John Mmarchioro writes: > Willem Buiter on the prospects for a massive Keynesian stimulus in the US. > > http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon/2009/01/can-the-us-economy-afford-a- > keynesian-stimulus/ > > Probably outcome: Total collapse in the value of the dollar.
Thanks for the link to a well-reasoned piece. I think he argues forcibly for a "go slow" policy on the proposed stimulus, and I tend to agree. On a vaguely related note, I heard a caller to a consumer help radio show give this story. The caller named "Vinnie" had his house foreclosed upon and yet he and his girlfriend were still able to shell out $50,000 for an expensive new car. So what was his complaint to the consumer advocate? The detailing shop had buffed "swirl" patterns into the new paint. My jaw almost dropped out of my head. So obviously people like Vinnie have managed to game the system by buying houses at 100% financing or even negative amortization, take out second mortgages based on the perceived rise in real estate values, and then, when real estate tanks, they effectively sell their houses at a guaranteed profit back to the bank by walking away from the loans. And then they blow the windfall on 50K worth of wheels with swirlies in the paint. Something is wrong here. I am getting a bit jaded at people giving sob stories about being foreclosed upon. Regards, Alan Siegrist Orinda, CA, USA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Persons posting messages to not_honyaku assume all responsibility for their messages. The list owner does not review messages, and accepts no responsibility for the content of messages posted. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
