Wednesday, February 20, 2013

More Evidence Bernanke's Helicopter is in the Air

The architecture billings indexes is back to pre-recession levels.



(ht Mark Perry)

12 comments:

  1. There you go again, Bob, blaming every rising sector on Bernanke money printing. Where's the inflation again?? Ohhhh right, there isn't any.

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  2. Not everything is related to Bernanke money printing, and even under a gold standard there would be booms and busts. You're like an idiot savant that can't distinguish the forest from the trees. Where's the inflation, Bob? It's unfortunate for Austrian economics that its most ardent supporters are turning the school of thought into a cult. Wonder what Mises would say about that?

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  3. Dow @ 14000? Gas prices, energy prices? Dollar value relative to gold? Bernanke is a monetary terrorist, that hires weak minded trolls like yourself to try to refute economic theory that is justifiable, not quasi scientific models that have virtually no meaning in real markets.

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  4. Gold down almost 3% today to $1,563. What am I missing? I thought the problem was what to do when gold reaches $3,500 and riots are in the streets... Gold bubble bursting in front of our eyes today, strange that there is no article on that fact. Must be the relatively "selective" use of data, Austrians only seem to be opposed to it when it contradicts their theories. But anything that fits (Housing prices, architectural billings, DJA) gets reported. Strange, strange, strange.

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    Replies
    1. So after a ten year bull market we may be having a correction? The horror! Funny how housing prices are again exploding as the fed monetizes all these mortgage backed securities or is that a market correction? A generation of savers destroyed by monetary manipulation? Perhaps no one should save or invest we should just have smart people like you dictating what we should buy everyday at the prices you decide. Kind of like the fed is doing with our money. Your comments are irrational, and a waste of time.

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    2. Housing prices are exploding? Really? Funny I missed that. A generation of savers? I think you need to check your facts, America hasn't been saving for a long time. In fact, it has been surmised that one reason the Fed keeps interest rates low is because Americans have such low savings rates--there aren't any savers to screw over. This isn't like China where people typically save 20 - 40 percent.

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  5. The DJIA is at the same place it was over five years ago. Just because energy, gold, and commodity prices in general have gone up does not mean it is because of Bernanke money printing. Prices could be rising, well gee I don't know because of supply and demand. The commodity cycle, wars, political instability, and the billion Chinese that consume vast amounts of resources all contribute to rising demand or falling supply. It's that simple. Show us the proof of your inflation, Bob.

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  6. Bob, what are your thoughts on Japan? They have a higher debt/GDP ratio than America, and have had interest rates close to zero since the mid nineties, yet they haven't experienced the dreaded inflation that you're always on about. Why is that, Bob? Is it because they are too leveraged for the low interest rates to boost growth, thus inflation has remained low? If that's correct, well might that be what America has in store? I agree that going forward the dollars role in international trade will be diminished, but the dollar isn't going to go away overnight, period. It will take a long time for the transition to take place. Rest easy, get out of your mom's basement and go for a walk outside.

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  7. A friend of mine recently was trying to argue that oil had risen because speculators were driving prices up, rather than because of supply and demand fundamentals (at least he wasn't blaming it on Bernanke money printing). I showed him actual data on supply and demand and showed him that in the years of rising oil prices, demand > supply. Would you believe that? I also showed him that after oil hit that high near $150 per barrel, the market reacted and then supply > demand, and guess what, the price fell. Isn't that neat? That is just basic economics, not some mad conspiracy for Bernanke to ruin the economy.

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  8. One major reason gold/silver is falling while other prices rise may be the decline of the fear premium. I'm no economist, but it smells like pretty classical AE theory to me. Inflation promotes increasing confidence while spurring malinvestment in various factors of production. The increasing confidence promotes the sale of precious metal as investors chase higher returns elsewhere. When the bubble eventually pops, the fear premium returns and gold rises again -- at least so long as the inflationary monetary policy is continued or revived.

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  9. Things like zero interest rate policy and QE have the effect of transferring interest payments from the private to the public sector. It is not a prima facie case for inflation; it even has deflationary effects. I can't imagine being without EPJ and LRC, but they are too dogmatic in their cries of inflation and money printing (again, the latter being a sort of shell game that transfers capital from the private to the public sector).

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  10. Dogmatic is an understatement. They are cultish, and I quit reading LRC a long time ago because of it. Won't be too much longer before EPJ goes by the wayside as well.

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