I Can Read The WSJ From My House

37 Replies to “I Can Read The WSJ From My House”

1. Somehow I doubt that the MSM will even mention this.

2. I can see unsound economic policy from my window.

3. My wife and I have often joked that if it weren’t for the fact we have girls instead of boys, we’d have gone broke with the price of our grocery bill.
   We’ve seen the increase in grocery prices. Fortunately, Wal-Mart has opened in S’toon creating some price competition. Who’da thunk?
   On Topic: It seems SP is seriously considering a Presidential bid.

4. Actually, Mrs Palin and the WSJ are having a little flame war right now. In Internet parlance, the former governor is pwning the reporter. He’s fired back the latest round, which has made it painfully obvious he should have just stopped digging.

5. This is certainly a needed debate but it is an over simplification to simply bash Bernanke. The fact is that he has been the only adult in Washington over the last 2 years worried about a whole host of economic problems.
   Those problems have their roots in disastrous fiscal policy that are causing deficits/ debt/ unfunded entitlements, unemployment and stagnation. Bernanke is guilty of trying to put a Band-Aid on them with monetary policy but at least he is pro business and pro America which is more than can be said of the Obamarx gang.
   Bernanke is an expert on 1929 and unless America isn’t very careful it will find itself doing a deflationary déjà vu of Japan stuck in the doldrums since 1989. Most of us can’t even articulate Bernanke’s quantitative easing or QEII, yet we bash it. It might be a good idea to start back at the root problem and the new Congress should simply encourage Wall St and entrepreneurs instead of vilifying them like the TOTUS does. Then the economy might grow fast enough to create “non-government” jobs.

6. This line seems critical: “According to the prepared text of remarks that she released to National Review online, Mrs. Palin also exhibited a more sophisticated knowledge of monetary policy than any major Republican this side of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan.”
   Looks like Ms. Palin has solid economic advisors and speechwriters on staff. And does anyone really think that she writes her own Facebook entries?

7. Next thing you know, Palin will call Obama “Keynesian” and the trolls lurking at SDA will, along with reporter Jeddy,accuse her of being a crazed “Obama was born in Kenya” birther.

8. Just yesterday all the MSM papers in Canada were carrying a breaking news(?) story about how prices of products have remained the same, but the amount you get is now smaller as the size of boxes,bags, containers have been reduced. That is no surprise as manufacturers have been trying to keep retail prices in line while their costs continue up and this approach is one way of doing so. So again, Palin is correct, but the WSJ reporters cannot see the subtle shifts in costs.

9. Davenport – no more that I think Obama wrote his books, his speeches etc. – when he speaks off the cuff, no one can understand what he means (even his prepared speeches make no sense).

10. From the comments over at WSJ…
    first comment..Palin makes our current leader look like a dunce.
    second comment..My sock puppet makes obama look like a dunce. The road-kill on the side of the highway has more economic sense than our majesty the King. I flushed something down the toilet this morning that had higher SAT scores than our current leader.
    Good stuff…!

11. Davenport, I assume you were trying to make a point.
    Cant seem to find it.

12. Beside the large issue of Marxist-Leninist concept of planned economy by manipulating interest rates and money supply, any journalist should be informed that the fight with an Internet outfit is over before it starts.

13. Aren’t the accuracy of food price stats debatable?
    For instance, I remember reading that the stats assume that people will substitute products (pork instead of chicken, for instance). So rather than a using a consistent basket of food items that tracks price changes to each product, there is a lot of wiggle room built in to be able to adjust the numbers to arrive at a desired result.

14. Sarah Palin seems to be at least as intelligent as most politicians, certainly more principled than most, and compared to Bush, she can formulate a proper sentence. I just wish that occasionally she could speak without sounding like a cast member of Fargo.
    As to QE2, the other day Michael Walker, former head of the Fraser Institute, was asked what he thought Milton Friedman would do if he were chairman of the Fed. He reluctantly agreed with what Bernanke is doing. I prefer the stable money (Austrian school) approach but I don’t think Western society is psychologically mature or flexible enough to tolerate declining price and wage levels sufficiently to avoid depression. Think unions.
    At essentially a zero rate of interest, there is no downside to sitting on cash and the current lack of monetary velocity reflects that. With either a controlled rate of inflation or positive interest rates (an inflationary control mechanism), that cash will be invested or spent, either way, stimulating the economy. Keynes may be dead but we are still playing by his rule book.

15. It gets only better.

16. John Chittick : What, would you prefer she sound like JFK or his brothers with their eastern twang where they ended every word with an A on the end with the r sound?That drove me nuts. You are a twit who cannot seem to understand that different regions have different accents.Have you ever thought how you might sound to someone else? Well you sound like a bigot to me.

17. “Recessions are cyclical. Depressions are government policy.” Keynesian economics gave the US one of the longest, deepest depressions in history.
    Ben Bernanke’s just continuing that, punishing the people with wildly inflationary acts. Unfortunately for him, the people have caught on.
    The more money he spews in gleeful paroxysms of stupidity, the more people batten down the hatches, preparing for the inevitable.
    If the government wants to stimulate demand, just let deflation happen. Lower prices are the key to increased demand.
    Stores’ “sale prices” are always lower than regular prices. There’s a reason for that.
    Meanwhile I’ve seen 50% increase in some food prices just in the past two weeks. The government is not only telling lies about inflation, they’re stupid lies.

18. None of this is possible. Sarah Palin is a clownish, moronic “bimbo”. Everyone knows this. Her idiocy is a byword. To take a single example, the other day I was reading an interesting article about Japanese writers in WWII by Ian Buruma from the October 14th edition of The New York Review of Books.
    “One should always be wary of comparisons that sweep too broadly across different cultures and times, but it might not be too far-fetched to detect a comparably psychology at work in highly educated American intellectuals who express a deep admiration for Sarah Palin. Posing as the voice of the people (as Palin might put it***) is comforting, and often a bid for power. Thinking for oneself can be a lonely business…”
    See? Why would a smart guy like Ian Buruma say something like that if he and all the brainy people who read The New York Review of Books couldn’t see right through that ghastly Palin woman? The journalist from the WSJ is obviously in the right here. Learn to think, people.
    ***not that she actually did, or anything, but, you know…

19. I used to wonder why people hated Palin so much just for pointing out the obvious.
    This quote explains it.
    “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.” Oscar Wilde Irish dramatist, novelist, & poet (1854 – 1900)

20. Sweet. AND incisive, honest. No manner of internet dweeb passing themselves off as intellectual elite can cover the clear and concise word coming from an obviously talented, good looking, intelligent woman.
    She has more smarts in her little finger than Obama has all day long and that includes the entire democrat treasonous and worthless bunch trailing behind him.
    There are no quotes that can explain this constant attempt to tear her down and consume her flesh as the dogs attacking Jezebel.
    THEY are the dogs but SHE is NO Jezebel.
    Their attempt to cloud issues, turn aside praise and support is the constant effort made by media to make you think that good is evil and evil is good. It IS the marketing of evil.
    Their treatment of Sarah Palin is only one glaring example of the entire effort to tear down this society.
    The midterms have been about much more than most of the discussion from the left and will continue to be a more important event as time passes and everyone begins to realize that importance.
    As we can see already the ruling elite do not like people demanding the control of their country. If they can’t beat it down in the media they rely on their judges to do it.
    As Oklahoma just found out.
    This is a fight to the finish and we had better be the ones who finish it. Or our country will be finished and our way of life along with it.
    Sarah Palin knows what she is talking about and she always has.

21. John, Bush went to Andover, Yale and Harvard as well as flew a jet. Don’t think he is stupid. bambam went to Harvard, probably AA and can’t throw a ball. Which one is underestimated and which is overestimated?

22. Speedy posted at November 9, 2010 2:31 PM “John, Bush went to Andover, Yale and Harvard as well as flew a jet. Don’t think he is stupid. bambam went to Harvard, probably AA and can’t throw a ball. Which one is underestimated and which is overestimated?”
    Here’s the Teleprompter Reader in Chief on Navy “Corpse” Men.
    Obama’s not smart. He’s not even educated.

23. Looking Glass I was defending some co-workers and I used the phrase “The best way to be hated is to tell someone they are wrong. The best way to be hated forever is to prove that they are wrong.” They won.

24. Yeah, I think she writes her own facebook entries Davenport.
    I bet though that the actress who plays her on SNL doesn’t do so in her skits. Maybe that is where you guys went wrong, confusing skits on comedy shows with reality.

25. Eliza45,
    Running for higher office and trying to get elected means not easily giving your enemies ammunition against you. Pronouncing words that end in ing, “in”, is “somethin” that doesn’t help your cause nor make you sound vice presidential or intelligent.
    Speedy,
    I didn’t mean to imply Pres. Bush was not intelligent nor educated, just annoying as hell to listen to with his stilted phrases in place of sentences.

26. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Sarah Palin gets her power from the yellow sun.
    And she has an adamantium exoskeleton.

27. President George W. Bush passed one of the ultimate tests. As a jet fighter pilot he brought his plane back in one large, attractive piece every time. Flyable, even. This in a jet that killed almost the same percentage of pilots in peacetime flying as died in it in combat.
    (Note that mere civilian flying proved to be too much for Camelot scion John Kennedy, Jr. Hurrah for the laws of physics!)
    Kate helped point this out with Picture Yourself In This Chair. The article Kate referred to is here, Seeing the Unseen, Part 1.
    More on inflation. Just realized I was fooled by a smaller package of drink mix. It seemed to be running out too fast, which caused me to double check.
    At least I didn’t get fooled by the hot cocoa mix. Six packages per box instead of twelve makes the price look great, until you realize the scam.
    This is fundamental, obvious dishonesty. Who do they think they’re fooling? (Besides Wall Street Journal reporters.) It’s also inefficient. Smaller packages lose economy of scale. Now I have to buy twice as many packages to make up for it.

28. Osumashi Kinyobe – I like it! What does it mean? Is it a sci-fi reference (I usually don’t get those)?

29. Well, Wolverine has an adamantium exoskeleton and Superman gets his power from the sun.
    Sarah Palin is awesome, is my point.

30. Osumashi Kinyobe – Ah!
    I first saw/learned of the existence of Palin when she did a brief heads-only tele-screen interview on Glenn Beck’s show back when he was on CNN. I seem to remember that he was mainly congratulating her on not aborting Trig. She struck me, somehow.
    Months later I was in the living room of a lefty History prof sort-of-father-figure person in my life who has good cable; we were watching the news when her being picked as McCain’s VP was announced. My friend had never heard of her back then (of course he decided she was a contemptible retarded bloodthirsty chillbily bimbo in short order).
    “Ohmygod!” I exclaimed, “She’s a brilliant choice! She’s not a normal politician! She’s special! This race just got interesting!”
    So… kudos to me. I called it early. Mind you I’m only starting to think she’s presidential material.

31. nondeblog: “Bernanke is an expert on 1929 ”
    Maybe, but it seems like he prefers the progressive policies of the 30’s.

32. Black Mamba: “Mind you I’m only starting to think she’s presidential material.”
    It would be, to use Osumashi Kinyobe’s words, awesome if she were atop the Republican ticket in 2012.

33. Wow, lots to comment on.
    First, I find myself agreeing with Davenport. I doubt very much Ms. Palin wrote the speech. I don’t think she’s unintelligent, but I also doubt she could define all the terms in Y = C + I + G + X – IM, so the idea that she could independently draft cogent comments on macroeconomics is hard to hold.
    Now, in and of itself, that is not a bad thing. I think I could have said the same thing about Ronnie, but he had the good sense to surround himself with people who did understand things like this. To use an analogy, you don’t have to be able to throw a football 60 yards to be a good GM; you have to put people in place who can. Since I’ve never heard who is on Ms. Palin’s team, I have to reserve judgement. (And I have to add: not only do I believe that Maggie could define every term above, I also believe that she read von Mises’ commentary on it.. in the original German.)
    LC Bennett and others have noted that a lot of stealth price increases are going on, and that they’re not necessarily reflected in the official statistics. I’ve been railing about this for years; the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the US of A regularly uses “hedonic adjustments” to reduce the rise in the CPI. For example, for years in the late 90’s/early 2000’s a new desktop PC was somewhere between $600-$1,000. During that time, processor speeds quadrupled, equipped RAM went up to the GB, hard disk size mushroomed, etc. Now, to the vast majority of people, those things sounded great, but if you’re surfing, doing email, and using MS-Office for the most part, most of those things had minimal impact on the amount of work you could do. But the BLS used those figures to say that the “hedonically adjusted” price of computers had fallen by half, which fed into the total CPI. So, the CPI didn’t go up as much (which saves the government billions in cost of living adjustments to pensions, medicare, etc. ). Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle!
    John Chittick hits on the most important point: the velocity of money in the US has been crashing. Part of it, as he notes, is due to the ridiculously low interest rates on offer at present. (I heard someone at work the other day, after the $50 million Lotto Max winners came forward, say “$50 million? I wish I could win a million. Then I could retire.” I pointed out that 10-year Government of Canadas yield less than 3.5%, and would he be happy living on $35,000 a year, all of it taxable? I was not popular that lunch.)
    But I don’t blame Americans for not investing. For one thing, Wall Street with all its high frequency trading, etc., is rigged against the individual more than it has been any time in my life. For another, fixed income yields next to nothing. For another, Will Smith has shown he’ll bail out bankers and unions, but simple bondholders will get screwed – that’s the way to get investment capital flowing! For another, the vaguely defined Obamacare has yet to explain exactly how much, when, and where you will be taxed to pay for it, so starting a business now is taking an extra special leap of faith – never mind you’re not sure about your market, your competition, your business plan, etc. – now you’ve got to worry what rabbits (and I’m thinking Monty Python rabbits here, not fuzzy bunnies) will be pulled out of the hat. Cash under the mattress (over 500 bank failures in the US so far this year) doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

34. Kevinb
    all politicians (even Obama) have speech-writers. Not unusual. The point is do they believe what they’re saying. Palin’s message is consistent with where she’s at politically: printing money will lead to ruin.
    This isn’t rocket science, and obfuscating it as “Quantitative Easing” fails to make it any more effective. This will lead to inflation that no manner of accounting trickery will be able to hide. And there’s a chance other countries will learn to play this game: we could have a currency war.
    For me this whole economic mess boils down to trust. Do I trust the bank with my money. Do I trust ratings agencies when I invest. Do I trust my money will hold its value. Right now I don’t trust the US dollar. So I’ll invest elsewhere.

35. Davenport @8:28 – “It would be, to use Osumashi Kinyobe’s words, awesome if she were atop the Republican ticket in 2012.”
    Wouldn’t it, though?

36. ” I doubt very much Ms. Palin wrote the speech. I don’t think she’s unintelligent, but I also doubt she could define all the terms in Y = C + I + G + X – IM, so the idea that she could independently draft cogent comments on macroeconomics is hard to hold. “: As stated by Kevin B.
    Mrs. Palin is an extraordinary woman. Not only is she a wife, mother, daughter and businesswoman she was able to run a city and then a huge state. The complexities of any one are enough to overwhelm most not to mention erzatz commenters around and about.
    ANY one with even a modicum of intelligence knows what Bernake did is disaster. So, ‘drafting cogent comments on macroeconomics’ should not be hard for someone of Mrs. Palin’s diverse expertise and understanding of all manner of complicated issues. So, let’s get over that ‘she isn’t qualified’ continuing innuendo.
    She is qualified in spades and THAT is what has everyone on the left tugging at their shorts.
    Now that she left the office of Governor ( and enough of she isn’t qualified because she left her job before her tenure was up. EVERY office holder who has taken the oath of office for Senator, Governor, etc who decides to run for high office LEAVES office before their mandate is finished. Her reasons were valid and necessary.
    Whether she runs or not, ( God only knows why she would except that her country would need her and if it did, she would. )
    Now that the midterms are almost done, it is clear she has helped many new faces over the finish line to serve. There are exciting new people around, such as Marco Rubio and others.
    This is an astounding accomplishment and she has the respect of the Tea Party people from all over the country. And that movement will grow and will continue to take leadership roles around the country.
    All I can say about anyone who can be talked into serving as the President of the US sure needs nerves of steel and fortitude of iron.

37. This article from the WSJ was printed in The National Post today, as to be expected the Globe and Mail did not.