All The Daily Reckoning
Is the US a nation of dependents?When too many people and companies depend on government subsidies, Bonner writes, your society consumes more wealth than it produces.
Welfare. Old elephants. And the entitlement cliff.Welfare states depend on growth to fuel their spending. But when growth slows to a crawl....
Is there such a thing as too much energy?Government moves energy from the future to the past, Bonner writes, from what will be to what used to be, and finally, to what will be no more.
The ideal economy: How do we get what we really want?In a completely free market, we can assume people will get what they want, or at least what they deserve, Bonner writes.聽
Hitler and the false lure of more is betterNazi Germany's economy was not a central planning success, it was a disaster. Is there a lesson for today?
Are economists useful anymore?Modern economists 鈥� especially the famous ones 鈥� close their eyes to how an economy actually works, focusing instead on a make-believe world of numbers and theories, with little connection to the world in which most people live.
Defense spending and the declining 'bang' for the buckDoes the US really need to spend more money on an M1 tank that won't be a part of the next war?聽
Mario Draghi's big bazooka: a weapon, not a cureMario Draghi's vow to do 'whatever it takes' to save the euro isn't an empty promise. But his new powers to act with overwhelming force at the central bank won't solve the eurozone's crisis.
Falling retail sales could spell recessionIt looks like the US economy is headed into another recession. That鈥檚 what usually happens when retail sales go down for three months in a row.
France's debt crisis could doom the European UnionFrance's economy is hanging by a thread 鈥� and French President Hollande is reaching for the scissors.
On the prowl for insight into economistsThe folks over at The Daily Reckoning are on a mission. Their treasure? Insight. Insight into why it is that the smartest economists in the world are so stupid. Incidentally, they hope to understand why the GDP is such a fraudulent measure of prosperity
A crisis veiled in public spectacleOver the course of three odd decades, billions of dollars were lent to people who shouldn鈥檛 have been allowed to borrow lunch money. And now, there are losses in the trillions. The real question is, will the market finally be allowed to correct itself?
Did the Feds rig the system?Bill Bonner and the analysts over at The Daily Reckoning are feeling fairly vindicated this week. They have been investigating how the federal government may have rigged the system over the past 30 years, directing funds to help the rich get richer.
How to 'contain the depression?' More credit, economists claimBill Bonner is not too pleased with economists right now. In his latest post he claims that as a result of their conceits and delusions, trillions of dollars have been clipped from the world鈥檚 GDP, billions of people are poorer and their lives shorter.
When governments spend wealth, instead of building itThere are times when governments need to build tanks. An economist can鈥檛 tell the difference between a Tiger tank and a BMW. But a passenger can. It doesn鈥檛 take him long to realize that a tank is no way to travel.
The biggest fraud in economics is ... economics?What鈥檚 the point of having an economy, asks Bill Bonner? It makes no sense to waste trillions of dollars鈥� worth of resources just to 鈥減rotect the economy,鈥� he says. The whole point of an economy is to create more stuff, not to waste it.
C'est la vie: French emphasize food, gossip over economics, warSo who's right? The French seem preoccupied with the mistresses of their new chief, and the details of their last meal. Meanwhile back in America, President Barack Obama is happily married, but taking flak for his economic and foreign policies.
Are ready for this? Time for round two of the Fed's stimulus planMarkets soar when the Fed hints at more money, and crash when it hints that it will sit still. When you operate with an elastic currency, and expand credit 50 times in 50 years, Bill Bonner warns, don't be surprised when the market inevitably falls over.
Washington elites talk the new 'US empire'A Washington garden party serves as a think tank hothouse, providing the Daily Reckoning with some interesting insights into the current US situation. Representing a variety of backgrounds, the group was united by a hatred of the US "empire."
Phony growth, or phony austerity? Pick your poison.Europe鈥檚 austerity policies nor America鈥檚 growth policies have worked. In Europe, governments collectively spent 44.8% of GDP in 2000. Today it is 49.2%. That鈥檚 not austerity, that鈥檚 stimulus, according to Bill Bonner.
