about fear. i've only sought to understand the fear, and to understand whether it's rational.<BR/><BR/>yeah, it's hard when markets shift against you. the alternative (no markets at all) is harder.<BR/><BR/>i'm paying attention, hoping to understand, and open to enlightenment.<BR/><BR/>idiocracy seems quite unlikely to me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084144703351548082.post-46281270543917925772008-09-20T01:52:00.000-05:002008-09-20T01:52:00.000-05:00mcf, totally agree with your first point, and that...mcf, totally agree with your first point, and that is exactly the point I frequently try to make, that we have lost the will to do the same sorts of things, so caught up are we in laissez-faire.<BR/><BR/>Mankiw makes some good points, but may have hopelessly compromised himself during his Bush-shill years.<BR/><BR/>I read quite a few economists who felt that paying down debt would defeat the stated purpose of the "stimulus," which was to give a quick jump-start to the consumer-driven economy.<BR/><BR/>I don't believe I said that you couldn't commit to a home or a family, just that your commendable attitude of "take what comes" might conflict with those kinds of commitments. If I unartfully personalized it to the extent that you imply, I apologize; I meant a more general statement about people which I stand behind.<BR/><BR/>Real economic concerns have been underreported; try to find a decent news report on offshoring or resource mismatches, which are far more important to the future than a five-cent shift in the price of gas.<BR/><BR/>Sorry you feel that I have been ignoring you, but I made it clear (in a post you might have missed) that I would not be involved with the blog much, if at all, while I was away.Eric Easterberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11535369798458596223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084144703351548082.post-45033274936655728942008-09-14T18:06:00.000-05:002008-09-14T18:06:00.000-05:00put down the dreadful pap-news and get knee-deep i...put down the dreadful pap-news and get knee-deep in great sources like this:<BR/><BR/>http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2008/09/recessions_and.html<BR/><BR/>output gap! who cares if it's in Time? what Joe Sixpack's seeing on t.v. news is a secondary story to the matters themselves.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084144703351548082.post-18241123278265159102008-09-14T13:32:00.000-05:002008-09-14T13:32:00.000-05:00china and india are enjoying WELL EARNED progress ...china and india are enjoying WELL EARNED progress that isn't so surprising anymore. both nations have struggled for a generation to gain the global footing they deserve.<BR/><BR/>yeah i'm a skeptic about the "rebates". actually i remember the check called itself a "payment" which i guess isn't "compensation" (for doing nothing but collectively raiding our treasury together). the official word is that there was an increase in consumption, but some economists i read on the web (greg manikaw, brilliant but conservative) argued it would take check after check after check to keep it up because it doesn't bolster our own production and infrastructure. (he says that's what tax cuts are, so we should do those instead.) i think a two thousand dollar education tax credit would go further, but it would take too much time!<BR/><BR/>i heard a lot of people say it should be used to pay down debt, and i never heard an economist say it should not be. who said that? enlightened self-interest? i doubt it!<BR/><BR/>i maintain a large cash balance (remember me? can't even commit to a home or a family, you said? well my bank balance is $27k so $400 or whatever was just an annoying trip to the bank. definitely no cause for spending!)<BR/><BR/>you can call economic concerns "underreported" but that sexy gray haired journalist called them "far and away the most important issue on voters minds" last week. perhaps people already know the news? you appraise news sources in broad strokes that i frequently dispute based on daily readings of WSJ and NYT (occasionally both, usually just one or the other). not saying i'm captain awesome, but if you have economics on your mind, pick up these more detailed sources. EVERY ISSUE is the economy issue in the WSJ! i love that paper but news corp will kill it. i haven't read Time in years. <BR/><BR/>this made me laugh:<BR/><BR/>http://marriedtothesea.com/031008/recession.gif<BR/><BR/>you know i credit the last recession with enlivening me in many ways. my frustration with the economy got me interested in economics journalism, an interest that deepend over many years of study. but this is your soapbox (not mine; i'm talking to you alone even as you ignore me; i have my own soapbox) so i'll stfu now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com