Why Keynesianism Won't Go Away

From Patrick Barron at the Von Misses Institute:

Most economic analysts predict that the US is about to enter into a cyclical recession. Even Austrian School economists (like me) agree. The big question is, "What will government do?” Will it finally stop its fruitless interventions, such as trying to drive down the interest rate via inflation in the face of unprecedented budget deficits?

Look to Past Actions

Tom Fitton, CEO of Judicial Watch, answered this question (regarding another matter) during a Q&A session at the annual banquet of the Conservative Caucus of Delaware. His answer was simplicity itself and should have been obvious to us all. He said that if we want to predict what a person will do, just look at what he did previously under similar circumstances. People really don’t change much. In fact, regarding economic philosophy, my experience has been that it is very, very difficult to entice someone even to consider an alternative.

That is why the Fed has been itching to find any reason whatsoever to lower interest rates. A few weeks ago, the Fed convinced itself and its Keynesian admirers that price inflation had moderated to below its arbitrary target of two percent, which it felt justified lowering the Fed Funds rate by a half a percentage point. Of course, attempting to goose the economy before an election had nothing to do with it. Oh, no. And if you believe this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I’ll sell you…cheap!

Why Don’t People Change?

A bigger question arises: why continue to do the same thing that caused all the trouble in the first place? Don’t people learn? Don’t they take a good hard look at the never-ending booms and busts and ask themselves why this keeps happening? That answer is more difficult, but I believe it has to do with human nature. No one ever wants to admit that he might be wrong.

All the governments of the Western bloc are wedded to Keynesian economics that itself is rooted in the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Against all evidence and completely ignoring Say’s Law of Markets, in his magnum opus The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, John Maynard Keynes posited that overproduction had caused an unstoppable deflationary price spiral and that the solution was to increase aggregate demand through government spending. This was a godsend to free-spending politicians, who previously had been encouraged—correctly, by the way—to cut government spending in the face of a recession in order to free capital to revive the wealth-generating private sector. The evidence of the rightness of this policy, in addition to its logical correctness, was the post-World War I Wilson-Harding depression that was over in about a year and a half. The government actually cut spending in order to wash out capital-consuming parasites that always emerge during war economies. Mark Thornton has this statement in his 2018 book The Skyscraper Curse: And How Austrian Economists Predicted Every Major Economic Crises of the Last Century:

The alternative approach to business cycle contractions is espoused by the classical economists, the Austrian-school economists, and the real business cycle theorists. This "do nothing” approach involves shrinking government and balancing the budget, expanding resources in the private sector, and a non-expansionary monetary policy. This was employed by Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding during the fifteen-month-long depression of 1920–21. This period was one of the most severely deflationary in US history, and yet it is hardly mentioned in history textbooks.

But no one, especially those in government and their politically-connected cronies, will entertain the idea of sound money and reduced government spending today. Oh, no! We are living in the age of "countercyclical spending” in which the cart goes before the horse. In fact, our economic system is full of mandatory spending in the face of recession. All manner of welfare programs have been passed to protect workers and businesses from being forced to adjust to the realities of the market. For example, politicians are lauded for extending unemployment benefits beyond previously-established maximums. But here’s the rub—the economy cannot recover unless people and businesses are willing to change. Working in industries that the market desires at a price the market is willing to pay is the only path to economic recovery. Not working at all and refusing to change business models perpetuates and deepens the recession.

Conclusion

So, what is the answer? It is obvious. The people who have been given the power to enact Keynesian policy must be removed from positions of power. They are not going to change. They and their Keynesian policies must be sent to the dustbin of history. It will not be easy. But it’s either adapt to new market realities or suffer an economic collapse unprecedented in US history.

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Defund Israel

Timothy Birdnow

Remember this Jewish voters!

Democrats call for the destruction of Israel!
40% of House Democrats Call For Arms Embargo to Israel

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Syrian Druze Seek Annexation by Israel

Timothy Birdnow

Druze in southern Syria want to be annexed by Israel to avoid being oppressed by Islamists who are taking over the country.

Druze are a minority religious sect in southern Syria and northern Israel that is something of a hodge-podge of religious beliefs, including the "oneness" of God, reincarnation, etc. Also known as the "Muwahideen” or "declarers of oneness,” the Druze largely identify as Arab and the religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam. They have adopted many oriental religious beliefs from Hindus and Buddhists in addition to their Islamic faith. They live in Syria, Lebanon, the Golan Heights, and in Jordan and even in Gaza.

If they secede from Syria and join Israel this could cause a lot of trouble in the region, but what else is new?

It makes me wonder; the Bible predicts future Israel will extend all the way between the Euphrates and the sea. If Israel annexes Druzylvania (to coin a term) will it have access to the Euphrates?

We live in interesting times.

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Ontario Head Calls for Energy Embargo on U.S.

Timothy Birdnow

The mouse that roared!

Ontario premier says US energy exports will be cut off if Trump imposes sweeping tariffs on Canada

Well, actually it just squeeked a bit.

I hate to tell this jerky boss hog of Ontario but we have plenty of energy in the u.S. itself. And his province, and indeed all of Canada, needs to sell us their oil and gas more than we need to buy it.

And we can cut off a whole lot of things to Canada if they want to get into that. Like refined petroleum which they import to the tune of $1.43 billion Canadian bucks. They also import $1.15 billion in crude from us. Cars and auto parts at $1.41 billion. In fact Canada's imports from the U.S. In fact we exported $427.7 billion to them last year.

So what about electricity? The U.S. imported 33.2 million megawatt hours of electricity from Canada last year - $3.2 billion dollars worth in 2023, nearly 30% less than in 2022.. Yes, that is a lot. But in 2023, the United States exported 18.09 terawatt-hours of electricity to Canada. (1 terawatts = 1000000 megawatts so we are talking about 1,809,000 megawatts. Yes, far less than we get from Canada, but it still will hurt them if we keep it when they need it. We have other sources to draw from and then largely do not.

Canada has a GDP of a GDP of $2.14 trillion in USD in 2023. The U.S. enjoys a staggering 27.36 trillion USD. Who wins in a pissing contest?

So put that in your bong and smoke it hippie backbacon eating maplehead!

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Timothy Birdnow

The Biden Administration, unable to stop Mr. Trump himself, is now targeting his nominees by targeting the places they work.

In this particular instance the Biden Security and Exchange commission (SEC) is going after Cantor Fitzgerald, which is run by Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick to head up the Department of Commerce.

Why? Allegedly "make misleading statements to investors ahead of their initial public offerings (IPOs)" as the SEC claims happened.

FTA:

The timing is suspect; just as Mr. Trump is about to take office and his Treasury Secretary nominee faces Senate confirmation hearings.

Watch for more such tactics in upcoming weeks as the Biden junta does it's best to tie the hands of the incoming Trump Administration.

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Republicans Want to EXPAND the Judiciary!

Timothy Birdnow

The Republican-led House of Representatives has gone mad and wants to greatly expand the size of the Federal judiciary at a time when it is already bloated and intto every aspect of life.

Amazingly Joe Biden is expected to veto the bill.

From the Epoch Times article:

"The bill, known as the Judicial Understaffing Delays Getting Emergencies Solved (JUDGES) Act of 2024, would add 66 district court judgeships nationwide.

Under the bill, the additions would occur incrementally, with the last wave of judgeships being authorized in 2035.

The 236–173 vote comes shortly before President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January.

Trump’s recent electoral win allows him to continue reshaping the judiciary after adding a substantial number of judges during his first term of office."

end

So the motivation is to give Trump a bunch of new judges. But this is a double-edged sword and there will be nothing to stop the Democrats from doing the same thing when they inevitably take power again.

Our problem isn't too few judges but too many of them - and too many laws on the books. Doesn't the House have better things to do, like repealing oldlaws?

This proves the Republicans are qualitatively no different by and large than the Democrats. They haven't learned that big government is the enemy.

If they do this then they greenlight the Democrats' scheme to pack the Supreme Court. There is no other logical end to it.

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Mad Scramble to Avoid Government Shutdown

Timothy Birdnow

Why?

A December government shutdown looms: Where negotiations stand

At this point I suspect the Democrats will get the blame, and the election is over so why not shut it down?

May as well just let the thing shut down until after the inauguration.

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Hope to Die, Stick a Needle in My Eye

Timothy Birdnow

Check this out; scientists at Stanford have turned skin bacteria into a vaccine thus eliminating the need for needles!

That would make vaccinations far less onerous to children.

As a child I was deathly afraid of needles and fought hard against getting any shots. It was a pathological fear. I still don't like needles much but decades of insulin and other shots have made me largely immune to these fears. Largely. I still grow fearful when I'm in the chair awaiting an eyeball shot for my eye condition, mind you.

In fact, I once had to go in for a vaccination and the doctor - a true sadist although he had a great reputation as a pediatrician - used to love pulling out big needles to scare me, and once actually climbed on top of me and held me down on the floor while he gave me the shot - while my mother tried to stop this creep! It must be what a rape feels like; I remember the horror of it.

My mother found me a new pediatrician right away, naturally. But in those days you didn't go to the authories over every little thing, and so this sadist got away with it. He should have lost his medical license over that little assault (which is what it was).

So I've always had a healthy fear of needles, and a simple skin solution would have been the answer to all my prayers!

I hope there is a way for them to work this out for my eyeball shots; just some drops instead of that horrible needle in the eye.

I don't see how it would work though; the medication needs to get to the back of the interior of the eye.

At any rate this is a wonderful development. Let's hope it translates into common practice sooner rather than later.

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Should Trump Pardon Biden?

Timothy Birdnow

Should Donald Trump offer Joe Biden a pardon?

Upon reflection I wonder if this wouldn't be a politically astute thing for Trump to do. Biden's not going to jail, especially since the Supreme Court ruling exempting official acts by any President from prosecution makes it almost impossible to go after Captain Peachfuzz. The only way around this is to either get him for actions that occurred before he became President or to impeach him and thus his actions are no longer exempt (and that would be a whole other SCOTUS case). But if Trump pardons him, and he accepts the pardon, it will be obvious to everyone that he was guilty of crimes, and at the same time shows Trump to be magnanimous.

Then everyone who supported Biden can be held up to the American public for corruption and abuse of power. That includes most potential Democrat candidates for President in four years.

Granted, I would like to see Biden investigated heavily by Congress and the DOJ to expose his corruption and lawbreaking. That's another benefit of a post-presidential impeachment (and it is legal to impeach an ex-president, if for no other reason than to expose lawbreaking and to make it impossible for him to hide behind executive privilege as well as to hold his pension.) But that is unlikely; too many RINO's and too close a Senate. So a pardon may be the best approach in this instance.

Actually, Trump should offer a limited pardon so Biden can still be pursued over other things.

Again, if Biden accepts it's an admission of guilt and can be hung around the necks of the Democrats. If he refuses he can be investigated further and charges for any crime that is not an official act.

I trust Mr. Trump will understand the benefits and dettriments of this.

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French Roll

Timothy Birdnow

Is the problem perhaps Mr. Macron himself?

Macron Appoints fourth prime minister in 12 months

None of this would be happening if Marine La Penn had been put in power in the first place.

France needs a color revolution.

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"Climate Change" or Oil?

Timothy Birdnow

Any wonder why America can't win wars, with such imbeciles running our military?

Pentagon Official Frets Climate Change Is Driving Africans To Join Jihadist Groups

I hate to tell this moron but most of these Jihadist groups aren't taking willing recruits, but rather shanghai them.

Yes, southern Africa has suffered from a severe drought but that is easily explained by the El Nino conditions we experienced.

Certainly Climatologist Judith Curry doesn't blame the drought on "climate change".

And this dimwit doesn't know the difference between north and south Africa; according to the Africa Center:

Of these theaters only Mozambique is in the south; the rest are central to north. The major drought conditions are in the southern parts of the continent.

Duh.

Yet this guy holds a high post in our military.

According to the Daily Caller article:

"The New York Times reported in June that the expensive effort to stamp out jihadist influence in West Africa "has largely failed” after a decade of work, and a September analysis by Reuters found that the number of violent incidents involving terrorists in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso has almost doubled in the time since 2021."

What else has been happening since 2021? I believe it's called the Biden Administration.

Could it be that poor foreign policy has freed the Jihadists to run wild there? Could it be that high fuel prices and economic malaise are more responsible than "climate change"? Energy usage is a coefficient of prosperity and it takes energy to move goods and serviced even in dirt poor countries with limited modern technology. In fact the very poor nations are more vulnerable to spikes in energy prices as that spikes all prices and they can ill-afford to pay the inflated prices for stuff.

If Jihadists are gaining ground in Africa isn't it likely caused by Bidenflation? Anybody?

Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart certainly blames Biden for impoverishing Africans even more by his energy policy. Biden has been pushing African nations to "go green" when so-called green energy is not capable of supporting a developing economy, and he's used all sorts of pressure and sanctions to force these nations into line.

Isn't a rise in Jihadi recruitment a coefficient of THAT?

The Sahel relies heavily on imported oil and gas. So too does Somalia, which has a good sized oil reserve (at least 30 billion barrels)but cannot produce any of it. Ditto Mozambique which produces no oil of it's own. Chad produces some oil while North Africa produces much, but these are places that have always been crawling with Muslims, and were in fact colonies of the Islamic world before the Europeans came in. It doesn't take much to recruit jihadists in either of these last two.

If this Bidenbot wants to point a finger over the rise of Jihad in Africa he needs to first look in the mirror.

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The Man Who Shot Ashlii Babbitt

Timothy Birdnow

In other J6 news the man who killed Ashlii Babbitt - Officer Michael J. Byrd - had almost been fired from the force for ditching his duties to play cards in a cloakroom then lying about it to Internal Affairs.

He had been assigned to Speaker Dennis Hastert at the time. I might add he was sitting in the Speaker's Office and eating and drinking a soda; the J6ers who went into Pelosi's office were nearly drawn and quartered for it.

Byrd also once left his sidearm in a restroom at the Capitol Visitor's Center, another act that usually leads to firing. It was found by another officer.

He discharged his weapon at a fleeing vehicle then lied to IAD about it, claiming it was coming straight at him. Byrd was disciplined for violating use of force and use of weapons policies by discharging his service weapon in a "careless and imprudent manner.”

He was also disciplined for an incident at a high school football game where he got into it with a local cop and called him a "piece of "shit" and "racist".

Yet Byrd was promoted to Captain after all of this.

Oh, and Byrd has had a slew of financial problems, such as bankruptcies and a tax-lien judgment of $56,366 against him by the Federal government (I wonder; were they garnishing his pay?)

If he hadn't been black he'd have been toast.

Here's the kicker:

So Byrd was bribed and kept isolated so he couldn't blow this for the Democrats!

Nancy Pelosi is on record as saying she wanted to "take care of him" for his service to The Party, and bumping him up to several great jobs were discussed. They also waived Byrd's fitness requirements so he could continue with his job and keep his firearm (if he didn't lose it).

Byrd is an example of how the filth of politics bespoils everything, especially in Washington.

This guy probably should be in jail for reckless homicide at a minimum. Manslaughter probably. But he has no business being a captain in the Capitol Police. That was purely to keep him quiet and rub our collective noses in it.

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Entrapment

Timothy Birdnow

It was a setup!

Report: 26 FBI Sources Were on the Ground at J6 - 3 Entered Capitol Building

Can you say "entrapment"? Every single conviction for J6 should be thrown out based on that fact alone.

According to this article on the Federal law against entrapment:

We know that there were people in the crowd, and they were probably the federal agents, pushing them to enter the restricted area. Most J6 people were charged on that alone.

This report offers ground for appeal of many of the sentences. I hope this winds up at SCOTUS.

BTW the Washington Post is crowing about this report, claiming it "debunks" conspiracy theories about J6. It does nothing of the sort; yes, Horowitz (a Democrat and swamp dweller) said there were no FBI AGENTS on the scene but said there were "informants" who are people paid by the FBI so it's six of one, half dozen of the other.

Given how other things were done - from Pelosi rejecting National Guard to Capitol Policemen holding the doors open for J6 tourists, I have absolutely no doubt this was pre-planned and ginned up. It was the way they were going to stop Trump, or so they thought. Insurrection is the only thing that would have prevented Trump from running.

I believe this as much as I believe "the election was fair" in '24.

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Biden Selling Off Border Wall

Timothy Birdnow

Joe Biden continues to sabotage Donald Trump. He refused to build the border wall and left the materials sit for four years. Now he is planning to auction off the wall mateials to force Trump to start from scratch.

What a petty, vindictive jerk! This is a thumb in the eye of not just Trump but all of America. We voted for Trump to build that wall.

Now Trump will have to get more funding from a nip-and-tuck Congress, which is the whole point of Biden doing this.

Update — Texas will purchase all border wall materials being auctioned by Mayorkas.

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Nativity Display at U.S. Capitol

Timothy Birdnow

For the first time the Capitol building is hosting (involuntarily thanks to a Federal judge's ruling) a nativity display.

I equate this with the election of Trump; I think God gave us a reprieve because of this and other similary actions across the nation.

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Biden Lets Chicom Spies Go

Timothy Birdnow

Joe Biden is a traitor.

Joe Biden Quietly Commuted Sentences of Multiple Chinese Spies

What did Joe receive in return?

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Droning On

Ttimothy Birdnow

This explanation of the Jersey drones comes from Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

Here's a theory from the comments section:

It is the US working on Surveillance tech that they will deploy across the entire US especially in more rural areas where there is not a camera on every building and street light.

end

I know; the claim being made (only after a general public outcry that we were being treated like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed fertilizer) is that it is Iran flying these drones. Perhaps,but I ask why, and I ask how; we don't keep tabs on Iranian naval craft in international waters off our coasts? Really?

What if that ship is carrying nuclear weapons on intermediate range missiles?

And whysurveille Jersey? The people there don't want to look at Jersey...

No,Is suspect our government chose the easiest boogeyman to pin it on. I think it is our government doing this.

The commenter at IFA may well be right.

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What Happens Now with Iran?

Timothy Birdnow

Here is a Wall Street Journal article analysing the impact of the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria on Iran. The author makes some good points.

She argues this cuts Iran off from Hezbollah, it's proxy military in Syria and Lebanon, for instance. And that it will hurt Iran's illicit economy. Now iranian oil flows to the coast via Syria and could now be stopped if Trump reimposes a boycott.

The problem is the Islamists will probably take over in Syria. But they may hold the Sunni hatred for the Shiite Medes and Persians that is common in the region.

The author also argues Iran may speed up it's nuclear weapons program. I have little doubt of that.

Anyway, it's worth your time.

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CDC Goes Bananas with Vaccines

Timothy Birdnow

They didn't learn a thing from the Covid fiasco!

CDC Rolls Out 200 "Routine" Vaccines for 2025- Way Up from 1983's Seven Routing Childhood Injectins, Zero for Adults and Women

Hopefully under Trump this number will be cut way down.

One wonders at this; how can they not have learned that every time they inject someone there is a chance of an adverse effect and giving kids two hundred could do all sorts of untold damage.

At some point you have to ask why they are doing this; certainly it's not a benefit any longer to the children.

Among the jabs recommended are Covid 19 shots for children (proven both dangerous and ineffective, especially for kids) as well as shots for the latest Covid and Monkeypox. The CDC is well aware that the clot shot killed 163 kids and injured another 57,622 of them.

Bill Gates, one of the great champions of vaccinations, has been credibly accused of spiking vaccines with drugs to sterilize women in Africa. See this paper in Ressearchgate. Led by men like Gates and the World Economic Forum, there has been a strong push to "depopulate" the Earth. One wonders about what is being slipped into all these vaccines being forced on American children by the CDC.

(BTW Bill Gates called for making the '20's "the decade for vaccines" and wants to inject as much foreign toxins in people as their bodies will hold.)

Also, even if all of this is purely well-intentioned, we know there are sometimes long-term effects not immediately apparent from vaccines and also that diseases mutate to find a way around the antibodies produced. What we are doing is creating a situation where new diseases are being bred. It's a gigantic biological weapons laboratory, turning everyone into an incubator for new diseases.

We have reduced the use of antibiotics because we were making superbugs, and now we are making superbugs using vaccinations.

I'm not anti-vax by any means. I never had polio, or measles, or mumps, or diptheria, or smallpox and I can thank the vaccinations for those. But there is a range one must stay in; more is not always better, most especially in bioligy where balance is always king. You need some potassium in your diet but too much will kill you. The same no doubt holds true for vaccinations.

But then the pharmaceutical companies would lose money and stop giving to our noble representatives in Congress.

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DOJ Spied on Patel

Timothy Birdnow

The Biden/Garland DOJ spied on Kash Patel prior to Trump choosing him to run the show.

Does this surprise anyone?

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