Friday, August 24, 2012

Ayn Rand, Paul Ryan and the gold standard

Does any of this matter? Well, if the Republican ticket wins, Mr. Ryan will surely be an influential force in the next administration — and bear in mind, too, that he would, as the cliché goes, be a heartbeat away from the presidency. So it should worry us that Mr. Ryan holds monetary views that would, if put into practice, go a long way toward recreating the Great Depression.
And, beyond that, consider the fact that Mr. Ryan is considered the modern G.O.P.’s big thinker. What does it say about the party when its intellectual leader evidently gets his ideas largely from deeply unrealistic fantasy novels?
The New York Times | Opinion
Galt, Gold and God
Paul Krugman

More looney toons.

See also Paul Krugman, Francisco d’Anconia on Money.

13 comments:

Matt Franko said...

Weak sauce from PK wrt the atheist Ayn Rand angle... and as usual weak sauce on the fiscal balance:

PK: "As I documented in my last column, Mr. Ryan’s reputation for being serious about the budget deficit is completely undeserved; his policies would actually increase the deficit."

(What an idiot)

This advocates and is supportive of Ryan's idea that lower deficits are "good" and is not helpful.

rsp,

Matt Franko said...

This is interesting where PK out of the one side of his mouth is claiming under a gold standard there wont be enough balances for the economy while out of the other side of his mouth is advocating deficit reduction which also leaves inadequate balances in the economy...

He speak with forked tongue... or he moron Kimosabe...

Tom Hickey said...

Matt PK: "As I documented in my last column, Mr. Ryan’s reputation for being serious about the budget deficit is completely undeserved; his policies would actually increase the deficit."

(What an idiot)


Yes, but It's Ryan who is claiming to be the fiscal conservative committed to reducing the deficit and balancing the budget YoY, not PK, who wants a balanced budget over the cycle. Big difference.

Jonf said...

A deep thinker you say? The buggers keep coming up with these really bright people. Let's see, the gold standard and lady parts are right up there in the party platform. Really deep thinking.

Matt Franko said...

Tom,

2 wrongs dont make a right....

K's argrument is basically "that went out 200 years ago"...

This is not even an argument for someone who is supposed to be a PhD economist and award winning.

There is a tremendous scientific/mathematic ie true academic argument to be made (MMT) and he exhibits no understanding or awareness of this.

If I wanted this type of shallowness I can listen to Rush Limbaugh everyday from 12 to 3 pm.... K is a Rush Limbaugh style hack...

rsp,

Tom Hickey said...

Matt, There is a tremendous scientific/mathematic ie true academic argument to be made (MMT) and he exhibits no understanding or awareness of this.

While that is true about PK, so far hardly any other economists do either. We need to do a better job at convincing them. But I don't know how. Warren spent some time doing this in private conservation with many of them, including PK.

PeterP said...

Tom

"We need to do a better job at convincing them. But I don't know how. Warren spent some time doing this in private conservation with many of them, including PK."

This may be your answer:

"… Krugman asked [Lietaer], “Didn’t they warn you about not touching the monetary system? If you insist on talking about it, it will kill you academically. It takes a university economist completely out of the system of peer approvals that culminates for a few in the prize given by the central bank of Sweden in honor of Alfred Nobel.” …



Although I think you are aware of that.

http://heteconomist.com/?p=5175#more-5175

Matt Franko said...

Tom,

imo his pure politics is blinding him... and many on the left.

K gets it all wrong ALL THE TIME and just when you think the left is frustrated enough with him to call him out on it, he comes out with a pure political shallow hit piece like this and the left..... I dont know how to describe it.... its like they are charmed by him and he becomes the lefts darling again....

I witness this same thing ALL THE TIME on the right.... eg folks go to church on Sunday and talk about how we have to take care of one another, blah, blah, blah... then tune in Limbaugh on Monday at noon and all of that goes out the window... and they go for Ryan's budget cutting, etc...

Apostle Paul scolding the Galatians: "WHO BEWITCHES YOU?!"

Righteous folks on both sides have to start asking themselves if they are being bewitched in all of this, and then left completely blind to the truth...

And then to PeterP's point there is academic corruption...

rsp

paul meli said...

Matt,

How are the left and right different, in a nutshell?

I'm not sure I know what those terms mean anymore.

Matt Franko said...

right Paul,

It's like I should start referring to these as "legacy left" and "legacy right"... and start using "non-stupid" and "stupid"...

rsp,

Tom Hickey said...

"… Krugman asked [Lietaer], “Didn’t they warn you about not touching the monetary system? If you insist on talking about it, it will kill you academically. It takes a university economist completely out of the system of peer approvals that culminates for a few in the prize given by the central bank of Sweden in honor of Alfred Nobel.” …

Thanks, PeterP. That explains it.

paul meli said...

Leiter is the guy that made the observation that credit only creates the principal, not the interest and was one of the original architects of the Euro.

dave said...

while krugman may be a tool, he is in no way even close to rush limpball, no one should be allowed to spew such hate filled vile as rush does on a daily basis across the airwaves into the empty headed ditto douchebags