tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post8143989294212276742..comments2024-02-29T00:46:38.800-08:00Comments on Washingtons Blog: Grading Free Market Capitalism and "The Invisible Hand"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-62481115836870469372010-05-02T13:09:19.840-07:002010-05-02T13:09:19.840-07:00A true free market has natural checks and balances...<i>A true free market has natural checks and balances built right into it. If a company sells products and services at a price too high or is found out to be misleading consumers, they will go out of business.</i><br /><br />So, how can we know if we are being misled if there are no product labeling regulations?<br /><br />How can we avoid "too high" prices if there are monopolies or cartels?<br /><br />Regulations don't stifle economies, people do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-70553299919755462292010-03-14T20:51:12.524-07:002010-03-14T20:51:12.524-07:00Finance is not Capitalism. Finance is a service th...Finance is not Capitalism. Finance is a service that helps facilitate Capitalism, but when Finance goes rogue it kills Capitalism by destroying the system that Capitalists need to keep score..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-67021340649384145972010-03-01T16:49:18.166-08:002010-03-01T16:49:18.166-08:00We don't live in a Free Market economy so can&...We don't live in a Free Market economy so can't prove that Free Markets don't work by citing current issues. You can't have a free market when money supply/interest rates are controlled by the Fed. <br /><br />We have government welfare so you can't say that the rich would not donate more to charity (without welfare) by stating that "Anyone with real world experience knows this is a bogus argument."<br /><br />We have to actually try something out before we can say that it doesn't work. Considering our whole system is based on fiat money and it's tanking maybe we should try something new. <br /><br />Perhaps going to a completely free market system "could" turn into a world where governments buckle under pressure from huge multi-national corporations and every official is bought off...hmmm that sounds strangely similar to the world in which we live. Maybe it won't be as bad as a lot of people think? Maybe it would be good? Personally I'd rather take my chances with something that "could" happen as opposed to something that "is" happening.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-81091674389354335972010-03-01T15:28:27.864-08:002010-03-01T15:28:27.864-08:00The Money Masters have the right approach to our c...The Money Masters have the right approach to our common problem.<br /><br />themoneymasters.com<br /><br />They recommend the following a Two Step Plan to National Reform and Recovery.<br /><br />"1. Direct the Treasury Department to issue U.S. Notes (like Lincoln's Greenbacks) to pay off the National debt.<br /><br />2. Increases the reserve ratio private banks are required to maintain from 10% to 100%, thereby terminating their ability to create money, while<br />simultaneously absorbing the funds created to retire the national debt.<br /><br />These two relatively simple steps, which Congress has the power to enact, would extinguish the national debt, without inflation or deflation, and end the unjust practice of private banks creating money as (i.e., fractional reserve banking). Paying off the national dept would wipe out the $4oo+billion annual interest payments and thereby balance the budget. This Act would stabilize the economy and end the boom-bust economic cycles caused by fractional reserve banking."<br /><br />Support the Monetary Reform Act - write your Congressman today!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-79556386889349059382010-03-01T12:13:01.341-08:002010-03-01T12:13:01.341-08:00" Free market capitalism is based on the idea..." Free market capitalism is based on the idea that "the invisible hand" of the market will create the best possible outcome for the most people. " <br /><br />This statement is Totally inacurate and misleading : capitalism/free markets are designed to enhance Profit at Any cost to the conssumer/people generaly . Just look around you and the News , capitalism is an open door for profettering , abuse and Selfishness .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-87745291263064121042010-03-01T10:38:11.554-08:002010-03-01T10:38:11.554-08:00The American Monetary Institute proposes the follo...The American Monetary Institute proposes the following alternative:<br />Incorporate the Federal Reserve System into the U.S. Treasury where all new money would be created by government as money, not interest-bearing debt; and be spent into circulation to promote the general welfare. The monetary system would be monitored to be neither inflationary nor deflationary.<br /><br />Second, halt the bank’s privilege to create money by ending the fractional reserve system in a gentle and elegant way. All the past monetized private credit would be converted into U.S. government money. Banks would then act as intermediaries accepting savings deposits and loaning them out to borrowers. They would do what people think they do now. This Act nationalizes the money system, not the banking system.<br /><br />http://www.monetary.org/need_for_monetary_reform.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-85067836569756030652010-03-01T06:20:15.240-08:002010-03-01T06:20:15.240-08:00Invisible Hand? Are you referring to the Rothchild...Invisible Hand? Are you referring to the Rothchilds...Morpheusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-77284353336140387272010-02-28T15:52:25.741-08:002010-02-28T15:52:25.741-08:00Hi, thank you very much. good job.Hi, thank you very much. good job.Ian Eisenberghttp://www.zevia.com/about_management.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-41162478197382767282010-02-28T12:43:56.097-08:002010-02-28T12:43:56.097-08:00The "inherent stability" of the market i...The "inherent stability" of the market is a reliance on human innovation to take advantage of any big mess. In most transactions money is neither created nor destroyed, simply transferred.<br /><br />The "invisible hand" idea has always bothered me on many levels. I've actually heard it argued that if there was no government welfare, poor people would be better off because the rich in this country would be more motivated towards philanthropy and the poor would be more motivated towards hard work. Anyone with real world experience knows this is a bogus argument.<br /><br />Beyond that aspect of it, the job of the "invisible hand" seems to be shuffling money from the poor to the rich.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-2563640436370949182010-02-28T09:13:51.762-08:002010-02-28T09:13:51.762-08:00Here we are learning today that unless something i...Here we are learning today that unless something is done quickly, something over one million will run out of unemployment benefits and, in many cases, I'm sure, food as well. Yet we have post after post instructing us in the libertarian catechism that the only steps that government can take to intervene in the economy will be destructive! What stands behind this rather peculiar notion is one even more peculiar: That the state is a kind of moral agent, that it is intrinsically "evil" and that only "evil" can come from its activities. This contruct lies at the very core of libertarianism and is as flawed as it is outrageous. Structures such as the state can only be neutral morally as only human beings possess moral agency and can be said to be evil. To assert otherwise is to express only the most abysmal ignorance of moral theology. Would a libertarian assert that a gun is anything but morally neutral? Hardly. How, then, to justify this atrocious contradiction when it comes to the state? Perhaps we'll learn when libertarians revive their beloved Confederacy or elect Ron Paul who might as his first act as President offer membership in the Flat Earth Society free of charge to any citizen. Now that's "liberty" for you, eh? <br /><br />Andrei VyshinskyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-80636185819811532492010-02-28T07:53:59.948-08:002010-02-28T07:53:59.948-08:00General Washington, I do not think you grasp the f...General Washington, I do not think you grasp the full extent of government/corporate collusion in manipulating the economy. One key point that even many top mainstream economists on our side like Paul Craig Roberts do not understand are the socially manipulative effects of fiat money creation by a Central Bank. We need to limit government so that there is nothing for the corporations to loot with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-22890102044028129952010-02-28T06:39:56.186-08:002010-02-28T06:39:56.186-08:00This particular issue is one of the reasons attain...This particular issue is one of the reasons attainder was prohibited. It could take many forms, but all of them were laws targeted at any group, for one group's benefit, or penalty.<br /><br />The greatest nature of the Republican form of government (quite distinct, separate, and different from that political party) was the fact that no law could be made that did not equally have its benefits and penalties upon the whole of society. All laws must be general in applicability, and must affect congress, their friends, and the whole of society equally. (federalist 57).<br /><br />In addition, this prohibited the people from voting away any rights of any others, as it would also affect them. (federalist 51). The states themselves are bound to this Republican form of government, wherein no group could receive the advantage of law, by penalizing others to their benefit.<br /><br />The only way monopoly can arise is by these actions of government, targeted legislation, and unequal law.<br /><br />But what do I know? I'm just an idiot.The Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10597750919779140564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-26703251833239071722010-02-28T06:14:44.383-08:002010-02-28T06:14:44.383-08:001) "But capitalism has to grow up and become ...1) "But capitalism has to grow up and become less naive, relying less on a blind faith in "the invisible hand" and more on an understanding of human nature, including insights from the field of behavioral economics."<br /><br />2) "Smith was sometimes tolerant of government intervention, ''especially when the object is to reduce poverty.'' Smith passionately argued, ''When the regulation, therefore, is in support of the workman, it is always just and equitable; but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters.'' He saw a tacit conspiracy on the part of employers ''always and everywhere'' to keep wages as low as possible."<br /><br />3) "Investors in financial markets rationally pursuing individual profit, then, can produce outcomes that are globally negative. Doesn’t that contradict classical economic theory? “Both theory and empirical facts do tend to show that, on the financial markets, the Invisible Hand does not always lead to welfare-improving general outcomes,” Cont replies."<br /><br />The above are three quoted paragraphs from the article.<br /><br />Most contemporary-modern writers empirically assume any problem can be gnawed at with a synthesis of several ideas to produce an enlightenment of understanding. They fail to be critical enough of their own processes to recognize, it is all this empirical gnawing at the problems, that creates the surety to take the next step, which ALWAYS creates an even bigger problem.<br /><br />That is the nature of our current cultural depression, which too many want to interpret as an economic phenomenon, when it is not -exclusively or even in the greater of its part.<br /><br />In paragraph one- we find a restatement of empirical resolve couched in terms of our current conundrum, concerning mustering the faith to try, try again- to correct a problem that cannot be corrected using the archaic terms and methods of the past. This approach will only make matters, again, exponentially worse, if it has any effect at all. (Note the bail out strategy, which was deduced using this exact-same approach.)<br /><br />Paragraph two, is a restatement of Adam Smith's invention, similarly couched in the terms and methods current to the now historic predicament of his time. (Note, Smith arguing "When the regulation, therefore, is in support of the workman, it is always just and equitable." I am sorry -but Carnegie and others rightly pointed out -if you pay the workman well he will be a poor worker, prone to drunkenness. Others noted, well-cared-for workers will breed endlessly, creating the seeds of their own labor-value destruction, -also ruining the environment in which they live.)<br /><br />I included paragraph three because its statement concerning the current conundrum has all the ingredients for measurably taking a path that would allow for the escaping of the empirically obsessive-compulsive behavior of modern-contemporary thought, even if it then goes on to ignore the truth that stares everyone in the face.<br /><br />"Doesn’t that contradict classical economic theory?"<br /><br />Yes, Folks.<br /><br />It is all the endless empirically derived theories themselves that are the dominoes that repeatedly fall over and over again, in an endlessly obsessive-compulsive empirical behavior -that has found us again at the bottom of a very deep ravine arguing about what has happened, and what the next obsessive-compulsive empirical move should be...<br /><br />Now stop.<br /><br />There is a new knowledge set called Categorical Knowledge, that approaches truth entirely differently.<br /><br />Categorical Knowledge allows for creating rules that should NEVER be violated.<br /><br />Here are two of those rules. 1) All bureaucracies are categorically immoral. And 2) All credit is categorically immoral.<br /><br />Follow categorical rules, if you want to end the obsessive-compulsive empirical behavior that is so vexing humanity.<br /><br />Life is good. Science is a load of crap.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-89201671654127143022010-02-27T23:24:04.880-08:002010-02-27T23:24:04.880-08:00A true free market has natural checks and balances...A true free market has natural checks and balances built right into it. If a company sells products and services at a price too high or is found out to be misleading consumers, they will go out of business.<br /><br />There is no better regulation than consumers voting with their dollars. <br /><br />Government regulation is an oxymoron that always leads to an enslaved society.Ryanhttp://www.reboottherepublic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-17884319542040953342010-02-27T21:23:39.489-08:002010-02-27T21:23:39.489-08:00Trouble is, the guiding hand gets corrupted. A lo...Trouble is, the guiding hand gets corrupted. A longer story, one that shows the University of Chicago, or at least my favorite parts of it, remain Shiningly relevant.Eileen https://www.blogger.com/profile/09687938369788317577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-70278437770779239762010-02-27T20:18:30.423-08:002010-02-27T20:18:30.423-08:00And how does one player get all the chips? Throug...And how does one player get all the chips? Through government intervention. Our entire banking system is based on fractional reserve banking and the Fed. Both are huge give-aways to bankers.<br /><br />Finance is replete with examples of government intrusion on the free market. Just look at the ratings cartel that was given away in 1975.<br /><br />http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/09/time-to-break-up-credit-rating-cartel.html<br /><br />Legal monopoly.<br /><br />If you want to see who can do things better, the government or private enterprise, even in some of the most fundamental things like building roads, I highly recommend checking out Thomas DiLorenzo:<br /><br />http://mises.org/journals/scholar/internal.pdf<br /><br />This is shorter, and incomplete, but it should give the idea:<br /><br />http://books.google.com/books?id=_YaS18_3nlQC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=dilorenzo+turnpikes&source=bl&ots=OtimM0hzai&sig=JvR1qavl3uw75UFzeOS6PgZrbLE&hl=en&ei=i-qJS727F5S1tgeZ0a2bDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false<br /><br />The invisible hand can't work if the government ties it.Joshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12873844615515659610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53246864840716464.post-75683043522241603192010-02-27T19:54:36.288-08:002010-02-27T19:54:36.288-08:00If free market capitalism is dead, it was preceded...If free market capitalism is dead, it was preceded by the death of nuance.<br /><br />If stifling over-regulation is bad, then total deregulation including laws against fraud must be good, right? I mean that's what Smith meant by the invisible hand- total anarchy, right?<br /><br />If Keynes advised government spending during downturns, he must have also supported pro-cyclical government spending, and exponentially increasing government spending, in perpetuity right?<br /><br />When Friedman endorsed market determined interest rates, he really meant a Central Bank led race to ZIRP, worldwide.<br /><br />Certainly capitalism can only be 19th century workers' hell and socialism can only mean Soviet Communism.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04490179400711329488noreply@blogger.com