Tuesday, August 23, 2011

The Ron Paul Way of Ending the Debt Crisis

I don't even know if James Altucher reads Ron Paul. He is an independent thinker and may have figured things out on his own, but he has a pretty good ABC explanation of how the debt crisis could be resolved that is very much in line with Ron Paul's thinking. Altucher writes:
I also could care less if the US borrowed too much.  They can easily solve the problem: [Skip this if too boring. I'm bored already writing it].
  • A)     The US can forgive the $1.6 trillion in debt they have with THEMSELVES
  • B)      They can stop the four or five ongoing wars they have everywhere
  • C)      They can sell everything they own. Sell all the highways, the Universities, sell Washington DC (why do we even need a Department of Education if Education has gone straight down since that Department was created. Why do we need a legislative branch?)
  • D)     There’s six million private businesses. After you do A-C above, you’ll have money to incentivize every business to hire at least one more person. That would get us down to 3% unemployment, generate more revenues in taxes, etc.
There. Problem solved. The US is saved!
A through C make complete sense. I'm not sure what Altucher means by D when he writes "you'll have money to incentivize business."  That sounds like Altucher might be calling for some kind of industrial planning.  Yikes!

But A through C are solid.

12 comments:

  1. Still don't like the "eliminate the 1.6 trillion we owe ourselves" part. How would it not eventually lead to massive inflation?

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  2. I don't trust Altucher. Sounds like another coopting PE shill.
    Echo the main sentiments, then slip in the little giveaway that funnels money to the well-connected.
    A guy who hacked his rivals' emails and sabotaged them not so long ago isn't to be trusted.

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  3. Maybe "D" would be tax breaks in the way of "incentives".

    If they eliminated the payroll tax for example, I could hire one person right now in my small company.

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  4. I can make it even better:

    A) Sell everything (highways, universities, etc).
    B) Pay off the debt and give the rest of it to the people
    C) Shut down the Government for good. Let the free market figure it all out.

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  5. I remain confused and befuddled as to why a clueless Keynesian like James Altucher continues to get so much love on a site like EPJ. I've posted a number of links and comments back when Altucher-love first appeared on this blog but have remained silent since then as I was afraid of what might project itself out of my open mouth following the constant waves of nausea I have experienced for the last several months.

    In consideration of the latest EPJ post, with its sudden, Star Wars-esque "I have a bad feeling about this" with regards to the true independence of James Altucher and his gloriously quirky mind, I attempt to choke back the vomit once more in an effort to share the following with the small, gossipy world of EPJ regular readers:

    James Altucher on FOX Business saying what the world needs now is spending, sweet spending, to avoid a savings-induced deflationary death spiral

    Of course that's just the tip of the iceberg. The guy is a loony "don't fight the Fed" advocate, has repeatedly suggested that people should mindlessly invest in stocks when they're on the "right side of the bubble" and has never once decried Mad Ben Bernanke and his magical money-printing schemes.

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  6. I think in "D" he refers to the concept where in the world of massive, inefficient, and meddling government, incentives and deductions are better than subsidies; the lesser of two evils.

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  7. The method of D is a little fuzzy. Yes, it could be as simple as government throwing money at business to hire someone, anyone, to improve the unemployment numbers. But it could also come in the way of reduced cost of government (from doing A through C), thus needing to take in fewer revenues from taxing businesses, which provides the incentive to productive businesses to higher more employees to stay productive.

    Altucher is a decent writer, and I follow his blog. He has good stories and he tells them well. I follow him on financial topics about as much as I follow anyone else, which is not at all.

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  8. @Conant
    I like his writing style and some of his ideas, but that's it. I find his notions very suspect and likely part of a larger agenda, as someone here has pointed out.

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  9. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/02/28/annals-of-white-collar-crime-james-altucher-edition/


    People just don't want to say anything too negative about guys known for their history of hacking..

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  10. For guys like Altucher, I tend attribute any bad ideas he has to ignorance rather than malice. We have to remember that keynesian ideas are in vogue right now with the mainstream, so anyone not seeking out opposing viewpoints or heavily investigating the nature of keynesian theory is not likely to question the status quo or what is considered common knowledge.

    I tend to save my guile for guys who should know better, like Krugman or Greenspan (especially the snake Greenspan); who have spent their lives studying economic theory, yet still promote useless destructive theories.

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  11. 8:30 am EST

    “Just Enough” by Fitty Dollar J:

    I’m Fitty Dollar J, gonna teach ya how to rap my way,
    I don’t sling no rock, I just push a bunch o’ crock,
    Been a crook from the get go, though I took down my say so,
    I’m a master self dealer, not so good a self squealer.

    Stevie Cohen changed my life, mind if I ring up yo wife?
    Hit ya wiff a Pacifi-ca, now I wield a hedge fund, duh!
    Don’t need no skillz ya jerk, got tole how da cell fone work,
    ‘Course I’m contro-versial, you let me hold the purse, y’all.

    Runnin’ red lights, sleeping good at nights
    Cuz, I read your email, popo knows I’m a big whale
    Laughing at my large pay, I’m gonna save a life today,
    I’m rappin’ bout the small stuff, to ease my conscience just enough.

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  12. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but to the first commenter, wouldn't eliminating 1.6 trillion of debt we owe to the Fed actually do just the opposite of creating inflation?

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