no third solution » Economics Lessons
What Does a Libertarian Economy Look Like?
Quoth the Faux Capitalist, on libertarianism and “Austrian” economists: For me, a libertarian is someone who believes that limited government is the most likely to protect the liberties of the people whom it governs, and that shouldn’t necessitate an economic system based on a scarce resource such as gold. Any economy (I do not prefer the term “economic system”) is not “based” on currency. It’s based on the exchange (often consisting in currency) of scarce resources. Some resources happen to be more scarce than others. Historically it is those resources, in particular the precious metals, that have been chosen as monetary commodities. This is so for a number of reasons I need not explain at present. So it’s a gross misunderstanding, I think, to characterize the Austrians as gold-fetishists (although … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economics Lessons, gold bugging, Left Libertarian
What Does a “Dismal” Quarter Look Like for Goldman Sachs?
Goldman Sachs had a relatively dismal Q2 with earnings per share dropping 83% to 78 cents. But “relatively” is what matters. Relative to Q1, where in 63 trading days GS did not lose even once, and according to their SEC filings, they netted at least $100M on 35 different days. According to Zero Hedge, “the statistic probability of this event is itself statistically undefined. Goldman is now the market…Goldman is the house, it controls the casino, and always wins.” A perfect or near-perfect record of profitable trading even during the worst of times, GS is a de facto monopoly earning risk-free profits; those risk free profit are someone else’s loss, and that someone else is you. It will be interesting to see their SEC filings, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Economics Lessons
Proof You Are Being Exploited
Ever wonder why we’re still working 40 hours per week? As if that’s some sort of magic equilibrium between labor/leisure that has just organically emerged over the centuries? It’s insanity, really. And evidence that we aren’t free to choose. I touched on this before, commenting that all of our productivity is wasted: The average worker is several orders of magnitude more productive than he might’ve been a half-century hence… We’ve got more more people doing more jobs, producing more things and still we’re working 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week. And this doesn’t strike anybody as being just a little bit insane? In a free market where you aren’t being exploited there … Read entire article »
Filed under: Anarchy!, Economic Theory, Economics Lessons, Employment & Labor