You still do not get it. Obama is a Socialist from head to toe. Most of his agenda is taken from the play book of Lewinski and the Liberal press is pushing the agenda for him. Why do you not get it or believe?

It doesn't really matter which edition of 'free trade' you are talking about - the Austrian edition or the London edition. It doesn't work because the world is different than it was in the 1700's. The days of the sailing ships bringing teas and spices from the orient to deliver to western ports is a relic and you can't bring it back. 'Free trade' in whatever form, empowers the mega-corporations to buy up and exploit the resources (especially the people) of the world and the result will be a return to feudalism. And that's just the way it is - money rules.

Reply from The Daily Bell

You have a very strong point of view. But comparing Austrian economics to mainstream economics is an apples/oranges comparison. They are two entirely different animals.

In your conclusion, you lament that the free market model isn't even mentioned in Samuelson's article. As somebody who has been writing about the fraud of "free trade" for years now, I can tell you that the reason it is not mentioned is because of the decision not to kill the golden goose that has impoverished the masses of the world while enriching the few.

FREE TRADE IS A FRAUD!

Since you are a defender of the alleged "free market", I have no doubt that you will take offense at my statement. Tough. As to the reason why economists "failed to see it", the reason for that is obvious. In the incestuous circles of economists, all economic problems and solutions are discussed within the context of how the large corporations can continue to grow and profit. They have become global parasites sucking the very life out of their hosts.

This subject fills me with rage and disgust because of the dishonesty of everybody who promotes "free trade" as implemented in the world today. It was a FREAKING NO BRAINER to see what it was doing to the people of the world. It's a formula for a return to feudalism and while you Brits might want to bow and grovel to a queen, we in America - the true Americans will NEVER bow or grovel no matter how many lying wh*res you produce at the London School of Economics.

Reply from The Daily Bell

The Austrian neo-classical school stand opposed to the London School of Economics, which helped give us econometrics and other ways of "managing" the economy by predicting the economy, none of which really work. You can read all about the Austrian School at Click to view link. The Daily Bell has American editors among others.

Understanding banking, especially fiat money and fractional reserve banking, the impact on any economy and the true evil it does by debasing 'exchange' between honest buyers and sellers, all of this, is complex and hard to digest.

Why? Most have not the time to delve into the complexities and scam of money theft, inflation and the ways the bankers and government have colluded to steal money quietly via inflation, and use fiat money to fund excessive government spending and finance wars!

Anyway, reading a novel about it can be one way to gain an understanding. Edward Viera's novel, Cra$hmaker, does the best job, but is 1500 pages of really good story telling and action packed. A newer novel, very recently written, shorter in length, does the job too, but forget the name. In it the Fed Chairman goes rogue and uses a flaming crash to catch public's attention. Check it out on amazon.con

The use of fiat money, just like excessive taxation, have been the twin towers of government gone wrong, and underlies all civilization's demise throughout history. Strange how the average Jane & Joe have remained ignorant about these scams that have held prosperity and peace at bay. Might is Right is the motto of the Dark Conqueror mentality, and all Collectivist Thinkers; but it is Peace through justice, via free markets and trade that will bring prosperity & peace.
Start reading "Finding Freedom" at Click to view link for some insights.

Reply from The Daily Bell

You can see a short story on the subject here:

Click to view link

The failure of mainstream economist to see the Perfect Financial Storm this time is consistent with their record. Agreed. It was Ludwig vn Mises who called the 1929 crash and it was the school he represented, now called the Austrian School of economics, that foresaw and warned their followers of the coming demise via the current down turn.

The Austrian School includes the Boom & Bust cycle theory and government interference and fiat money analysis that lead to, for example Malinvestment, that is too often missed by Keynesian, Monetarist, and other Pro-governance models seeking to manage and control the economy, versus allowing the free market to work its marvelous magic.

May more George Mason Austrian leaning professors, et al become household names!

Reply from The Daily Bell

We agree.

The real problem was not the economists, but, rather, the securities analysts. They never really looked at company balance sheets maybe because many didn't really know how to make sense of them. This is evidened by the fact that throughout the 80's and 90's and 00's, they kept writing that balance sheets were improving when in fact they were getting worse. IBM, is an example. Gerstner kept borrowing in order to buy up and retire IBM stock. This was applauded by Wall Street "Anal-lists" who kept recommending IBM stock even while the company's balance sheet was being ruined. Gerstner, in the meanwhile, enriched himself by exercising his options, while the analysts heaped praise on this man, who, in my opinion, should be behind bars.

The credit-rating firms were the other villains of the piece. They simply did not do their homework. The "dismal scientists" hardly deserve any blame. They all studied the wrong school of economics. Few of them even know who von Mises was, for heavens sake. When I say my prayers at bedtime, I never forget to thank God that he gave me the brains to avoid all economics courses in 6 years of college and grad school.

Reply from The Daily Bell

Interesting analysis.

Nobody Likes The Sound of Trumpets.

I don't think people like to hear warnings trumpeted on the Click to view link scares them too much out of their makeshift virtual realities...$500,000 homes on MacDonald's wages.....$5 Starbuck's coffees at breaktime....all terrain Hummers that get 8 mpg, just to traverse freeway 'jungles' on the way to work, while talking up a $400 cell phone bill.

I'm no economist....in fact, I don't even have a checking account anymore.... and when I did have one, I didn't even balance it at the end of the month....I just kept a running balance.... But I did make sure I always had more money in the account than I wrote checks for.... apparently this a very difficult principal to understand and implement.

I also did not add zeros to my account balance to make it seem like I had more funds than I really did. I did not create deposits to my account out of thin air.

I did not practice "fractional reserve checking", which if I did, would have landed me in jail for counterfeiting, illegally expanding the money supply, manipulating the markets, etc.... In other words, I would have been doing what the banks are licensed by Congress to do.....

I'm not sure about US economists, but as I recall there were a number of Austrian economics professors that had been constantly blasting the warning trumpets for a number of years ... I just don't think anyone likes the sound of trumpets anymore.

Case in point: ...the SEC...they didn't see Madoff coming...even though Harry Markopolos, that Greek money manager was hand-feeding them evidence that Madoff's returns were too good to be true....they could not see it if Harry hit them with a baseball bat.

And the same thing will happen when Goldman Sach's and JP Morgan are found out for manipulating the Gold and Silver markets, among others....as GATA has been heralding for a decade.

The real problem? What I think? NOBODY is thinking. They are just doing their job, going through the motions, collecting a paycheck, having a good weekend, and slogging through another week at work, so they can do it all over again.

There's a tremendous brain drain in America....land of the "FED", where nobody thinks, but just does what their boss said.

Sad to say, America the FED is transforming into Amerika the Click to view linkad economy that is. But don't publish this...we don't want to upset anybody too soon....nobody likes the blaring sound of Trumpeted warnings anymore.

Reply from The Daily Bell

Hope you don't mind we published it.

Newsweek is yesterday's paper. Even with its constant redesigns ... Who reads it?

Reply from The Daily Bell

Samuelson?

Think you have a good point here about central banks. Makes you think.

Reply from The Daily Bell

Thanks for the kind words.