Texas > California

[Dinner]

No one has ever said Nebraska is desirable. It's just a place where ****bags live who cannot do any better.

[Dinner]

For example. Drake lives there ergo it is a ****ty place.

[Drake Tungsten]

I've always lived in much better places than San Diego, including Nebraska.

[Sava]

this is like watching two bums fight over a week old, half-eaten donut

[Thoth]

this is like watching two bums fight over a week old, half-eaten donut

Entertaining, isn't it?

[Sava]

[Kuciwalker]

When the article asserts lower governmental regulation was the way to avoid the economic downturn when any reasonably economic analyist will tell you that it was a lack of economic regulations that led to the banking and real estate bubbles and thus to the horrific problems we have today.

The only reason you believe that any "reasonable" economic analyst would say this is because you'd immediately reject any other analyst as unreasonable.

Moreover, you didn't answer the question: do you really believe that there isn't a causal relationship between government policy and the economy? Because that's exactly what you denied.

[Sava]

The only reason you believe that any "reasonable" economic analyst would say this is because you'd immediately reject any other analyst as unreasonable.

Not that I'm defending Zkrib, but most analysts (that I've seen on TV, read in the papers, etc) that reject the idea of regulation are the same ones that were singing the praises of the economy to the run up of the collapse. Having made that observation, it's probably important to also look at the source (when we're talking about economists). Are we talking about someone with a Nobel prize? Or perhaps some douchebag on CNBC?

Far be it for to generalize, but most of the smart economists (those that tended to be right about everything) usually have strong backgrounds in academia. The dumb ones tend to appear on cable news more often and support a more right leaning set of policies.

But I suppose it's more about your goals. If you want an unstable economy with frequent boom/bust cycles, you are perfectly entitled to believe in an ideology that will lead to that.

[Ramo]

I assume what Zkrib means is that to reach a meaningful conclusion, you need to average over a longer time period. Looking at only an annual average tells you very little about the long term merits of a set of policy choices.

Incidentally, talking about budget deficits without talking about i.e. poverty rates (where Texas doesn't look so good) is pretty ridiculous.

[KrazyHorse]

Sava:

a) No economist is "right about everything" when it comes to forecasting.
b) There is NO consensus among serious academic economists that a lack of regulation "caused" this recession. Some think so, some do not.
c) I have no idea why you think that skill in economic forecasting (insofar as such a thing exists at all) leads to insightfulness on the question of government regulation of the financial sector.

[KrazyHorse]

I assume what Zkrib means is that to reach a meaningful conclusion, you need to average over a longer time period. Looking at only an annual average tells you very little about the long term merits of a set of policy choices.

Incidentally, talking about budget deficits without talking about i.e. poverty rates (where Texas doesn't look so good) is pretty ridiculous.

You shouldn't assume that zkribbler has anything meaningful to say at all.

[KrazyHorse]

By the way, this recession has hit continental Europe and Japan (where, presumably, regulations are stronger?) harder than it's hit the US & UK, where the financial sector is far bigger and more dynamic.

If we knew what caused recessions there wouldn't be any more recessions. If there was an obvious way for governments to prevent bubbles from forming without stifling real innovation then governments would already be doing it. Be extremely wary of people who claim that there are simple answers to complex questions.

[SlowwHand]

1) Congrats, Zk. On Dickhead's list.
2) The trend of KH's inability to finish a thought process remains.

[DaShi]

If we knew what caused recessions there wouldn't be any more recessions.

[KrazyHorse]

?