"Mark Rand" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 1 Jan 2010 18:47:15 -0500, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:



Just recognize that there is not, and there never has been, a sure cure
for
recession. If everything worked according to textbooks it would be
different. But this is a pretty exceptional recession -- not for its
depth,
but because it was triggered by an enormous financial failure, rather than
by some little negative feedback loop resulting from a policy error or an
unfortunate event in the fundamental economics, like the recession that
was
started in the late '70s by wild inflation in oil prices. We can withstand
those shocks a lot better today. But now, some of the key tools for
getting
out of a recession, such as a responsive source of credit, are broken and
are hobbling along. The administration was handed a half-empty box of
tools,
and they're doing exactly what standard economics says they have to do.
Nobody is winging it here. This is more or less a textbook response to a
very bad hand, which has worked in the past but never with such a mess
triggering it. In some ways this is a worse set of problems than we faced
in
1929 - 31. Fortunately, we already had in place some protections (like
FDIC)
that kept it from spiraling into a depression.


Maybe a little creative Communism would have been useful here. I'm
thinking
something along the lines of:- The entire boards of directors of all the
Wall
St quoted banks summonsed to the N.Y Giants stadium. Ensure they all have
their mobile phones with them. Line them up along the touchline with three
or
four LMG equipped squads on the opposite touchline. Then ask them what
they
are doing to ensure the flow of credit and control unjustified risk
taking.
Hardest part would be selecting where to aim. Maybe leave it up to the LMG
squads...

Mark Rand
RTFM

You've been hanging out on this NG for too long, Mark. g

--
Ed Huntress