Michael B. Duff

A Fed chair talking about "unconventional steps" really should scare the hell out of you.

No genuine production has taken place to 'back' these new fiduciary media. However, the money will then be used to bid for real resources. Thus, 'nothing' (money from thin air) is exchanged for 'something' (real resources). The creation of additional money also temporarily (and this 'temporary' factor can become very extended if the inflationary policy is pursued incessantly) lowers the interest rate below that dictated by time preferences, and thus sends false signals to capitalists and entrepreneurs about the amount of savings available to finance production, and the extent of future demand. What ensues is malinvestment, and the consumption of scarce capital.

When I talk about civil society handling charity and community service better than government, I'm talking about stuff like this.

What I discovered as I interviewed for jobs disturbed me right away. Every single firm with the exception of one was completely obsessed with math. Entire interviews revolved around “how quantitative are you” and the like. Although I hadn’t had much experience with investing I had enough to know this line of thinking seemed preposterous. What I realized later is the reason they were so focused on mathematicians and Phd’s is that Wall Street was moving away from what it was always meant to be – a conduit between the holders of capital and those that wish to deploy that capital in productive economic activity. Rather than trying to hire a well rounded workforce of intelligent college graduates the firms were hiring a cadre of quantitative robots that would play an instrumental roll in blowing up the world’s financial system.

An even clearer use of pressure on government workers has been in the governor’s (so far unsuccessful) attempts to reduce state employee pay to minimum wage for the duration of the budget delay. While Chiang and previous controllers have used the old-software excuse to avoid implementing this plan, the message still comes through: State workers are not innocent bystanders in the budget impasse. Their excessive compensation is the reason California can no longer manage its budgets.

Dear Republicans: Please don't do this. You're just going to look like jerks and generate sympathy for Obama. Even if you're right. Especially if you're right. Losing strategy all the way around. Makes you look bitter and petty.

Apparently this policy was intended to be some kind of affirmative action program?

Database humor. Linked for the awesome cartoon.

Exactly how are the Koch brothers under the radar or underground? They show up every year in the Forbes super-rich lists. Charles Koch wrote a best-selling business book a year or two ago and makes no secret of his belief in free markets and limited government. David Koch ran for vice president of these United States on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1980 (where he helped Ed Clark pull over 900,000 votes, by far the highest total gained by the LP). Both are known for a wide range of philanthropic giving, whether to arts and medical outfits or think tanks or political action groups.

Newman and other strategists believe that investors, especially those whose retirement accounts were decimated by the housing crisis, may be abandoning equities for good. So if hedge fund managers and the black boxes they operate are on vacation this month, then there is no one left who wants anything to do with equities.

Yes, our central planners at the Fed are so desperate to prop up this bubble the only option they have left is to beg people to spend money they don't have. QE2 anyone?

So who does need that $8,000 web designer? Let’s be honest, when you pay that kind of money for a website, you’re not really paying for a technology product. Web designers aren’t really in the business of making web pages. They’re more like psychiatrists or life coaches. Their real job is to provide emotional validation.