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BS: Robert Reich Essay
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BS: Robert Reich Essay |
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Subject: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Bev and Jerry Date: 17 Aug 14 - 06:03 PM This Column by Robert Reich should be required reading by people of all political persuasions. In it he describes the change from the "stakeholder capitalism" of the post WWII era to the "shareholder capitalism" of today. Bev and Jerry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Big Al Whittle Date: 17 Aug 14 - 06:33 PM not about ecstasy then...... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Airymouse Date: 17 Aug 14 - 10:31 PM Because I,and many of my friends and relations, were teachers, I quite naturally do not cotton to the notion that we in the US do not do a good job educating. But economics is one subject at which we clearly fail. In high school we are content to teach how to balance a check book; in college there are real courses in economics, but most college students, even those majoring in the hard sciences, maths,art or literature, do not take any economics courses. I bet most of us can't name five economists. I'm tempted to try this question on my wife, but though I don't know much, I know better than that. I'd be interested to hear opinions about this topic from those in Great Britain. You have had the advice of John Maynard Keynes, but I have the vague feeling that starting with the Treaty of Versailles, you have run an experiment to see just how bad things can get if you ignore this advice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: michaelr Date: 18 Aug 14 - 01:20 AM Sorry -- "this advice" being what, exactly? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Airymouse Date: 18 Aug 14 - 09:03 AM At the Palace of Versailles outside Paris, Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles with the Allies, officially ending World War I. The English economist John Maynard Keynes, who had attended the peace conference but then left in protest of the treaty, was one of the most outspoken critics of the punitive agreement. In his The Economic Consequences of the Peace, published in December 1919, Keynes predicted that the stiff war reparations and other harsh terms imposed on Germany by the treaty would lead to the financial collapse of the country, which in turn would have serious economic and political repercussions on Europe and the world. I cannot so succinctly summarize his other advice as the paragraph above, which I lifted from a history blog, summarizes his advice about reparations. Roughly,the prevailing view before Keynes was that economic downturns were caused by stupidity and greed, which should be punished. Governments should raise taxes and cut back on spending for government services in order to protect the value of their currency by balancing the budget. Once people perceived that the currency would remain strong, capital investment would pick up and get the economy going again. Keynes argued that the time to raise taxes was during periods of prosperity in order to keep the economy from overheating and during times of war in order keep the private economy from driving up the costs of the war. Economic downturns, whatever their cause, should be met with lower taxes and increased government spending. He advocated spending on infrastructure but famously said,"Pyramid-building, earthquakes, even wars may serve to increase wealth, if the education of our statesmen on the principles of the classical economics stands in the way of anything better." Even Keynes could not foresee that private industry actually would build a pyramid in Memphis, and casinos in the deserts of Nevada and California. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Ed T Date: 18 Aug 14 - 09:24 AM Unfortunately, quite often, tax increases frequently adds fuel to government bureaucracy, versus stimulating economies-regardless of what period they are applied. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Rumncoke Date: 19 Aug 14 - 06:15 AM I don't know if it is some sort of ploy to make people visible to the authorities, but here is the UK a lot of effort is put into taxing people and then giving them benefits to increase their income to something they can live on. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Robert Reich Essay From: Richard Bridge Date: 19 Aug 14 - 03:30 PM Absolute bollocks Rumncoke. |
