quote:
Kinanik had this to say about Robocop:
I'm fairly sure that applies mostly to Macroeconomists. Anyone who tries to predict THE ECONOMY as a whole is bullshitting hardcore. Industries invest enough money in Economists predicting their particular market that anyone who could predict the economy of the nation would be a rich man.
Yes and no. Interestingly, when important people make guesses as to how the "economy" is doing or what it will do, they affect what will happen. This really isn't that different from the casualty paradox that results from viewing the future. People spend so much time and energy predicting how markets will change that their predictions are built into the market.
This is aside from the fact that the U.S. economy is so ridiculous complex that we can barely understand it, much less predict the business cycle, which is mostly what people care about.
That doesn't mean we cannot examine certain aspects of the U.S. economy. For example, several years ago many people (including myself) thought that the debt structure of the U.S. was highly unstable and was a very strong fundamental weakness of our economy. Obviously most people did not agree (or did not want to see the truth) because the bubble kept growing for a couple more years.
Here's a n question- If, several years ago, the FOMC and the boards of various banks (Citibank, JP Morgan etc.) had known there would be a subprime collapse would the collapse have happened?
This is why indicators such as the Consumer Confidence Index are important; half of the battle of understanding the economy is understanding how people think. Well, actually all of it is.
quote:
Callalron had this to say about Optimus Prime:
And here's the thing about that. There was an article in the paper today about the growing number of conservatives leaving the Republican Party and finding a new home with the Libertarians. The thing is, I just don't see that being an overall good fit for either side. Wbile both sides generally favor lower taxes and smaller government, I don't see Republican's social conservatism meshing well with the traditional Libertarian "hands off" approach to those same issues.
I imagine most of those people are leaving because of the social conservatives in the Republican Party. Fiscal issues have taken a backseat to flag-burning and gay marriage.
Why they don't join with Pat Buchanan and try to retake the Reform Party or just drop all the pretense and open an American branch of Hezbollah is beyond me.
"Reds" was on cable the other night. I stopped to watch for a couple of minutes and thought to myself, "Man, how much Communist ass was that guy willing to kiss?"
quote:
Callalron was listening to Cher while typing:
As opposed to Warren Beatty?"Reds" was on cable the other night. I stopped to watch for a couple of minutes and thought to myself, "Man, how much Communist ass was that guy willing to kiss?"
I liked Dick Tracy
quote:
When the babel fish was in place, it was apparent Zair said:
I liked Dick Tracy
What, kissing Madonna's ass instead? That's an equally, if not more disturbing, mental image.
American youth to be devoured by the aesthetics of Marxist-Leninist artists!
