tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post8433309025571454281..comments2024-03-19T05:48:10.896-04:00Comments on History Unfolding: Another perspective from the pastDavid Kaiserhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-9208359267685692862011-08-13T09:48:01.408-04:002011-08-13T09:48:01.408-04:00Folks, I can break all of the economic problems of...Folks, I can break all of the economic problems of the world and our country down into one word... GREED. If you want to see the cause, follow the money.<br /><br />RPropertydoctorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01377766665927557244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-60742438696037604822011-08-12T00:20:40.021-04:002011-08-12T00:20:40.021-04:00the law of the jungle, Lord of the Flies is what w...the law of the jungle, Lord of the Flies is what we have now. having seen the Free Hand of the Market for the last 30 years, the absence of Government Regulations speaks volumes.<br /><br />all those lies of the Free Marketers have led to this mess we are in now.<br /><br />but i would never expect them to say they failed. that the Free Market is really an "Owned" Market.<br />such truths will never be found in their "reality." Reality is not their concern. the Free Hand of the Market is. and we know what that means.Beleckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07019091006878450949noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-24972374361005275712011-08-10T22:00:49.723-04:002011-08-10T22:00:49.723-04:00Hey Jude,
Government regulation of sellers requir...Hey Jude,<br /><br />Government regulation of sellers requires, for example, that real estate be surveyed and written deeds recorded, and that gallons, pounds, months, kilowatt-hours, acre-feet, APR and MPG always mean the same thing.<br /><br />If you think that sophisticated, well-informed, market-leading, profit-maximizing entities won't lie and cheat if allowed to, I think you will be disappointed. Consumers, individually, are in no position to monitor the details of the many transactions in which they engage every week, except as to price and soft variables such as friendliness, ambiance, convenience, etc.<br /><br />"Caveat emptor" is a ridiculous principle for standardized transactions. Sorry, I don't have time to check if the "16 oz." in my coffee cup today is the same "16 oz." measure I bought yesterday.<br /><br />I'll go further: outlawing slavery and usury, and severely limiting gambling, was a good thing. (We're still OK on slavery, thank goodness.) Desperate or foolish people will make bad decisions, and sophisticated counterparties can, and will, easily manipulate the weak.JRnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-2129501573451747602011-08-10T07:55:32.440-04:002011-08-10T07:55:32.440-04:00Dear Dr. Kaiser,
A hidden pattern in consumer buy...Dear Dr. Kaiser,<br /><br />A hidden pattern in consumer buying challenges Galbraith's myth in detail. While consumers sometimes behave irrationally, every purchase appears to be a move in an elegant and endless competition. If you want to read about this, my email address is in my profile.<br /><br />To your ultimate point, government regulation of sellers actually hurts buyers. By specifying behaviors that sellers can and cannot engage in, the government effectively sanctions buying from them. Bernie Madoff talked the talk of a federally-regulated securities broker--it just happens that no regulator ever bothered to open his books.<br /><br />There are only two ways to protect buyers. The first is government regulation of buyers. The second is to add one more pithy maxim to our legal tender and coinage: Caveat emptor!<br /><br />With respect and affection,<br />Jude HammerleJude Hammerlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00765872893740924266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-3537714576862111952011-08-08T21:48:06.551-04:002011-08-08T21:48:06.551-04:00Bob,
You can put a link in a comment. For obvi...Bob,<br /><br /> You can put a link in a comment. For obvious reasons I hesitate to post my email. There are too many hostile visitors here. Sorry.<br /><br />DKDavid Kaiserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05020082243968071584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-91076966566758637312011-08-08T20:56:05.421-04:002011-08-08T20:56:05.421-04:00For those of us Silents less facile in web stuff, ...For those of us Silents less facile in web stuff, can you give us an email address or other way for us to forward things of substance?<br />Thanks,Loyal reader in NCBob in NCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-48446336314091849332011-08-07T08:18:11.587-04:002011-08-07T08:18:11.587-04:00The downside to the producers driving the market b...The downside to the producers driving the market by telling people what hey want, is that it gets harder and harder to find what you really want. <br /><br />At my age (72) I have no need for jeans cut below my hipbones and tops that show off my belly. Try to find anything else except in specialized catalogs aimed at the older set. <br /><br />Then they, too, "catch up to the times" fashion-wise. <br /><br />No wonder the old ladies in Boston didn't buy new hats, "we HAVE our hats!"Patricia Mathewsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-2254821477091173502011-08-06T23:00:12.930-04:002011-08-06T23:00:12.930-04:00I read the "New Industrial State" in abo...I read the "New Industrial State" in about 1970. My recollection is that its message was that the large corporations were bigger than the market and could control it with marketing and advertising. <br /><br />History has not shown this to be true. In 1960, the Fortune 500 were led by General Motors, Exxon Mobil,Ford Motor, General Electric, and US Steel. GM was unable to fend off the Japanese challenge, and eventually declared bankruptcy. US Steel today produces only slightly more steel than it did in 1902.<br /><br />In 2011, the Fortune 500 was led by Walmart, Exxon Mobil,Chevron, Conoco Phillips, and Fannie Mae. Now perhaps Galbraith were he alive today would still be talking about the all powerful corporation that uses its marketing to make us buy stuff whether we need it or not, but history does not bear that out. The only companies that seem immune to the market are the oil companies and advertising and marketing are hardly the keys to their success. Fannie Mae is a product of the government and was a bold attempt to manipulate the market for home mortgages. It too will succumb to the market.<br /><br />The market still rules in the end.James50noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-91150304283826791942011-08-06T15:03:34.186-04:002011-08-06T15:03:34.186-04:00Economics theory is the wrong area to study. Regar...Economics theory is the wrong area to study. Regardless of whether we establish a capitalist, communist or theocratic system it will be destroyed over time by slefish human interest. This is what generational theory teaches us. The children destroy the paradise of the parents. <br /><br />That said, which is obvious in the sense of your blog, I have been reading older books and find being too in the present to give a lack of perspective on current life. I just read a 700 page biography of EA Poe and find his tragic life a typical Nomad life, as in my X generation. Since I learned the theory it colours everything I learn about (like Jesus or Buddha as "Prophets" or the Iliad as a crisis war, etc. )<br /><br />Economics is not anything more than a social science based on static information, i.e. It does not take into account the rolling generational changes over time to account for the various changing waves of recessions to stagflation to debt depression to war and back to strong economic development (rebuild) then to recessions, etc. Industry created the war and manfactured the peace (IG Farben, Ford, GM, etc.). <br /><br />The invisible hand only works with a democratic economy of many small trading partners but in large scale capitalism or communism the big money controls everything from govt. on down. Casino capitalism and massive concentration of wealth takes place in the late stages of the multigenerational timeline but in the earlier stages the appearance of fairness and buildup of new infrastructure builds up these massive entities who eventually destroy everything. Engineeering companises or manufactruring were good investments in the 50s but now finance is where the money is. The Nomads want quick money so they can get rich quick and cash out. The greater good is just a joke. See Pirates of the Carribean films with Xer Depp as star.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8746692.post-38669603733177798982011-08-06T14:12:59.245-04:002011-08-06T14:12:59.245-04:00Professor
Wonderful essay re Galbraith, and how t...Professor<br /><br />Wonderful essay re Galbraith, and how things are, and have been!<br /><br />I recently listed a few points which seem to me analogous to your great observations here. <br /><br />Terms search: Krugman Klein Keynes there, if you wish. <br /><br />(Of course my site is filled with a lot of other nonsense only entertaining to myself. Please just ignore there what offends, is impertinent, or too irreverent.)<br /><br />Many thanks,<br />GMBozonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18078858723231122013noreply@blogger.com