Bill,
Don't take on so. I was referring not to the guerrillas but to the way they
operate. They can hit anywhere at any time. Difficult to defend against,
unless you make the entire country an armed camp.
Even so-called airport security has become an annoying joke.
Harry
_______________________________
William wrote:
>What does everyone have against guerillas? I just don't like terrorists
>but certainly support the people of Chiapas. Bush has successfully
>clouded the issue by defining guerillas as terrorists and anyone who is
>the enemy of Citicorp [aka the IMF] is a terrorist by his definition.
>
>Bill Ward
>
>On Tue, 23 Jul 2002 10:45:29 -0700 Harry Pollard
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > Keith (and Karen),
> >
> > Some points to chew over.
> >
> > 1. We cannot protect ourselves from guerilla attack without so
> > constricting
> > our freedoms that the guerrillas will have won anyway.
> >
> > 2. Bush (and congress) cannot keep spending money the way they are
> > without
> > seriously damaging (the somewhat unfounded) confidence in the dollar
> > as a
> > stable reserve currency.
> >
> > 3. Things that happen in the stock market have little or no effect
> > on the
> > economy.
> >
> > I am reminded of the story of the young economist in the thirties
> > who,
> > after graduating, took the bus home to his father who ran a
> > successful
> > hamburger restaurant - Ed's Hamburgers.
> >
> > Some 300 miles away from his father, the young man saw a roadside
> > billboard
> > "Ed's Hamburgers - the best in the West".
> >
> > About 250 miles to go and there were several billboards filled with
> > lavish
> > praise for Ed's Hamburgers. This continued all the way home, where
> > the
> > billboards sprouted everywhere.
> >
> > The young man had a hard job getting into the restaurant. There was
> > a line
> > waiting to get in who didn't take kindly to the pushy young man
> > getting
> > ahead in the line.
> >
> > Next morning at breakfast, the son explained economics to his
> > father. "The
> > cost of all those signs will bankrupt you dad. You should cut
> > expenses and
> > take them down. Don't you know there's a depression?"
> >
> > So, the father took down all the expensive billboards and the young
> > economist was right. There was a depression, and father went broke.
> >
> > It's an old story and makes the point.
> >
> > If producers believe the experts, who know little, or the pundits
> > who know
> > less, or the politicians who know nothing, and begin to cut back
> > production
> > - there could be a problem.
> >
> > For almost 50 years, I have been teaching that stock market antics
> > don't
> > cause depression. In 1987, stock prices fell by almost one third
> > ("the
> > worst since the Great Depression") so what happened to the economy?
> >
> > Nothing.
> >
> > When the economy is crumbling around the edges and people realize
> > they own
> > a factory where half the machines are idle and lay-offs have
> > decimated the
> > work force, they will want to sell. Trouble is that when lots of
> > people
> > have factories in similar condition and they all want to sell,
> > prices begin
> > to drop - perhaps precipitously.
> >
> > The economic collapse precedes the stock market collapse.
> >
> > Sorry to bring it back, Keith, but we are in the middle of a
> > "collectible"
> > psychology. The reason you have, and hang on to an empty Rosalie
> > beer can
> > (present price $10,300) is because you think it might increase.
> > There is no
> > income attached to the beer can, but you don't care. The price is
> > everything.
> >
> > This led to my comment about price/earnings ratios which have
> > reached
> > extraordinary levels. I referred to the analysts' bleating about
> > this.
> > "Investors" didn't seem to care about earnings as they bid prices
> > higher.
> >
> > This is on all fours with the owners of the beer cans (there appear
> > to be 3
> > Rosalies in mint condition. Now say someone found in his attic a
> > crate of
> > mint condition Rosalies and took them down to the local collectible
> > store
> > where he sold them for $5 a can.
> >
> > What would you do as a collector? The magic that provided you with a
> >
> > $10,300 can has disappeared with a pop. You have a $5 beer can.
> >
> > Let me repeat how I first came across a Rosalie beer can. One was
> > sold at
> > auction for $4,000. Before the lucky bidder left the room, he was
> > offered
> > $10,000. He refused. That was more than 20 years ago. Over these
> > decades
> > the beer can has only just risen to $10,300.
> >
> > He should have made the deal, but he didn't. If you think about why
> > he
> > didn't take it, also why the $10,000 was offered, you'll get a grasp
> > of the
> > collectible market.
> >
> > It's a market without the price mechanism control that makes the
> > free
> > market so effective.
> >
> > I talked about this with regard to the land market, which is a
> > collectible
> > market. Wow, look at those housing prices soar! It seems impossible
> > for the
> > modern neo-classical economist to divide the two components of
> > housing -
> > the building and the land.
> >
> > The house price drops every year as with all products that get
> > older. The
> > land price rises every year because it's a collectible. It also
> > suffers the
> > possibility of an "inexplicable" crash - as with the stock market
> > and the
> > Rosalie beer can.
> >
> > Even the London Economist seems filled with people unacquainted with
> > real
> > life. A recent issue cover story pointed out that "real estate" all
> > over
> > the world is holding up the world's economies.
> >
> > Our economic well-being rests sturdily on a beer can!
> >
> > Harry
******************************
Harry Pollard
Henry George School of LA
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tel: (818) 352-4141
Fax: (818) 353-2242
*******************************
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