Darren New wrote:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/380923.stm?

The basic problems with the economy are multifold:

1.  Most people let themselves be wowed by the credentials of our 
"authorities" on economics, and set aside common sense.  A lot of what 
gets peddled in economics, even from the most prominent names in the 
field, can only work in the short term.

2.  Because most people work and live on a monetary basis (ie., they 
work for money to buy what they need to live), the notion that money 
represents actual wealth is pandemic.

3.  Of all of the crank ideas in economics, few of them bring no 
short-term benefit to anybody at all; most of them, while damaging the 
economy in general, bring a definite short-term benefit to a small 
number of people.  These people can afford to devote time an energy to 
seeing their ideas implemented, whereas the loss for an individual in 
the majority is smaller than the cost of successfully fighting the idea.

The writer of the article shows an excellent example of these three 
facts.  There are a small number of people who profit enormously from 
the high debt levels of Western democracies.  Just about everyone else 
is screwed.  When one of the screwed among us voices his or her 
objections to the idea of carrying a chronic debt, we are told that the 
high debt levels enable a more prosperous economy (because the numbers 
after the currency symbols are larger), and we are also told to yield to 
the experts.

It's also turning out that Keynes was wrong; the Roosevelt 
administration proved that deficit spending to cure an economic downturn 
tends to deepen and extend the downturn, and it looks like the Obama 
administration is supplying more evidence of this.

All in all, I think the silliest idea ever put out is that any 
government, under any party, following any philosophy, can ever "fix" an 
economy.  That idea has no historical foundation.  A well-ordered 
government can ensure the best environment for sustainable economic 
growth.  But if we remember that wealth consists, not of cash, but in 
consumer goods, capital goods, and infrastructure, it becomes painfully 
obvious that government, as government, creates no wealth whatsoever, 
and is very often an unnecessary obstacle to those who do.

If our economy is ever fixed, it will not be fixed by either a 
Republican of a Democratic administration, but by the people themselves. 
  Whether the people will have the benefit of a government of laws, and 
a minimum of government-imposed obstacles, is the only variable that the 
government controls.

And if you don't agree, then you, sir, are worse than Hitler.

Regards,
John

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