Re Economics according to Alan Greenspan

Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan Source: http://sci.tech−archive.net/Archive/sci.econ/2009−04/msg00182.html • From: Saggy • Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:43:48 −0700 (PDT) On Apr 20, 3:41 pm, "Rod Speed" wrote: lal...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: On Apr 20, 9:36 am, Saggy wrote: On Apr 19, 7:23 pm, "Rod Speed" wrote: lal...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: I just finished reading Alan Greenspans book. The first part of the book was biographical, detailing his life and career as an economist. Later on in the book he talked about economics and the world. I found the book interesting and enjoyed reading it. According to him one of the most important factor in determining the sucess of an economy is the rule of law and enforcement of property rights. He makes a good point. Its an arguable one tho, particularly with relatively small scale illegality like with illegal Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 1 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan immigrants etc. I also feel that honesty, hardwork, and knowledge are also important. Hard work is also arguable. Intelligent work is more important that hard work. Honest people will do business efficiently Not necessarily, particularly if they are doing business poorly because they arent good at it. and follow the law. Hordes of small business can flout the law, particularly not paying all the tax they are supposed to with untracable cash transactions etc. Those who are willing to work hard will succeed in producing more. Those who have enough viable between their ears will usually produce even more. Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 2 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan Good education and mastery of analytical and verbal skills allow people to contribute and innovate and work with higher productivity. Depends on what you mean by a good education. Most dont for example need any exposure to Shakespeare etc or the other classics either. Few need more than english either. Decent calculators and computerised cash registers have replaced the need for good mental arithmetic in most areas. Greenspan is against more business regulation and feels that hedge funds and private equity should not be regulated. Thats more a personal preference and even he has since backed off on that considerably now. Again, I must agree with him. I feel that the future is a deregulated global economy. There has to be some regulation. We proscribe slavery and dangerous child labor etc and the the first world has Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 3 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan some decent consumer safety regulation too. Without that you will inevitably get some complete arseholes who put melamine in milk to get the protein content measure they are paid on up and kill lots of little kids. However with the current economic crisis and business failures, perhaps some people will disagree. Everyone does on the most basic regulation like consumer safety and holding the supplier to account legally on what they claim their product can do etc. Greenspan feels that the the US high school education system is not preparing a worker for the curent and future economy. Thats always been arguable. Verbal and mathematical skills of typical high school graduates are poor, and inadequate. Thats not necessarily correct, particularly with maths. Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 4 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan I did my high school education in Singapore, and Singapore has one of the best high school education systems in the world, Easy to claim. Hell of a lot harder to actually substantiate that claim. with an emphasis on math and science education. There will always be plenty who are bad at that and who dont need it. When I went to university in USA, I found myself way ahead of the Americans in knowledge of maths and science. That can only be true in general. There would have been plenty of americans that left you for dead on that. However I feel that the arts are also important. But its a hell of a lot harder to actually substantiate that claim, particularly for say an engineer or aircraft pilot etc. Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 5 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan USA has the best universities in the world, Easy to claim. Hell of a lot harder to actually substantiate that claim. and attracts the best from all over the world. Its really america itself that does that, not so much the universitys. And there is a hell of a range between the best and the worst too. An awful lot of very inadequate university education too, most obviously with the liberal arts degrees etc. Greenspan feels that US should encouragre immigration of skilled workers from throughout the world to USA. The main contra argument on that is that that does tend to leave the dregs back where they came from. Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 6 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan I think that there is a lot of resistance to this, especially with the economic crisis. I bet we wont actually see much change on that legally. Do you agree with Greenspans points? Not on the lack of regulation or even the most general claims about education. Where specifically do you disagree? See above. And there isnt much evidence that the sun shines from his arse given that he never did see the current fiasco coming. "Imagination is more important than knowledge" − Albert E. Not with some work. Greenspan was one of the major players in the S&L crisis .... a Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 7 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan complete fool or crook, take you pick .... let's google ... He has been a shill for the puppeteers since the mid−1980s. He wrote reports to the the congressional oversight committee for Charles Keating in 1985 which proclaimed that Keatings Lincoln Savings & Loan was quote: a financially strong institution that presents no foreseeable risk to depositors or the government. Greenspan also wrote similar favorable reports for other banks that also soon failed. These incompetent or criminal acts were apparently the necessary qualifications to become chairman of the Fed.. ..... absolutely amazing. Then he spent 15 years deciding whether or not one number should go up or down while the financiers eviscerated the economy. This guy is still, obviously, either a crook or a fool. Probably both. I think that economics is not an exact science, and the failings of Greenspan are due to the failings of the discipline of economics Yes. Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 8 Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan and do not reflect too badly on Greenspan. The main thing that does reflect very badly on Greenspan is his passion for minimum regulation. Tho he does have enough of a clue to realise that he was just plain wrong on that and does have the balls to admit that too. Good lord. Greenspan 'apologized' for screwing up the financial system as well as the underlying economy to the point where it will never come back, all while he and the financiers became millionaires if not billionaires. Sure, he 'admitted' it all the way to the bank. Greenspan, Paulson, Bernanke, Rubin, et. al. are crooks of the first order who have perpetrated the greatest financial scam in history. They're probably heroes in Israel, having make paupers and fools of the goyim. . Re: Economics according to Alan Greenspan 9