Where Are We Going? And What Are We Doing in this Handbasket?

On the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought perhaps I could use my latest bumper sticker purchases to substitute for commentary I haven’t been writing. Here’s a pretty good summary:

The Case for Fundamental Tax Reform (Reposted)

The following was originally posted on April 15, 2008:

It’s April 15, and like many Americans I just finished spending much too long trying to figure out what I owe in federal and state income taxes. What better day could there be to consider the need for fundamental tax reform?

If Paul Krugman Hates It, How Bad Can It Be?

I probably don’t know enough to have an intelligent opinion about this, either, but I think the administration’s new version of cash for trash shows improvement.  I would prefer to see more funding from the private sector; indeed, I would prefer 100% private funding.  But if by hypothesis the government has to take the leading role, perhaps the small amount that will be required from private bidders under this program will work like economic pixie dust and make it all fly.

Paul Krugman hates it, and so does Joe Stiglitz.  And by  a freakish coincidence, I learned of their disapproval just after reading a section of Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money that mentions them both.

What’s Wrong with This Picture?

Re-evaluating Your Own Private Idaho

Is there no end to this chicanery?  Is there some fairly prominent recessive gene that just needs the right lighting, the right Pinot Noir, and the right blatantly faux promises of undying fidelity to surface in some inbred blueblood?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IDAHO_INVESTMENT_FRAUD?SITE=MATAU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The footprint of these schemes is growing so wide that I think just about everyone knows at least one person directly affected by Ponzi schemes.  I have a good friend who lost a six-figure chunk of his savings to one of these charlatans.  (I feel like a victim myself, but it’s a bigger challenge to litigate when your grifter was a publicly-traded, federally-regulated financial services company.)

The Chicago Tea Party

The folks at CNBC are often accused of cheerleading regardless of the evidence — with some justice, though no disparagement of Erin Burnett will be permitted on this blog.

Rick Santelli was not cheerleading today.  Watch the video.  CNBC’s online poll is showing substantial support for Santelli’s sentiments.

Five Quick Thoughts on the New and Improved, This-Time-We-Really-Mean-It Stimulus Bill

It’s a big day for bailouts, and there’s too much happening for us to look at any of it in depth.  But here are five quick thoughts.

Rival Histories of the Great Depression

Whatever one thinks about history repeating itself generally, the case for repetition is pretty strong in economics because economic activity is by its nature cyclical.  Yes, times change, and no two business cycles are ever exactly alike, but there are certainly recurring patterns and it makes great sense to try to understand what worked and what didn’t in past cycles.

Ever since late September, it has been difficult to discuss the economy in much depth without encountering simmering controversies about what did an did not work during the Great Depression.  But there is a problem. 

SUPER BAAADDDD, by Bill Bonner

I don’t usually do posts that just say, “Hey, read this.”  But hey, read this.  It’s by Bill Bonner, who sells many of his insights but offers the ones below free on his Daily Reckoning site.  Finally, a proposal for helping clear the glut of bad novels.

SUPER BAAADDDD
by Bill Bonner

Bankers are idiots, sometimes

Quick Article On Fixing Detroit

I haven’t weighed in on the recent “bailout” posts we’ve seen in this space lately.  Part of that reluctance is depression, part is trying to muster courage and the rest is trying to muster faith.

Having said that, I think this piece from today’s Dealbook is about the smartest I’ve seen on how to handle Detroit.

I’m teaching my 8th grade CCD class tonight in advance of the Feast of Christ the King on Sunday.  A lot of the lesson will be about how you can’t pour new wine into old skins.  New facts require new intellectual structures to hold and accommodate them.  Our current financial situation is analogous.  We are in unchartered waters.  For example, who ever heard of deflation in the US economy?  Yet, we had the worst deflation in 61 years in October.

The article from Dealbook outlines the type of creative, structural thinking we will need in the months ahead to see us through this.  I don’t  think any particular “ideaology” provides all the answers.  What is needed, after years of hubris, is a bit of humility and a whole lot of collaborative pragmatism.

Say a prayer that our new president has the courage and leadership skills to bring that kind of thinking, and the inevitable compromises that will accompany it, about.