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Deflation is such a wonderful thing for savers.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 03:21:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Robbed of interest (4.00 / 4)

The extent of stupidity drives me mad. I don't expect much from Die Welt, but this is so incredibly stupid. It hurts. Savers hope for a certain amount of interest, and if they don't get it, they are robbed of so and so much money. And normally Die Welt praises the market... I assume if I have the expectation of receiving double as much interest and don't get it, I am robbed of more money than Mr Zschäpitz, right? And if I expect 10% more wage and don't get it... Oops.

by Katrin on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 03:49:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Perhaps Mr Zschäpitz could tell us the rate of deflation he'd like to see?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 03:58:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

No, he couldn't, because he couldn't tell the difference between deflation and "price stability". Anything that's not inflation is good and pretty much the same.

by Katrin on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 04:09:55 PM EST
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Could he define the fall in German exports outside the Eurozone he'd like to see?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 04:15:31 PM EST
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I assume he believes ALL countries can have a trade surplus. If they don't have one, they are not hard working enough.

by Katrin on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 04:19:05 PM EST
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Well, that's a sincere moral position for which he may be applauded.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 04:38:48 PM EST
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...for which he may be paid according to achievement.

by Katrin on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 05:13:55 PM EST
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Seen recently

Perhaps Ryan's most unconventional opinion on monetary policy came in the summer of 2010, when he told Ezra Klein that the Federal Reserve should actually raise interest rates even as the U.S. economy was still struggling: "[T]here's a lot of capital parked out there, and we need to coax it out into the markets," he said. "I think literally that if we raised the federal funds rate by a point, it would help push money into the economy, as right now, the safest play is to stay with the federal money and federal paper."
...
Ryan, however, has been consistent in his view that the Fed should do whatever it takes to fight inflation -- and stop trying to fret over the unemployment rate. In 2008, Ryan sponsored a bill that would repeal the Federal Reserve's "dual mandate" to tackle both inflation and high unemployment. Instead, under his bill, the Fed would focus only on "price stability."

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 06:05:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Robbed of interest (none / 1)

Because announcing that you intend to collapse the price of treasury bonds will make people move out of tsys and into productive investment?

Someone has had waaay too much RatEx koolaid.

- Jake

If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 06:17:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Robbed of interest (4.00 / 2)

He's just a Randian.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 06:20:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Why Demogoguing Paul Ryan Is Bad For Democrats | The New Republic

He really is quite poisonous and insane, isn't he?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 06:19:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Robbed of interest (4.00 / 4)

He simply agrees with that guy Zschäpitz that the government and central bank should conspire to raise interest rates so that rentiers can collect a higher subsidy for unhoardingtheir fiat money. The loanable fundds fallacy is in glorious display in the statement that higher interest rates are needed to lure out savers.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 06:31:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

nice clear explanation for dummies (4.00 / 2)

good comment after a clueless article.

Similarly for pensions, if seniors are going to eat and live, then they have to consume some share of output. From a macroeconomic point of view, it doesn't matter how this is financed, publicly or privately. The are still going to eat. So, either you think we cannot afford retirees and have to kill them or let them live in poverty or the problem in its essence is the same whether you have public or private retirement funding. I don't think for an instant than we cannot afford decent retirement for our population. Of course we can. But, if retirees are going to consume x% of output, then we need x% of income to pay for it, or else we run fiscal deficits and run up debt to unsustainable levels. The solution to this problem is not to deny people retirement income, but to commandeer the necessary share of financial income so that retiree consumption and the income share allocated to retiree consumption are the same. If they are already consuming x, there is no question about our ability to produce that x. We can clearly produce it else they couldn't consume it. Hence, in this case, the problem is not a "real"problem, but a financing problem. Here too, the rubes, like Galston, think the answer is simply to reduce entitlements. If that is done by means testing, fine, because means-testing is simply another name for raising taxes on the well-to-do. If it is done by privatization or reducing benefits, not fine. That is backwards, reducing retiree consumption to the level that the rich will tolerate without pitching a fit rather than raising the tax revenues to the level needed to fund the consumption.
Altogether, the difference between the real economy and the financial economy is the source of the endless confusion. People get it wrong in both directions. Healthcare is primarily a real problem, and also to some extent a financing problem. Retirement income is not a real problem, it is a financing problem. And in neither case is it necessary or inevitable that the existence of an entitlement makes the problem worse. In general, the entitlement financing makes the problem better. Entitlements are not the problem. The tax system, under-taxation of those with the highest income share, is one problem and the lack of single-payer is the other problem.
The notion that this is something that can be discussed rationally in the context of an election campaign is sheer lunacy.

the rest of the comment is great too.h/t booman

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 12:55:29 PM EST

Re: nice clear explanation for dummies (4.00 / 4)

The notion that this is something that can be discussed rationally in the context of an election campaign is sheer lunacy.

And now that election campaigns are 24 x 365 x every year, nothing can be discussed rationally ever.

by asdf on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 01:21:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: nice clear explanation for dummies (4.00 / 6)

Krugman's take:

Economics and Politics by Paul Krugman - The Truth Has A Well-Known Demagogic Bias - NYTimes.com

What's wrong with this lament? How about the fact that Romney-Ryan actually is a plan to end Medicare as we know it? (And why the quotation marks? That's what it is - replacing the system with fixed-value vouchers). It is also a plan for drastic cuts in food stamps and Medicaid, not to mention canceling the expansion of coverage under the Affordable Care Act, which would mean lost insurance for tens of millions of Americans - thousands of whom would, in fact, die as a result.
Yet pointing out these truths is, in the eyes of Very Serious People, "demagoguery."

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 01:33:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: nice clear explanation for dummies (4.00 / 3)

The brown floating things in the punchbowl is the US has steadily reduced taxation on those most able to pay. The "idea" - using the word loosely - was less taxes meant more jobs, meant more economic activity, meant more taxes from those least able to pay 'em.

Anyone with the intelligence of an average rock will immediately see one problem with that. The second problem that arose is reducing taxation on those most able to pay did not, in fact, spur greater employment.

The upshot was reducing the level of taxation reduced the level of money the Federal government received. Which is what some of us DFHs predicted and, to much scoff and laughter, we also predicted lowering taxation on those most able to pay would cause deficits.

So.

I gives me tremendous pleasure to say, at this time, "I Told You So."

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 02:50:33 PM EST
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New TribExt version (4.00 / 6)

I uploaded a new TribExt version, TribExt v0.1234 for Firefox 16 (triggered by a request from melo). There are only two changes – a bugfix and something that may make the current version work without modifications for another year or two:

Some of you aren't even aware of the Comment Replies function. If the active tab of your browser is at any ET page, at the end of your Tools menu, there will be an option called "Find Comment Replies". This will open a new tab and display all new comments nested below your recent comments. This stopped working in Firefox 12, which is now fixed.
The reason I haven't updated TribExt since December is that from Firefox 10, it is no longer necessary. Earlier, the newest Firefox version which an extension is compatible with had to be indicated in the code of the extension ("maxversion"), and Firefox versions newer than that would use that to block the extension. So even if there weren't any true incompatibilities, we always had to bump maxversion. From version 10, Firefox now assumes extensions are compatible by default, and its developers try to give as few reasons as possible to break old code. However, this proved too optimistic, so from Firefox 11, compatibility is assumed only if maxversion is at least 4.0, but this will surely be raised. So I checked what Firefox developers are up to in FF15 and FF16, and bumped maxversion to 16. Hopefully this new TribExt version will then work until Firefox 26.

Download it via the special page or dirrectly. If there are any problems, please say so here.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 02:54:10 PM EST

Thanks, DoDo.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 03:26:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

excellent, will update after I've put the Salon together

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 03:57:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Without wanting to appear dense, could anyone in the know explain to me what TribExt is?

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 04:46:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

European Tribune - Download ET's own Firefox add-on: TribExt

Do you browse the web on Firefox? Then you can download TribExt, a nifty little add-on, written by ET user someone, to navigate around European Tribune easier.

The above blockquote was created by a simple right-click using TribExt and then paste into the comment box. Very convenient. Also the bilingual columns sometimes put together by those of us who read several languages can be created using that tool (at least most of the legwork). That's why it's very popular by many ET regulars.

The only point is: you have to use Firefox obviously.

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 05:03:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Halves the time it takes to create the Salon :-)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 05:49:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I don't have "Firefox obviously." I have Firefox 14.0.1.

Will it still work?

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

by ATinNM on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 05:59:57 PM EST
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Huh, that's interesting. I have Safari obviously.

by asdf on Wed Aug 15th, 2012 at 11:12:38 PM EST
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Yes. Which is what DoDo was explaining.

Numerous snazzy features for ET users.

DL page here.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Thu Aug 16th, 2012 at 02:28:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

But I said nothing of a Firefox version "obviously" :-)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Thu Aug 16th, 2012 at 03:00:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]

From the release notes for the different sub-releases of v 1234, it looks like the "obviously" version qualifier extends all the way to version 16...

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Thu Aug 16th, 2012 at 04:43:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: New TribExt version (4.00 / 3)

Oh, and I tried the "Find comment replies" menu item and it works! Thanks very much Dodo.

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

by Bernard on Thu Aug 16th, 2012 at 04:44:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]