tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10162381.post2756454205474667453..comments2023-10-29T10:41:21.303-04:00Comments on Castro's Favorite Color: Disproving Conservative Economic MythsHowardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14914637175040341245noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10162381.post-83246545716703158952011-03-24T14:14:26.749-04:002011-03-24T14:14:26.749-04:00Thanks for commenting. I have some questions. :)
...Thanks for commenting. I have some questions. :)<br /><br />Your first two paragraphs don't help me. You don't say what is biased and what isn't fact. I think there are facts in there (eg delong's graphs) and saying they are pushing agenda doesn't make them go away. Also clealy thaws people over the last few years have posted tons of facts and I've linked to and commented on many. That may be hard to come into, but saying its merely opinion and hard to take is to my mind burying your head in the sand. <br /><br />As far as experiments being big with too little data well maybe. But as Leif an and a few others argue, their economics comes from Keyes whose experiment was the depression. U of Chicago economists over the last few decades have ignored Keyes. They keep pushing things like spending is too high (it was high before the crash but didn't cause one, so it wasnt the cause but unregulated derivatives were). They say inflation is a problem but the data, interest rates, remain low disproving that. They say we must cut govt spending but that will reduce jobs and that's supposed to help this recovery even though it's jobs that are the problem. On the other hand the fact that the problem is demand is low fits the data and is ignored by them. I don't get it. <br /><br />The last argument is flawed because the countries economy is not like your house's. You can't print money or tax or issue bonds (mostly) etc. There's a reason microeconomics is different from macroeconomics. Yes I want a lower deficit and have said so for years. I wanted the surplus of the 90s to be used to pay off the debt. But unfortunately now the problem is something else that we must address first. The best way to reduce the deficit is to get more people working (that's why it's high now). Long term the thing to address is healthcare costs. That will make the biggest difference. <br /><br />There is data and I will continue to post it. I hope you continue to read it. And I hope you'll point me at the other side's data. I'll look into it too( and I have tried to post it). Unless we make the effort to understand the other sides arguments we can never come to agreement. <br /><br />I know I now post in a kinda inflammatory style. Unfortunately it's come from several years of posting and being rather unconvinced in the rights arguments. They have over and over again struck me as opportunist and hypocritical. I'll be glad to be convinced otherwise. But it hasn't happened yet.Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14914637175040341245noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10162381.post-9381382405497631942011-03-24T13:53:59.604-04:002011-03-24T13:53:59.604-04:00Hi Howard, thanks for the links. I must say, I fi...Hi Howard, thanks for the links. I must say, I find more politics than fact in these arguments. First, these commentators are leveraging their economics credibility to push their political agenda with very little fact. (Same on the right, btw.) In Reich's article, you could insert "in my opinion" all over the place and not change the meaning at all.<br /><br />The ones I know have an extreme left-lean, and are hard to listen to as unbiased.<br /><br />The problem we have with macro-economics is the experiments are too large and the sample sizes to small to make statistically valid arguments about cause. What that leaves us with is both sides arguing preferences based on social-justice beliefs that they back up with statistically insignificant data that happens to support them. Nobody seems to objectively look at the data and give me answers I can do anything with.<br /><br />I'm clearly no economist, but from my own experience, when you are deeply in dept, you stop spending. I'm sad that I don't get the things I want, but those emotions don't change anything. I find it difficult to not apply that same logic to governmental size problems.<br /><br />Again, thanks for the links.Ken Flowershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08466308899273457964noreply@blogger.com