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Robert Reich: 2009 Economic Forecast

Commonwealth Club
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sactownjudge Avatar
sactownjudge
Posts: 40
Posted: 01.25.09, 10:52 PM
Hah - always good to see a totally discredited figure on FORA's home page. Reich is a clown.
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benjis007 Avatar
benjis007
Posts: 16
Posted: 01.26.09, 07:55 AM
i'm glad that sactownjudge wrote what he did, so we don't only hear the moderator blow smoke up his butt. FYI future watchers, among some, Reich is considered a clown!
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benjis007 Avatar
benjis007
Posts: 16
Posted: 01.26.09, 08:11 AM
16:30 minutes in...he makes a good point about the people at the top taking all the income, then he wusses out and quickly panders to his audience - apoligizing for seeming to blame them for taking the income... All in all though the talk is thought provoking.
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chrisrushlau Avatar
chrisrushlau
Posts: 4
Posted: 01.29.09, 07:57 AM
Reich: The problem with Keynesianism is its Strategic Blur
Like strategic bombing, it ends up being a psychological weapon because it is too hard to hit anything in particular from that high up or far away.
"Government economic intervention distorts personal spending decisions" is a truism, but the reason is key: if you build it, they may not come. That is, if you build it in the wrong place or wrong color or wrong way: tractor factories rusting in Russia, right?
What economic strategy amounts to, then, is removing obstacles to personal participation. The "war on terror" is the outstanding example. Even that Peterson Institute guy the other day prefaced his remarks at this same Commonwealth Club setting by saying "we're at war". Ergo, we have huge expenses, which we must borrow to pay for. Wrong and wrong. Who or where is the enemy? Anyone and everywhere? Sounds like a Russian tractor factor built to rust.
So, after rejecting boondoggles and borrowing as inapt strategic means, what about national targeting? Didn't the Japanese, and don't the Chinese, set national goals, and put the start-up costs into the federal budget, like for R&D, that sort of thing? Show me some proof the government is better at this than it is at building tractor factories.
What about some fiscal finesse? Say, as regards the 1% of us earning 28% of our national income? Is some sort of taxation required, or maybe just some more generosity among the under-spending elite?
The Russians and Chinese at Davos say we're reaping the fruits of our own selfishness, and force-feeding it to the rest of the world.
I think we have sick neighborhoods, not in urban ghettos but in suburban ghettos, campus ghettos, and especially the Beltway ghetto. Neighbors need to work together, not climb over each other. Discussions need to go on until they're done. People must feel heard and must feel they can speak if they have "it on their heart" or "a mind to".
We're a long way from that, Mr. Reich. Do you agree?
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chrisrushlau Avatar
chrisrushlau
Posts: 4
Posted: 01.29.09, 08:01 AM
Reich: The problem with Keynesianism is its Strategic Blur
Reich: The problem with Keynesianism is its Strategic Blur
Like strategic bombing, it ends up being a psychological weapon because it is too hard to hit anything in particular from that high up or far away.
"Government economic intervention distorts personal spending decisions" is a truism, but the reason is key: if you build it, they may not come. That is, if you build it in the wrong place or wrong color or wrong way: tractor factories rusting in Russia, right?
What economic strategy amounts to, then, is removing obstacles to personal participation. The "war on terror" is the outstanding example. Even that Peterson Institute guy the other day prefaced his remarks at this same Commonwealth Club setting by saying "we're at war". Ergo, we have huge expenses, which we must borrow to pay for. Wrong and wrong. Who or where is the enemy? Anyone and everywhere? Sounds like a Russian tractor factor built to rust.
So, after rejecting boondoggles and borrowing as inapt strategic means, what about national targeting? Didn't the Japanese, and don't the Chinese, set national goals, and put the start-up costs into the federal budget, like for R&D, that sort of thing? Show me some proof the government is better at this than it is at building tractor factories.
What about some fiscal finesse? Say, as regards the 1% of us earning 28% of our national income? Is some sort of taxation required, or maybe just some more generosity among the under-spending elite?
The Russians and Chinese at Davos say we're reaping the fruits of our own selfishness, and force-feeding it to the rest of the world.
I think we have sick neighborhoods, not in urban ghettos but in suburban ghettos, campus ghettos, and especially the Beltway ghetto. Neighbors need to work together, not climb over each other. Discussions need to go on until they're done. People must feel heard and must feel they can speak if they have "it on their heart" or "a mind to".
We're a long way from that, Mr. Reich. Do you agree?
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dbrown24686 Avatar
dbrown24686
Posts: 1
Posted: 08.16.09, 01:35 AM
Why is he considered a clown?
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