Economics 101

Previously I have written about Economics (What is an Economy?), but the good folks over at EconStories.tv have made econ education about as fun and entertaining as can be hoped for. Artfully produced and suffused with humorous caricatures of both the Keynsian and Austrian theories of economics, EconStories.tv two rap videos about Keynsian vs Austrian economics succeed at introducing viewers to the premises of these two great competing theories of economics.  What isn't humorous, however, is the implications of each.

The first installment is titled Fear the Boom and Bust.  Fear the Boom and Bust


The sequel is titled Fight of the Century. Fight of the Century



Which way will you choose? More 'top down' or, 'bottom up'?

Dreamer or Doer?

Two young boys were out inspecting their community in the aftermath of a powerful hurricane.  Devastation and disorder greeted them at every juncture, every turn.  As they drew near to their favorite beach, they noted the near complete obliteration of "Harley's", their favorite snow cone and snack shack.  For a moment they stood in silence, each inwardly recalibrating their own 'reality' compass.  As they approached the debris heap, Ned kicked through the debris, his thoughts darkened and overwhelmed by the loss of so much that had been familiar.  Zeke drifted off to the edge of the rubbish pile that had once been Harley's, and began digging in the sand and rubble.  After several minutes, Ned urged Zeke to leave, but Zeke declined. Ned bid him goodbye, not caring to gaze any longer upon the jumbled heap that had once been the symbol of so many fond and glorious memories. 

Zeke nodded, and kept at his digging. He used shattered lumber to drag the sand smooth.  He found one gallon  plastic buckets that had once held flavoring for snow cones, and five gallon containers full of pretzels and sand.  Zeke worked for hours, until his concerned parents showed up to check on his well-being.  This is what they found:

We are not defined by the circumstances that life hurls at us; rather it is our response to circumstances that defines us.... some would even say, shapes us.

The Tea Party: In the Crosshairs

What follows is a comment I posted on Facebook after this cartoon showed up on my page. (I've tidied up the passage a bit for the blog).

"You will get very little argument from Tea Party folks about this cartoon. The Tea party supporters strongly maintain that Lawmakers need to be forced to live by the same laws they pass for the People. As it is, we are rapidly becoming feudal, and the more money we send to DC, the more empowered are our lords. Instead, why not keep more of the money in the states, where we have better access to our state level 'representatives' and a bigger voice in how our money is spent... and not spent. When money goes to DC, it simply becomes fodder for the unending power grab, a vehicle for passing out goodies to other states for projects that 99% of the people in the US couldn't care less about nor benefit from.  But you can bet it benefits the politicians big time, because these favors aren't forgotten. And these are conservative and liberal favors. I can't control what a NY or CA U.S. Congressmen  vote   to spend money on, but I can get the attention of my representatives at the state level. We need to quit labeling each other and denigrating one another based on political beliefs... because it is pure bigotry to do so. As citizens we need to share ideas amongst ourselves that work toward solving these problems instead of bickering and backbiting like a bunch of highschool girls, and terminate our fantasy that our political system and its instruments will suddenly 'see the light' and find their way to doing the very hard things that need  to be done. The system is corrupt (and broke).... and the best way to cure it is to starve it down to a controllable size. If you like the status quo and the crony capitalism, then by all means, raise taxes and send more money to DC so the politicians can continue to feed your tax money to the corporate bandits, the 'too big to fail' financial entities, car companies, etc. Its just not my cup of tea.