Saturday, January 17, 2009

Politicians and Economics


At least one politician seems to understand economics and the path down which we are heading. Ron Paul writes,

"Contrary to the belief of many, the goal of the economy is not job creation. Jobs can be a sign of a healthy economy, as a high energy level can be a sign of a healthy body. But just as unhealthy substances can artificially give the addict that burst of energy that has nothing to do with health, artificially created jobs just exacerbate our problems. The goal of a healthy economy is productivity. Jobs are a positive outcome of that. A "job" could be to dig a hole one day, and fill it back up the next, or perhaps the equivalent at a desk. This does no one any good. But the value in that paycheck ultimately has to come from taxing someone productive. Some think this round-robin type of economic model is supposed to get us somewhere."

The ignorance of how the economic world really works especially related to current "stimulus" packages and job creation plans worries me. I just hope some other politicians will take a cue from Congressman Paul.

You can read the rest of his article here:
Stimulating Our Way to Rock Bottom

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Middle Class Squeeze


Watching the media these days can cause you to think that there is no hope for the middle or lower classes in America. They are clearly getting squeezed by the corporate giants and it just isn't fair. We need economic justice, cries the media. To continue the thought of just how good we have it in America, watch this video with Drew Carey from reason.tv to get some perspective.