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How To Identify Economic Zombies
Economics is not a difficult subject, unless you try to learn it from an economist. As described by John Kenneth Galbraith, who posed as an economist but was far better as a critic:
Economics is a subject profoundly conducive to cliche, resonant with boredom. On few topics is an American audience so practiced in turning off its ears and minds. And none can say that the response is ill advised.
Common sense is all that is required to be a good economist. Unfortunately, in order to get your union card, you must pretend to have none. Belief in fairy tales like more spending and “free lunches” is also necessary.
But that is of little import in regard to the title – How to identify economic zombies.
What Is A Zombie?
Webster defines zombie as
...a will-less and speechless human in the West Indies capable only of automatic movement who is held to have died and been supernaturally reanimated
An economic zombie can speak and is not dead in any physical sense. His defining feature is a focus almost solely on the present. He assumes tomorrow will be just like today. If his current behavior has not created trouble or hardship thus far, then it won’t tomorrow or on into the future. Linearity describes his thinking and world. The future will be just like today.
A Simple Test For Economic Zombie Determination
The test to determine whether you or your friends are zombies is simple. Answer the following question: How would you live if debt/credit were outlawed? The economic zombie has difficulty comprehending the question, no less answering it. If you or your friends do, then you are well on your way toward full zombie-hood, if in fact you are not already there.
The question is relevant because it identifies those too ignorant to comprehend the fact that you cannot consume more than your income will support, at least not forever.
Income for a period determines the amount you can spend that period, or it would in the absence of debt or savings. Borrowing this period enables spending to exceed income this period. But borrowing is nothing but advancing consumption that otherwise would occur in a later period. Whatever is borrowed raises consumption this period but reduces it next period when some of the income earned then cannot be spent because it must be used to service the prior debt. Total consumption for both periods is lower than it would have been without the borrowing. That is due to the paying the carrying cost of debt, interest.
If you cannot understand this concept or you believe that you can nullify it by borrowing again next period, you qualify as an economic zombie. If you answered that you could not live if debt/credit were outlawed, you are an economic zombie, and perhaps also an economic idiot. Osavi Osar-Emokpae colorfully described debt:
And don’t tell me debt is not a big deal. Debt will cut off your legs and laugh at you as you grovel in the dirt begging for mercy. If you don’t need it, don’t get it. If you can’t afford it, don’t get it. If you’re already in debt, get out quickly. If you think you’ll never get out, you’re right, you won’t.
If you are using your credit cards as loans (i.e., you are not paying in full the balance each month) then you are zombie-qualified.
Economic zombies are not born. They are made. They choose their lifestyle. Behind every economic zombie is someone who believes he should live better than his abilities allow. That may work for a time. Then the Osar-Emokpae quote takes over.
The reality is that negative borrowing, saving, should be occurring every year. Man has a finite lifespan and a finite earning career. The latter is shorter than the former. Part of life is to be responsible enough to prepare for the future when income stops. Borrowing is a sign of immaturity and ignorance. Occasionally borrowing is necessary to meet an unforeseen emergency. If it is routine, then you are an economic zombie!
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I like boobies.
I like turtles.
(Nobody's going to get that. And it won't be worth it if they do. I'm down-arrowing myself and beating the rush)
I like turtle boobies.
Economic textbooks are in the dark ages. Authors like David Colander-Middlebury College have turned economics into how to be a fascist 101 courses. Whenever I teach from these vile rags I feel like a whore who just fucked 30 guys.
It is a strawman arguement really, there always has to be credit/debt...who has a million or two lying around to by inventory? etc...problem is we have too much of it all...let sanity reign maybe?
Tosh. I probably say that one a week. :-/
At the end of that borrowing rainbow, is the expectation of a profit, the proceeds of which will go to pay off that debt. Capital must first be saved, before it can be lent.
"We have to borrow money to keep from going bankrupt" Joey "Double Barrel" Biden.
I'll call this statement, and raise you one, Nanny.
'Defecits don't matter'.
"You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due"
Cheney, Dick(head), former vice-president (Bush the Younger), USSA Administration.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney
I prefer to invest in 'The Kronies' action figures.
Get Kronies...They're KONNECTED!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDXuPQ9ML9E
http://thekronies.com/
That's the Titanic in my avater, by the way.
As long as govt debt grows more slowly than the economy which is taxed to repay it, this is of course obviously true. The error in this way if thinking is to assume you can get government, with it's monopoly powers on law enforcement and taxation, to reign their creation of new debt to figures less than the rate of growth of GDP.
No it is not true. Deficits do always matter. Because your income will be lower with them than without them. The difference is the interest. You did not pay proper attention to the article.
HMMM...
BITCOIN. MT. GOX. IN-HACKABLE. CREDIT!
BRAINS?
'There ALWAYS HAS to be...'
It has ALWAYS been this way (since the war). We have ALWAYS been at war with Eastasia. (CUT, EDIT) We have ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia.
SO, a guy gets hired to work for a day. His 'employer', it seems, can't pay him as promised, so he says, 'Worker human, I will pay you tomorrow, I PROMISE.' The worker gets a little pissed (due to the fact that he worked for this bastard all day), and the 'employer', says, 'Listen, I'll write you an I.O.U., that you can cash in at the local BAR. You like to drink, don't you, human worker?' The worker, a simple foolish human, agrees, and soon uses this 'I.O.U.' up in a night's celebration of 'employment'.
When the 'worker' approaches the 'employer' the next morning, the 'employer' states that there is NO CREDIT LEFT ('You drank your wages, but you enjoyed yourself, didn't you?'). The 'worker' shamefully nods his head in agreement as the 'employer' says, 'Listen, i have another day's work for you, if you want to make up for your expenditures at the bar (and, I won't tell anyone what you did- It'll be OUR secret!)'. Once again, the 'worker human' agrees, and soon there is a 'contract' between them...
'ANY PARTY' (the EMPLOYEE HUMAN CHATTEL) THAT DECIDES TO BREAK THIS CONTRACT will, of course, be labeled by the 'employer' as 'insane' (naturally, the 'employer' is 'sane', because he has holdings, including the bar, where his brother-in-law tends the bar).
Nice horse, Abi.
Say, is that HORSESHIT I see under the black tail, there?
SO, I BUILT your little empire...because I was too stupid, and you took advantage. THAT'S THE WAY IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN, when one defends an Empire, I suppose.
THERE ALWAYS HAS TO BE CREDIT/DEBT...
easy on the bath salts
Economics in one lesson by Hazlitt is a good book to study.
Tues, 02/25/14, CBS Evening News (breaking):
Scott Pelley: "There is a new currency called 'Bitcoin'....
Here's two lucky fucks who want to trade their new found stack for fiat.
California couple finds $10 million in rare coins while out walking dog.http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/25/california-couple-finds-10-million-...
I sure as hell would't be tellin or sellin any of that bounty.
Sell numismatic value.
Buy gold.
When the SHTF nobody gonna care if the coin is from 1864 or not.
California couple soon to get an assraping from the IRS for not keeping their mouths shut.
On FAUX breaking news:
A California couple was arrested and indited on several charges today.
According to authorities, (name redacted), and (name redacted), were found to be in possesion of several millions of dollars of stolen contraband in their FORTIFIED ANTI-SOCIAL COMPOUND in (location redacted), California. They claim that their so-called 'discovery' took place while digging on their private land, but DHS, TSA, and IRS authorities (who spoke to us under conditions of anonymity) claim that they had been surveilling them for several months as part of a 'stolen coin' operation, code-named 'ABLE-THEFT-GOVERNMENT'. So far, no details are available, but it is understood that they are being held without bail in (location redacted, because of Patriot-Act legislation and 'state secrets' priveledge by Secret Patriot-Act court legislation).
THIS NEXT UP: Sochi Olympics opening ceremony: IS the missing circle in the visual display an innocent software glitch; or is this something MORE SINISTER? We'll let YOU decide, as we cut to our Olympic reporter, Richard Weed. DICK?
...
This. If I made a discovery like this--and was lucky enough to be absolutely alone at the time--the IRS would never need to worry their pretty little heads over it. Nor would anybody else. ANYBODY else. Ever. In fact, there's a distinct possibility that, after taking some time to carefully consider the situation, my family might one day soon discover that I don't exist anymore.
The only one that would have an inkling that I exist would be some boat dealer somewhere down in Florida or maybe the Caribbean. Also perhaps a real estate agent might make a good, quick sale of a good-sized island, and maybe some sort of contractor would score a job to build and heavily provision a hurricaine-proof bungalow on that island. And then there would simply be one more island bum amongst many for the next 30 or 40 years, and a nice luxury Catamaran that would make idle rounds of the islands from time to time. If SHTF during that time, well, he might hear of it through his satellite comms setup on that island and monitor events closely....
Sounds exactly like my Great Aunt/Uncle, who grew up in TGD 1.0. Having experienced bank runs, they would bury gold they had panned from and on their land....also in gold country.
Seemed like the thing to do until they started crappin' their pants, and forgetting their own names. We should have known something was up, when we found the laundry in the oven.
@ Nanny:
The sound of desperation is beginning to show in your replies.
SUCH a quiant discussion, regarding the loss of your 'kin'. You really cared for your relatives, DIDN'T YOU?
Well, my Grandma, she was on these meds that made her go to every bar in town, and take off her clothes every time a song by the Beatles was played on the Kareoke. One time, she gave head to 25 men, before she realized that their cocks weren't beer bottles...
Love of family really IS an alien concept, isn't it?
How incredubly stupid to discloseto anyone after having found this.
Here ya go -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y
it costs an arm and a leg
My mother in law dropped dead last year....did a reverse mortgage at the top of the market....fha eats 70% of the cash they gave her.....owed 38k in credit cards (fuck you BoA Amex and WFC)....I'd say she won.....except for the dead part
It's not really debt if you don't intend to pay it back.
they call that "money".
Please send me my share of the house since FHA will never eat anything by themselves. Instead future taxpayers will be on the hook.
I will take one door knob as payment of my share, thanks for your support.
I'd say she definitely won. What baffles me to this day, is how anybody can rationally offer REMO's. Does anybody think anymore? Oh wait..it's FHA...which is government. Makes total sense now.
income is credit & debt, zombie mindfucked
How would you live if debt/credit were outlawed?
I would live just fine after the final $4K to my ex is paid. Cash & PM. Debit card and one Credit Card with a zero balance to rent cars with. That's it.
The Walking Debt
money is debt in our current environment, by law.
so, the rational are outlaws and criminals.
from which perspective does one make judgement
of this perversion?
tell me, i would like to know.
.
Fly Me To The Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtFBRJFN3p8
yep, every dollar in everyone's possession is DEBT ROFLMAO...THAT is fractional reserver explained 101! Every dollar deosited is loand out x9...so 8 dollars is debt right off the fuckin bat...and that is only one way we go into debt fluffies!
My Way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m0dJXtwwiY
.
Frank's Wild Years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Cty-q73wk
.
there is 9/11 in a nut shell.
When there is a perfect correlation between the rise in food banks usage and the rise in the stock market.
Governments and central banks are magical. Debt doesn't apply to them. Just ask 'em.
If half the effort you put into life wasn't stolen at the point of a 'gun' by the government to pay off Central Banks interest on money they really didn't need to borrow at interest anyway, I don't think there would be as many people suffering.
Fuck the banksters.
The only way you can win is not to take part in the game.
I could go off on a rant.............
This means $10.10 burger combos doesn't it?
How about I swing a dead cat and whoever it hits is an economic zombie?
Old people are either economic zombies or are sliding that way inexorably, because their productivity and full mastery of their economic assets is terminally on the wain. Younger people have the potential of economic sentience and vitality. Finance, viewed from 30k feet, is a game of older people who've earned it but are tiring mentally and physically lending the assets they have accumulated to younger people who have potential by virtue of their vigor and ideas. The older people of course have ideas about how they want their lives's work to act on the world they leave behind. More importantly their younger selves, at the births of their children, wished their efforts to profit their childrens' chances and health DIRECTLY.
When taxation rates and death taxes become confiscatory, this chain is broken, fewer children are produced, and with some delay, the evil soulless welfare state that begat the rot starts incurring evermore unparalleled debt just to service it's past lies, then defaults on them, amongst much ruin.
Call to action: if you are dying of teminal anything, or just dying within ten years and are still vital, maybe getting activist against statist sociopaths who steal the very motivation of humanity can provide a tiny measure of immortality AND give a better lot to your best shot at it, your children, or closest relatives children, or kindred spirits' children, or just in the name of freedom.
The bigger question is if your government and financial institutions are zombies, that is where it starts.
Talking about individuals and credit cards is the hair behind the left ear of a zombie.
Not to mention that the government and financial institutions have deliberately left the large majority of individuals with little choice but to borrow in order to maintain a first-world household standard of living. There's not enough farmland for everyone do live off the land, and even if there were the oligarchs own it already.
WHY 2014 WILL BE DIFFERENT
http://ethanmichaly.blogspot.com/2014/02/blog-post.html
But, with enough debt you can be a Zombie with lots of bling. Have a boob job (or access to a boob job), and 500+ sports channels, and a chrysler 300 with oversized tires & tinted windows, and bling LOTS of BLING!!
Yeah, normal Zombies are bad, but debt Zombies are beautiful!!
I'm in my fifties and I clearly remember the days when Average Working Guy couldn't get head-over-heels in debt. It simply couldn't be done through legal borrowing. Nobody had credit cards (well, rich City folks had "Diners Club"). The local banker would look at you cross-eyed if you asked to borrow money without collateral that exceeded the value of the loan.
Just a few short decades ago the saying was, "The only way to get a loan is to prove to the Loan Officer that you don't need the money!"
Back then both the populace and the banks were solvent.
I remember those times... and my first savings account (1973) yielded 6.75% interest.
Economics, slavery by a different name.
Tom Waits - Letterman 12-21-83
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnwJuA5n8Gc
Economic zombies are the worst kind of zombies of all, because even a head shot can't stop them --- there being nothing in their heads of vital importance in the first place.
"Economic zombies are not born.
They are made."
CORRECT!
"They choose their lifestyle."
RIDICULOUSLY FALSE!
Apparently the legend of Zombies started with the ability to secretly administer drugs to people that would then appear to be dead. Afterwards, they could partially recover, although may have been brain damaged for the rest of their lives by the long-term effects of the drugs that they had been secretly given. Thus, the original creation of real Zombies was actually done through SUCCESSFUL CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES, WHERE THOSE CRIMINALS WERE ABLE TO GET AWAY WITH HAVING COMMITTED THEIR CRIMES, TO TURN OTHER PEOPLE INTO ZOMBIES.
Economic Zombie are based on the same principles, i.e., the successful application of the methods of organized crime, used to take over control of governments, in order to legalize lies, and back those up with legalized violence, in ways which metaphorically reduce the rest of the population to being Zombie Sheeple. It was the success of the biggest gangsters, the banksters, that created the economic system where the public "money" supply was created out of nothing as debts. Those who were the most successful people were those who were closest to the source of that fraudulent "money." However, EVERYONE was forced to operate within that system, and so, EVERYONE WAS FORCED TO BECOME AN ECONOMIC ZOMBIE.
The entire article above is what I regard as typical reactionary revolutionary rambling, promoting mainstream moron morality. On the two most important levels the analysis presented utterly fails to penetrate any deeper into understanding what is going on: FIRST, the economy operates according to the way that organized crime operates; SECOND, the economy must necessarily operate according to the way that organized crime operates.
This article above pathetically stays within the biggest bullies' bullshit world view regarding notions about "Common sense is all that is required to be a good economist." Instead, I assert that it takes a series of profound paradigm shifts in the philosophy of science, which then apply to politics, in order to comprehend how political economy actually operates, which has almost nothing in common with the common sense ideas of most people.
It would take a series of political miracles before an sensible answer could be made to that question "How would you live if debt/credit were outlawed?" The deeper problems are that money is measurement backed by murder. The present system is the result of how that developed because of the history of the murder systems' successes being based on backing up deceits with destruction, and the money systems' successes being based on backing up frauds with force. Not only is the FIRST level of radical truth that those are the real historical facts, but also, the SECOND level of radical truth is that must necessarily be the way that the real world operates.
In order for the average Economic Zombie Sheeple in the world (which is at least 99% of the total population) to stop being Zombies, they would have to recover from the degree to which they have become practically permanently brain damaged by the ways that they were brainwashed to believe in the biggest bullies' bullshit world view. Economic Zombies would have to understand that as citizens they are members of an organized crime gang. If they were going to stop being brain dead Zombies, then they would have to take back control of the murder systems, in order to take back control of the money systems.
They could not continue to operate within the frame of reference of the mainstream moron moralities. They could not continue to be reactionary revolutionaries, which only superficially began to understand the problems that their government was the biggest form of organized crime, which was being controlled by the best organized gang of criminals, but then continue to think about that problem using the same old-fashioned false fundamental dichotomies, and their related impossible ideals, because then they would continue to propose bogus "solutions" to those problems, based on stopping the world from being operated according to the principles and methods of organized crime.
If one applies the concepts of general energy systems to human civilization, one arrives at more radical truths that human realities are always systems of organized lies, operating organized robberies. The degree to which the vast majority of people do not understand that, and have been conditioned to not want to understand that, is the degree to which they act like Zombie Sheeple, who do not effectively resist the ways that their government has become runaway organized crime, directed by the best organized gangs of criminals, which has primarily manifested through the privatization of the public "money" supply, and then spread from there to be leveraged to dominate the funding of everything else, to capture control over all social institutions, and systematically drive them psychotically insane, since the basic mechanism is backing up lies with violence, which is successful in the short-term, but necessarily drives the whole society to become more insane in the longer term, because of the increasing degree to which the whole society is dominated by lies, which they were brainwashed to believe in.
Inside of the money-as-debt system, people are punished when they do not take advantage of that, since they are otherwise left behind in the dust by the rest of the runaway triumphant financial frauds dominating everything else, while they are relatively rewarded the more that they join in the orgy of debt creation. That money-as-debt system totally dominates our civilization, due to it being the triumphant application of the methods of organized crime, against people who became too much like Zombie Sheeple, or incompetent political idiots, to be able to resist.
Of course, after one faces the full facts, that it was, and continues to be, that society operates according the application of the methods of organized crime, and it was, and will be, impossible for that to ever actually change, other than as some differences in the dynamic equilibria between the different systems of organized lies, operating organized robberies, then these real problems are actually trillions of times worse than what the more superficial reactionary revolutionaries and mainstream morons perceive. While this kind of article is correct enough, within its own frame-of-reference, it is otherwise only barely scratching the surface, and has no way to orient itself towards the foreseeable future when those problems are going to continue to run away to become quadrillions of times worse than they ever were before in known human history.
Looking more deeply, the problem is that most people are such permanently brain damaged Economic Zombies that it looks impossible for them to recover within their lifetime. Furthermore, the entire social system is set up in such a way that it automatically is destroying young people, to turn them into even worse Economic Zombies in the foreseeable future. The vast majority of people are NOT "choosing their lifestyle," but rather are victims of triumphant organized crime, utterly overwhelming them. Reducing people to Economic Zombies was an important aspect of the overall War against Consciousness, which most people were not even aware that they were losing.
In that context, it is extremely easy to "Identify Economic Zombies" since that is almost everyone. Indeed, a good argument can be made that even the international banksters, that made and maintained the fundamentally fraudulent financial accounting systems that dominate our current civilization, have also become Economic Zombies too. Even those who were triumphant in advancing the methods of organized crime to control society are set up to also suffer from the accumulating longer term consequences of having done that!
TL;DR.
Been Debt Free for many years, pay all my credit cards off each month.. Banks Label you a Deadbeat, but they have to have so many of you on the roles or their insurance goes up.
when all the Debt and Credit disappears, the truly rich people list will surprise Everybody
Great, so nobody should own houses then?
Someone couldn't grasp the most basic concepts of this article.
What I "understand" from this article is that the author, and whichever one of the stupider Tylers that posted it, enjoy the attention they create when they issue ridiculous, oversimplified statements attempting to demonise everything financial. "Ooh, debt is the the devil. That gets me clicks!"
I challenge you to live in a world without banks, or debt. Good luck saving up enough money to buy a house without a mortgage. Good luck buying food from supermarkets that can't stock shelves without lines of credit. Good luck getting electricty from power stations that don't exist because noone funded their construction. Good luck driving a car that you can't afford, even if anyone manages to actually build one without trade financing.
Good luck returning to the 3rd world and subsistance farming.... although I suppose if that's your gig then more power to you.
I'm going to stay overseas, where the electricity, water and food I don't have to grow in my backyard are.
Your understanding is as much of an oxymoron as your name "Cashcollateral." The problem is NOT credit, the problem is the PRIVATIZATION of the creation of credit. It is the PRIVATE banks being able to make the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts which drives runaway debt slavery, towards insane social polarization and the destruction of the natural world.
In the money-as-debt system, if there was no debt, then there would be no "money." Since the source of the public "money" supply is primarily private banks creating that out of nothing, that triumph of runaway organized crime taking control of society eventually destroys the society in which that takes place. It is clear to me that you have never taken the time to understand the basic social facts about what is really happening, but rather stay on a silly, superficial level.
It is NOT the shallow idea that "debt is the devil," but rather that debts created out of nothing through a crazy and corrupt monetary system, controlled by private banks, for their private benefit, that is the evil. Money can be meaningfully credit. However, what it means when that public credit is created out of nothing as debts is that organized crime has taken control of the government.
I've loaned money directly to the local utility. Eff the banks. Every business could borrow directly, and cut out the middleman, if they wanted. It's only economic for businesses use these middlemen in an expanding economy, anyway. When the the thieves get bailed out by corrupt politicians, they should be jailed, not licensed to continue!
Maybe but its a valid point, no houses, well at least you would go back to to the days of paying rent while you slowly built your house, not too many people could buy cars. No student loans which might be a good thing but the basic idea is you borrow money today to make more money later enough not only to pay the debt but to improve your standard of living. Their is a difference between good debt, and bad debt, this article has a hard time distinguishing between the two.
"Belief in fairy tales like more spending is also necessary. "
Yeah, because when your economy is collapsing only a GENIUS realizes that LESS spending is preferable.
I mean a smart person will tell, the less demand you have, the more robust your economy is. Nothing creates jobs like people that white-knuckle their money in their fist.
*rolleyes*
Spending debt is pulling future growth forward, and pissing part of it away in interest. You only get to increase spending if you saved in the flush years.
Anyone ignoring the $US Trillions in
privatizers'/oligarchs' free lunch
must be telling some sort of joke.
The natives prepared to go
Quebecois got a better deal.
How much is still trickle down/
where's the beef economics
after non-democratic economics?
I'm going sleepy-bye soon but
Canadians are welcome to say.
But now Canberra's drilling in
the G.B.R. and Ottawa's planning
on drilling in the Arctic.
Is this:
The Family 200
Miles From San Antonio
That's Lucky Enough To
Receive Royalties Won't
Benefit From XL The
Slightest Bit.
On The Contrary, It's
Competition.
Delete Nuclear, Coal,
Destroying The Gulf,
De-Constructing The
Arctic, And Wars For Oil,
And Allow The Dollar's
Strength To Redound
In A Nation Whose Full
Population Is Firing On
All Cylinders Instead Of
How Much Energy Is
Sourced From Around The
World, And That Family's
Good Fortune Will Be
Perfectly Matched With
The U.S.' Needs
something for the U.S.
to do alone?
The other petro states
do nothing?
If XL's stopped so that
we don't have to worry
about climate change,
which should make people
at M.I.T. less enthusiastic
about facilitating the
privatization of the food
chain,
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/522596/why-we-will-need-ge...
does that mean ordinary
folk here would be forcing
Canadians to help save
humans' habitat?
All that shuffling of assets
enriches oligarchs, gives a little
trickle down to the Canadians,
and with the Russians, accelerates
the dimming of younger generations'
futures.
The Canadians should go to work
remaking a solar economy, same as
us. The Chinese shouldn't go to war
to further aggravate the smog in
Beijing. Everyone around the
Pacific Rim should help the Japanese.
This article is the best critique of "economics" I've ever read.
"Economics is not a difficult subject, unless you try to learn it from an economist."
"Common sense is all that is required to be a good economist. Unfortunately, in order to get your union card, you must pretend to have none. Belief in fairy tales like more spending and “free lunches” is also necessary."
I am no economist and certainly do not have one of their union cards. Fortunately I was gifted with a fair amount of common sense and logical ability. At some point this lead me to realise that my views aligned with the Mises school of thinking, since it is plain common sense and reflects my own natural analysis of how markets and things work.
The consequence of being "enlightened" is that for years I've watched/listened in disbelief at so-called professional economists and political elites babbling about the subject when I know they are talking utter garbage. Most of the yardsticks they use to measure economic activity have been bastardised to the point where they are useless.
Is it any wonder the world's financial system is on the edge of an abyss when we have clowns like Krugman peddling phony theories which bear little resemblance to reality??
If debt and credit were outlawed, I would live better than I live now because I wouldn't have to pay off any of my remaining and now illegal debts!
Whoa!, let's not go putting labels on people.
http://www.marketmenot.com/sprint-unlimited-my-way-undead-zombie-commerc...
From the description above it would seem our GOVERNMENT is a total economic zombie. The only thing keeping it going is regular infusions of fiat "blood" from the Fed.
I remember when my folks got their first real Credit card. It was a Bank of America'rd. They actually took family down to the NCNB branch so they could see them take money out of the machine. Lucky for me, they were children of the Depression, and not Brain-dead zombies(aka Baby-Boomers). That was back in 1974, just 3 years after Nixon sold the nation's soul to the Witch Doctors.