The very curious Glenn Beck does a decent job of explaining what is going on with the Fed and QE2 in the clip below. He makes a number of small errors throughout the presentation, but for getting the word out on the street to the boobsie class, as to what is going on, this is a serviceable explanation.
It is curious though that he never mentions the word 'inflation', or to be more technical, 'price inflation'. He does mention dollar destruction. I am a little nervous about this guy, but he does reach the masses, and this is a passable, though far from perfect explanation.
I hate Glenn Beck. I can't stand them man. The man is a fool of such magnitude, his very existence is so irritating to me, that if I saw him on the street I would consider challenging him to a fistfight.
ReplyDeleteWith that understanding, I am pleased that even this limited explanation is out in the general public. But Beck is a partisan hack, and many people will only see things in those terms.
Along that line, what concerns me is if I mention QE2 to people as a major problem and not a solution, they will point to Glenn Beck and say, "That lunatic says similar things, what are you? Crazy?" This greatly disturbs me as I don't want to be associated in any way with that idiot. Some people will outright reject any sensible explanation simply because of a "guilt by association" mentality, which in this case, is wrong-headed.
"Price inflation" = more technical?
ReplyDeleteI just got done with Mises' section on Indirect Exchange in Human Action and he never once used the term "price inflation." He did decry people who used the term "inflation" to mean price increases and said it hides the true source of price increases. He referred to price increases as... price increases.
I am not sure what any Austrian gains by corrupting the terminology this way and relying on "more technical" terms like "price inflation" but I have to say, if it wasn't clear already, I am 100% not impressed with it.
The problem with Beck is because of his partisan blinders he only gets half the story right. Sure, QE is FUBAR... that's something most people can agree on, but in his chalkboard example it's the Unions and pensioneers going to washington buying off politicians when in actuality, what unions spend in politics is eclipsed many many times by what industry, mega-corps and oligarchs spend in politics(1). But god forbid we criticize big business. The second example of his partisanship is when he talks about the Social Security Fund being filled with bonds and how granny can't use that to eat... well guess who started that? The neo-con's false idol himself, Ronald Reagan. The Reagan Administration started the policy of taking money out of the SS fund and putting it into the general fund(2). Granted this has continued under both parties to this day, so both sides of the aisle have done onerous things to this safety net. It's only by looking at history and analyzing the facts can we come to the truth. The truth is beyond partisan and by cherry picking his facts based on his partisanship, Glenn Beck proves to be nothing more than a shill. Sure the American Public needs to know about QE2 and Beck might be one of the only voices (besides Dylan Ratigan) that is telling the american people about it, but he's just using it as a tool of fear and manipulation... blah blah Weimar Republic blah blah 15 days to doom. It's not an honest argument... it's disgusting.
ReplyDeleteSources:
*1 http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/10/election-2010-to-shatter-spendin...
*2 http://www.ssa.gov/history/1983amend2.html