Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for June 02, 2011

some money mananger

You either believe in free markets or you believe it is government’s job to manage the economy. Microeconomics is the study of free markets, macroeconomics is the study of how to interfere in free markets. Microeconomics is the only real economics; macroeconomics is an excuse for constantly expanding government. Bad choice, Arlo.

Yes, Arlo, looking at the big picture, things are going downhill. It’s frustrating, but at least you’re still on your feet.

you say Macro, I say Micro – Macro, Micro – let’s call the whole thing off. dd

My economics is both. One income and 21 ways to spend it.

You don’t have to chose between the two. In fact, a blend of both works well. It doesn’t have to be constantly expanding. Everything in moderation…..a just right size government works for me. Somethings just have to be done by government..

Somethings just have to be done by government..yes , but baby sit’n ’s not one of them

There is not such thing as a free market, it is an “ideal” and one that might not actually work all that well in reality anyways. Most absolutes sound great to the proponents of such, but end up causing much more harm then good.

The legacy of 30 years of tax cuts and deregulation. The top 1% of Americans now control 40% of the nation’s wealth. What used to be called “middle class”? They’ve got nothing for you, and want to end your Medicare to fund more tax cuts. Because the Bush tax cuts have done such a great job of creating jobs over the last 10 years, right?

I miss that we cannot vote on comments.

Plus bonus for CEO of credit card company when more consumers have ever higher debt resulting in more interest for said credit card company and thus more profits for the select few who own stock.

It’s amazing how stupidly people will behave when faced with the choice of immediate, short-lived gains OR eventual, long-lived gains. Thus we have managers who can get good results for a quarter or two but then bankrupt the company over the next couple of years.

As Heinlein once pointed out, a managed economy is a great thing; for the managers. The Soviet Union had a managed economy and look what happened to it: it fell apart when its (managed) economy collapsed because it couldn’t manage to feed itself. Now, of course, it’s a kleptocracy, (government by thieves) but at least it’s not on the edge of starvation.

As I see it, it’s not macro or micro, its extremism. Most people can not view anything but the two far sides. Where you get the most growth and best working system is when both extremes are eliminated. The USSR had one kind of extreme system, now we are by preaching free market and no controls attempting to push yet another extreme. Neither works well for everyone but each works excellently for a few lucky people at the top of the food chain. Both are fueled by the gullible, the fearful and the greedy. If you firmly believe that all humans are sterling saints or raving demons or you hero worship, you’ll support either one extreme or the other. If you think you’ve got a snowballs chance of being at the top of the food chain you’ll support one or the other. If your just scared to death .. well you’ll get it, but you’ll be too scared to admit it…

free market is not an extreme system, its everthing we have form elavators to telephones light bulbs to the internet . Name a goverment economy that ever did better

I read some of these comments and weep for America. Especially sad are all the attacks on corporations from people who confuse the gun of government power with the dollar of economic power. What does it say about them that they trust the gun but not the dollar?

Special for Rista: So the choice between truth and falsehood is extreme? You don’t think the choice is between freedom and slavery so a little slavery is OK? Try as you might to live in a world of grays, life and death is as black and white as it gets.