I missed the Frontline last night. I'll have to catch it at pbs.org. As I understand it, Greenspan didn't just "worship at the feet" of Ayn Rand, but he actually slept with her. They were close, anyway.

Andrea Mitchel of NBC News is married to Alan Greenspan. Everybody knows that, right? (Fox News isn't the only source with a right wing bias problem.)

Volker is likely right. Nothing has changed, fundamentally, since we looked over the edge into the abyss last October. I expect we will have that crash again, and pretty soon. And the next time might not work out so well.

-- ARG

-- ARG

-- ARG

-- ARG

I have to say, I'm impressed. I see that you've chosen certain scenes for a reason, and I am eager to see the other parts. I don't know how to edit my way out of a paper bag. Always thought it would be fun to learn, but I might not get the chance for another 15 or 20 years. (And by then, who knows?)

"A promising project that tugs at the heart strings. I laughed and I cried." You can quote me in your promotional materials.

Yes, the iron's hot now, but take your time; don't get too stressed out. Life's too short for that.

-- ARG

Here's a problem I'm having: When users post a video in their blogs (or perhaps other content), I often cannot read beyond the inserted video. At that point, I see only a box with a little red X in the upper left corner, and everything below the inserted video is not accessible, including the Comments section.

This has happened most recently on Ripper McCord's blog, on two posts referencing the movie "Health Care in Black and White":

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/ripper_mccord/

I use a Gateway PC with Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.

Thanks again.

-- ARG

It's either a browser thing or a TPM problem. I'm using Microsoft Internet Explorer on a Gateway PC -- not exactly an oddball combination.

My other problem is that I just can't get on this thing every day, because I'm still working. (And if I stopped working, I wouldn't have any option to get healthcare -- even if I had plenty of money.)

Believe me, I appreciate your efforts to effect change on the healthcare front. And I'm sure others here do, too. I think it's likely that your posts have been "ignored" due to similar technical problems experienced by others.

I saw a post from someone at TPM where we can report this sort of thing, so I will report it.

Hang in there!

-- ARG

So you say that private investors are willing "to hold several trillion dollars of U.S. government debt at a 3.5 percent interest on 10-year bonds." Okay. How many is "several"? So we add ~1.5 trillion dollars to our debt every year (lately), while we are forced to annually re-finance some portion (1/10th, if it were all in 10-year bills, but much of it is shorter term). So how long does the desire to hold "several trillion" last?

And, perhaps more importantly, how much of that desire depends on the Chinese? The psychology of the bond market is complex and very important. If and when the Chinese decide they're "out", what does that do to the "willing"ness of these private investors to commit to hold our debt at low interest rates?

It would probably require a separate post, and it might be pretty "wonky", but I'd love to read an analysis with some numbers that would convince me that we really don't need the Chinese to buy our debt. So far you haven't disabused me of the notion that we need to keep the Chinese happy (lest we face financial armageddon).

-- ARG

Still, it's pretty slimy. Might at least blunt his next career move.

-- ARG

I'm no economist. And I certainly didn't "call the $8 trillion housing bubble" (though I did get my 401(k) money into cash a year before the crash). But it seems to dumb old me that somebody has to keep buying our government's IOUs.

If China stops buying, then the demand (price) for our debt would go way down, and the yield would have to go way up. Can you explain why a 10-year yield of only 4.5% or 5.5% would be likely in that scenario? Seems to me it would shoot into double-digits right away.

To me, this sounds like inflating our way out of the crisis. Maybe that's the best (only?) way out. But let's call it what it is. Why won't inflation go to 20% or 50% or 200% (annual rate)? What will stop it from rising that far?

-- ARG

You could make an argument that alcohol prohibition made the current "drug war" more difficult, because prohibition helped create and strengthen organized crime. When the 21st Amendment passed, these existing criminal organizations had to find a new business -- why not illegal drugs?

-- ARG

Dude, I'm already paying taxes for other people's kids' clothes, education and health care. I don't have children. So I don't get the TAX CREDIT for having children. Hence, I pay taxes to finance those people's kids' clothes, etc. I object to this tax credit.

I also pay healthy property taxes for the public schools their children attend. I actually do not object to this, as I believe strong public schools benefit all of us.

But don't get all sarcastic and make it sounds like I'm not already paying for this. I am.

-- ARG

If you try to swim with the sharks, you have to devote your entire life to it, and then you still need to get lucky to get good returns.

The alternative is to give your money over to "the experts", who will simply siphon off a little every day/month/year/trade, to pocket for themselves. Whether you make money or not.

It's a racket. Simple as that.

-- ARG

Well, I wouldn't feel safer.

I don't own a gun. Yet. But I drive a car. Virtually everybody drives. And most of them -- yes, the majority -- don't really know what they're doing. Sure, they manage to stay out of accidents, most of the time. But they really haven't a clue.

Driving a car isn't even a "right". It's a privilege, and you have to take a test to prove the absolute minimum of competence before you're allowed to get a license to drive.

There's a background check before you can own a gun, but I don't believe there's any kind of test required (is there?). And certainly there's no test of intelligence or emotional maturity.

No, I'm sorry, people with guns make me pretty darned nervous. Enough so that I'm considering getting one of my own. (And your argument that the 6'6" guy would be able to bully everybody if there were no guns is pretty simple minded. I'm of average size, but I have no fear of a big guy who doesn't have a gun.)

-- ARG

Hey, maybe I'm getting the hang of this. (NOT!)

-- ARG

See... I'm just not very good at it. Thanks for all the tips, though. I'll keep trying.

;-)

-- ARG

What would happen to the value of the dollar compared to the Euro? It would stay the same.

What would happen to the price of gold? (Or oil, or peanut butter, or Levi's, or...)? The price of everything would double.

As Blue Pearl pointed out, the reason people reference the price of gold is that its supply is relatively stable. Therefore its price is better correlated to the supply of money (than, say, oil, whose price is affected by many other factors).

My point is that the fact that the dollar keeps pace with other major currencies does not mean anything if all governments are simultaneously devaluing their currencies.

Your argument amounts to saying, "But everybody's doing it." (Yes, and if everybody jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?)

-- ARG