"Walt" wrote
the debt fairy is coming along any day now?


The bad news, he's engaged to the foreign-policy fairy.


Gilligan wrote:
Why is borrowing money at historically low interest rates so bad?


It wouldn't be so bad, if the money were spent on something
constructive that offered future returns.


Especially if followed by a growth in the money supply that exceeds the
increase in the GNP?


??? Increasing the gov't debt has very little to do with
increasing the money supply. And the increases in GNP have
rather paltry, lately. And this is after starting a war,
traditionally a great way to goose a national economy; and
eliminating all those pesky environmental regulations, which
should also give a boost. What's up with that?

Besides, everybody knows that those darn libby-rull
Democrats are the ones who don't know beans about the
economy. Now that they're in charge, just LOOK at the deficit!

This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to
say, for 1 ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what
economic theory did Friedman produce? 2 points if you can
explain it.

DSK

DSK wrote:
"Walt" wrote

the debt fairy is coming along any day now?

The bad news, he's engaged to the foreign-policy fairy.

Obviously our problems in Iraq are a direct result of some of you not
clapping vigorously enough.

This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to say, for 1
ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what economic theory did
Friedman produce?

Monetarism.

2 points if you can explain it.

Hah. A trick question. What color is the wind?


//Walt

This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to say, for 1
ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what economic theory did
Friedman produce?


Walt wrote:
Monetarism.


Well, you're in the right ballpark. Friedman was a
monetarist and his thoeries revitalized monetarism
(discredited for a long time even after the obvious hint of
the Weimar Republic's fiscal undoing). He's been called a
Neo-Monetarist. But there is a specifc term (also used in
sailing) that is the key to his main monetarist theory, in
fact this is what makes the whole thing work.



2 points if you can explain it.

Hah. A trick question. What color is the wind?


*I* can explain it, and I'm not all that smart. C'mon do we
have to wait for Gilligan to put donw his coffee and join in?

DSK

DSK wrote:

Well, you're in the right ballpark. Friedman was a monetarist and his
thoeries revitalized monetarism ... But there is a specifc term (also used in
sailing) that is the key to his main monetarist theory, in fact this is
what makes the whole thing work.


Sailing term? You mean "money"?

You've been hanging around the keelboat racers too much, Doug.


//Walt
// "They're gaining on us, Skipper. What do we do?"
// "Not to worry. Stand by to deploy more money."

Walt wrote:
Sailing term? You mean "money"?

You've been hanging around the keelboat racers too much, Doug.


No, it doesn't even start with the same letter.

DSK

DSK wrote:
Walt wrote:

Sailing term? You mean "money"?

You've been hanging around the keelboat racers too much, Doug.

No, it doesn't even start with the same letter.

Huh. That's too bad, since I was going to guess "Mizzen Mast" next.

As in "I'm going to assault the International Monetary Fund and their
ridiculous fixed exchange rates by belaboring them about the head with
the Mizzen Mast."

But I guess that would be wrong, and I wouldn't win that glass of root
beer with the vanilla ice cream that you promised.

I give up. You might say I'm sunk.

//Walt

"DSK" wrote in message
...
"Walt" wrote
the debt fairy is coming along any day now?


The bad news, he's engaged to the foreign-policy fairy.


Gilligan wrote:
Why is borrowing money at historically low interest rates so bad?


It wouldn't be so bad, if the money were spent on something constructive
that offered future returns.


Especially if followed by a growth in the money supply that exceeds the
increase in the GNP?


??? Increasing the gov't debt has very little to do with increasing the
money supply. And the increases in GNP have rather paltry, lately. And
this is after starting a war, traditionally a great way to goose a
national economy; and eliminating all those pesky environmental
regulations, which should also give a boost. What's up with that?

Pay the debt with inflated currency.



Besides, everybody knows that those darn libby-rull Democrats are the ones
who don't know beans about the economy. Now that they're in charge, just
LOOK at the deficit!

This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to say, for 1
ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what economic theory did Friedman
produce? 2 points if you can explain it.

I don't think he produced any new economic theory but rather contributed
deeper understanding and refinement to old ones.



DSK

Gilligan wrote:
Pay the debt with inflated currency.


When the debt is one of the drivers of inflation, how is
inflation going to oustrip debt? Isn't this like putting the
cart before the horse?





This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to say, for 1
ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what economic theory did Friedman
produce? 2 points if you can explain it.



I don't think he produced any new economic theory but rather contributed
deeper understanding and refinement to old ones.


AFAIK he definitely invented something new, but five or six
minutes of googling has failed to produce a reference to it,
unless you already know the specific term.

DSK

"DSK" wrote in message
...
Gilligan wrote:
Pay the debt with inflated currency.


When the debt is one of the drivers of inflation, how is inflation going
to oustrip debt? Isn't this like putting the cart before the horse?


Germany in the 1920's. Simply turn on the printing presses and devalue the
currency.






This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to say, for 1
ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what economic theory did Friedman
produce? 2 points if you can explain it.



I don't think he produced any new economic theory but rather contributed
deeper understanding and refinement to old ones.


AFAIK he definitely invented something new, but five or six minutes of
googling has failed to produce a reference to it, unless you already know
the specific term.


Don't you know it?

He didn't come up with any new theories. He refined old ones. Have you ever
read "Human Action" by Ludwig von Mises? He was a founder of the Austrian
school of economics, a predecessor of the Chicago school which laid a good
deal of the ground work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises






DSK

Pay the debt with inflated currency.


When the debt is one of the drivers of inflation, how is inflation going
to oustrip debt? Isn't this like putting the cart before the horse?


Gilligan wrote:
Germany in the 1920's. Simply turn on the printing presses and devalue the
currency.


Good example. Did it work out in the end?


This thread got side tracked somehow. What I started out to say, for 1
ASA/economist point, can anybody answer what economic theory did Friedman
produce? 2 points if you can explain it.

Gilligan wrote:
I don't think he produced any new economic theory but rather contributed
deeper understanding and refinement to old ones.


DSK wrote:
AFAIK he definitely invented something new, but five or six minutes of
googling has failed to produce a reference to it, unless you already know
the specific term.



Gilligan wrote:
Don't you know it?


Yes: velocity

Friedman's work was key in measuring various inputs to the
money supply, quantifying the trend in velocity, and
stabilizing inflation.



He didn't come up with any new theories. He refined old ones.

Actually, I thought he did, but with further research (more
than I really have time for today) I'm beginning to think
you're right.


... Have you ever
read "Human Action" by Ludwig von Mises?

No have you?

.... He was a founder of the Austrian
school of economics, a predecessor of the Chicago school which laid a good
deal of the ground work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises


Never heard of the man before now. Looks like pretty
interesting stuff, thanks for the reference.


Just to make sure, I went back to my old textbook, which
does indeed say that Milton Friedman invented the concept of
velocity, as applied to quantifying the money supply.
However, after digging around quite a lot (interesting
reading but I have a lot of other things that I should be
doing instead right now), I don't think he did invent the
concept of velocity.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/econ/byrns_...les/fisher.htm

In any event, Friedman was the first to reliably use numbers
from the real world to show how the money supply related to
changes in GNP, employment, and inflation, which is
something that economists had pretty much given up on.

Dr. Friedman's work... and economic history since... has
been the basis of relatively stable economic order;
ironically it also shows the desirability of disconnecting
monetary policy from political influence, which is
something else the neo-conservatives ignore when trumpeting
Friedman.

OK, back to real work, dammit!

DSK