This week international central bankers are forging a new set of rules for banks that would move capital requirements from 4 percent currently to 7 percent (of outstanding loans). This absurd new policy comes just as the world economy is teetering on the brink, especially in the US and Western Europe, where the new Basel rules will have the most impact.
Why is it that no one wants the world economy to have credit? By every measure bank lending has shrunk, not only in the US but throughout Europe? How is a recovery supposed to take place when every "reform" measures reduces the available amount of credit?
The time to reduce or slow credit availability is during a boom, not during a recession. The Basel rules will only make things worse and could plant the seeds of a lengthy US-Western Europe slowdown in economic activity. Combined with the wrong-headed policies of the Obama Administration -- credit card reform, debit card reform, consumer protections in the FinReg bill -- the net effect of all of this is to dramatically reduce the available credit necessary to fuel a recovery.
Policy makers and politicians should take a holiday. The more they do, the harder it is for free markets to produce an economic recovery.
Maybe, just maybe, more regulation and more government is not the answer.
Minggu, 12 September 2010
Senin, 06 September 2010
The Party of "No"
We constantly hear the comment that Republicans must put forth new ideas to get the economy going. Nope. That would be a big mistake. What the Republicans need to do is make the case that had the Democrats done nothing, the US economy would, today, be in a better place. And, it would be.
What Obama and the Democrats have done is create roadblocks to recovery. What the Republicans need to do is remove the roadblocks. The party of "no" is the way to go.
Free markets will bring recovery. Government intervention will simply impede recovery and prolong stagnation. That's what happened from 1929-1940 and that is what is happening now.
No new stimulus plans...please!
What Obama and the Democrats have done is create roadblocks to recovery. What the Republicans need to do is remove the roadblocks. The party of "no" is the way to go.
Free markets will bring recovery. Government intervention will simply impede recovery and prolong stagnation. That's what happened from 1929-1940 and that is what is happening now.
No new stimulus plans...please!
Sabtu, 04 September 2010
Targeted Stimulus Ala Obama
Now, with 15 million Americans out of work, the Obama folks are preparing a new "stimulus" package to be unveiled next week. As usual, the Obama plan is "targeted." Targeted plans never work, because they are very easy to "game." You simply hire a good tax attorney and shoehorn yourself into the "target."
Nothing good can come from the Obama packages. Even suspending the payroll tax temporarily won't work, because it is temporary (as well as "targeted").
The only thing that works is for government to get out of the way and let free enterprise provide the economic recovery. Reduce the size of government and reduce the role of government into free markets.
Those who thinks the 1980s and 1990s was a bad economic period(which Obama seems to think), should support Obama. The rest of us would love to return to the economy of the 1980s and 1990s, when free markets reigned and unemployment reached a low of 4 percent.
Nothing good can come from the Obama packages. Even suspending the payroll tax temporarily won't work, because it is temporary (as well as "targeted").
The only thing that works is for government to get out of the way and let free enterprise provide the economic recovery. Reduce the size of government and reduce the role of government into free markets.
Those who thinks the 1980s and 1990s was a bad economic period(which Obama seems to think), should support Obama. The rest of us would love to return to the economy of the 1980s and 1990s, when free markets reigned and unemployment reached a low of 4 percent.
Rabu, 01 September 2010
Going It Alone
You might think that the whole world is plunged into a depression. If so, you could not be more wrong. Parts of Europe are booming, China growth is still well above 6 percent, India clocked in at over eight percent in the most recent quarter. Even Russia has growth exceeding four percent in this past quarter.
The US is the world's laggard. We have very high unemployment and anemic growth in a world that is recovering....just not us. This parallels a similar episode in the 1930s when the Roosevelt led recovery of the 30s faltered as the rest of the world sprinted to an economic recovery. In both the current episode and the experience of the 1930s, the heavy hand of government is the culprit.
The Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda has stifled the US economy, while the rest of the world is recovering quite nicely. Most countries in the world have chosen to expand capitalism and free enterprise, including China interestingly, while the US has moved dramatically toward a government planned economy. Even Europe has owned up to its inability to afford the welfare state, while the US has spent the past two years dramatically expanding the welfare state. US government spending rose 16 percent in 2009, a rise not matched anywhere in the civilized world.
Obama and his cohorts are on a lonely path to economic stagnation that the rest of the world wants no part of. Come November 2nd, the American public finally has an opportunity to change this disastrous course.
The US is the world's laggard. We have very high unemployment and anemic growth in a world that is recovering....just not us. This parallels a similar episode in the 1930s when the Roosevelt led recovery of the 30s faltered as the rest of the world sprinted to an economic recovery. In both the current episode and the experience of the 1930s, the heavy hand of government is the culprit.
The Obama/Pelosi/Reid agenda has stifled the US economy, while the rest of the world is recovering quite nicely. Most countries in the world have chosen to expand capitalism and free enterprise, including China interestingly, while the US has moved dramatically toward a government planned economy. Even Europe has owned up to its inability to afford the welfare state, while the US has spent the past two years dramatically expanding the welfare state. US government spending rose 16 percent in 2009, a rise not matched anywhere in the civilized world.
Obama and his cohorts are on a lonely path to economic stagnation that the rest of the world wants no part of. Come November 2nd, the American public finally has an opportunity to change this disastrous course.
Selasa, 31 Agustus 2010
Same 'Ole, Same 'Ole
President Obama talked about the economy yesterday, punctuating the end of "recovery summer." According to the President, the weakening economy is all the fault of stubborn Republicans who refuse to endorse the so-called "small business tax break" bill. This bill is another "targeted" tax break bill that is easily gamed and will contribute nothing to economic recovery. Republicans are correct to oppose this wasteful bill.
The President has no new ideas. His agenda is mostly a redistributive agenda with job-killing rules, regulations, taxes. The lack of job creation and the stultifying impact of Obama policies are a big surprise only to the President and his Congressional allies.
I wonder if this President will ever understand how jobs get created in the private sector? So far, Obama just keeps whistling the same discredited message of tax and spend. Fortunately, the Congress will have no more of this and November 2nd is fast approaching.
The President has no new ideas. His agenda is mostly a redistributive agenda with job-killing rules, regulations, taxes. The lack of job creation and the stultifying impact of Obama policies are a big surprise only to the President and his Congressional allies.
I wonder if this President will ever understand how jobs get created in the private sector? So far, Obama just keeps whistling the same discredited message of tax and spend. Fortunately, the Congress will have no more of this and November 2nd is fast approaching.
Minggu, 29 Agustus 2010
Out of Bullets?
How do you restart the economy? At this point, every government policy prescription has been tried. The net result: zero. The economy is struggling and some even expect the economy to show negative growth in the second half. That's unlikely, but certainly possible.
Maybe, just maybe, government policy is the problem, not the solution. The economy, had there been no TARP, no bailouts, no credit and debit card reform, no Obamacare, no demonizing rhetoric from the President, may have been well on the road to recovery by now. The government could well be the problem.
Macroeconomics is no science. When you ask an economist whether he favors spending or tax cuts, his answer tells you whether he is a Republican or Democrat? What kind of science is that? The cold, hard truth is that economists don't know what to do. Obama is now learning that truth to his chagrin.
Obama thought this would all be easy. With folks like Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, and Christina Romer telling him to use the usual Keynesian tactics and to declare personal war on the insurance industry and the financial sector, it was assumed that by the Fall of 2010, the economy would be on the mend. Such nonsense.
Government is the enemy. Banks won't lend because government regulators are forcing them not to lend by raising capital requirements and discouraging loans to anyone but the best credits. Absent this kind of ridiculous government policy, banks would be lending and credit would be available. But, government is blocking that.
There is a similar impact from debit and credit card reforms. These so-called "reforms" have the effect of eliminating credit for middle income Americans and small businesses. Credit card limits have been drastically reduced for many Americans as a result of the Obama debit and credit card reforms. The law of unintended consequences is bearing a bitter fruit.
It is government policy, not the free market, that is denying much-needed credit to the American economy and without that credit, true recovery is not possible.
Meanwhile, the so-called stimulus and other government give-aways to political friends, have ballooned the deficit to unimagined levels. America is now considered one of the most irresponsible countries in the world from a fiscal standpoint.
Just to square the circle, the Obama crowd and their allies in Congress, jammed through Obamacare which not only imposes huge additional future spending at the federal and state levels, but threatens to destroy the best health care system in the world. Quite an accomplishment!
As bad as all of this is, it is reversible. The naivete of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid is now obvious to the public. Nothing they have done has worked and virtually every program they have pushed has been trumpeted with misleading, if not outright false, rhetoric. The economy is staggering, housing is struggling, businesses are frightened of the future (and of Obama) and not hiring.
Fortunately, the public is now wise to the absurd and destructive policies of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress. There is hope of changing policies if things go well in November.
Then, hopefully, Congress can begin to reduce the barriers to economic recovery that have been thrown up by the Administration. The economy, if left alone and unhampered with undue regulation and taxation, can recover on its own. It doesn't need stimulus programs or anything else. It needs government to get out of the way and let the natural juices flow.
Maybe, just maybe, government policy is the problem, not the solution. The economy, had there been no TARP, no bailouts, no credit and debit card reform, no Obamacare, no demonizing rhetoric from the President, may have been well on the road to recovery by now. The government could well be the problem.
Macroeconomics is no science. When you ask an economist whether he favors spending or tax cuts, his answer tells you whether he is a Republican or Democrat? What kind of science is that? The cold, hard truth is that economists don't know what to do. Obama is now learning that truth to his chagrin.
Obama thought this would all be easy. With folks like Larry Summers, Tim Geithner, and Christina Romer telling him to use the usual Keynesian tactics and to declare personal war on the insurance industry and the financial sector, it was assumed that by the Fall of 2010, the economy would be on the mend. Such nonsense.
Government is the enemy. Banks won't lend because government regulators are forcing them not to lend by raising capital requirements and discouraging loans to anyone but the best credits. Absent this kind of ridiculous government policy, banks would be lending and credit would be available. But, government is blocking that.
There is a similar impact from debit and credit card reforms. These so-called "reforms" have the effect of eliminating credit for middle income Americans and small businesses. Credit card limits have been drastically reduced for many Americans as a result of the Obama debit and credit card reforms. The law of unintended consequences is bearing a bitter fruit.
It is government policy, not the free market, that is denying much-needed credit to the American economy and without that credit, true recovery is not possible.
Meanwhile, the so-called stimulus and other government give-aways to political friends, have ballooned the deficit to unimagined levels. America is now considered one of the most irresponsible countries in the world from a fiscal standpoint.
Just to square the circle, the Obama crowd and their allies in Congress, jammed through Obamacare which not only imposes huge additional future spending at the federal and state levels, but threatens to destroy the best health care system in the world. Quite an accomplishment!
As bad as all of this is, it is reversible. The naivete of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid is now obvious to the public. Nothing they have done has worked and virtually every program they have pushed has been trumpeted with misleading, if not outright false, rhetoric. The economy is staggering, housing is struggling, businesses are frightened of the future (and of Obama) and not hiring.
Fortunately, the public is now wise to the absurd and destructive policies of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Congress. There is hope of changing policies if things go well in November.
Then, hopefully, Congress can begin to reduce the barriers to economic recovery that have been thrown up by the Administration. The economy, if left alone and unhampered with undue regulation and taxation, can recover on its own. It doesn't need stimulus programs or anything else. It needs government to get out of the way and let the natural juices flow.
Sabtu, 28 Agustus 2010
Reasons for Optimism
Don't let the national political scene get you down. Things are actually beginning to look up. November 2nd is the big day and no matter the result, there is an almost certain feeling that the political environment will get better for business.
Post November 2nd, Obama might change course. Not likely, though, as he seems to have his playbook memorized and can live with declining public approval. More likely, Republicans will block any new anti-jobs legislation that Obama and the Democrats can dream up. Moreover, there seems to real hope of gutting ObamaCare and shifting the health care discussion to a more rational plane. Progress can be made on repealing much of the finreg fiasco. Congresional committees can expose the enormous graft and corruption of the Obama Administration and their Congressional allies.
So, things will be changing for the better by late Fall and I would expect a very different public dialogue in 2011. All in all, I expect a better political environment for business as we approach the new year.
Good things lie ahead.
Post November 2nd, Obama might change course. Not likely, though, as he seems to have his playbook memorized and can live with declining public approval. More likely, Republicans will block any new anti-jobs legislation that Obama and the Democrats can dream up. Moreover, there seems to real hope of gutting ObamaCare and shifting the health care discussion to a more rational plane. Progress can be made on repealing much of the finreg fiasco. Congresional committees can expose the enormous graft and corruption of the Obama Administration and their Congressional allies.
So, things will be changing for the better by late Fall and I would expect a very different public dialogue in 2011. All in all, I expect a better political environment for business as we approach the new year.
Good things lie ahead.
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