Cash for Clunkers, bad idea!

Cash for clunkers
We are freakin' incentivizing unnecessary consumption and putting people into MORE DEBT! That is the problem here!

Obama meets up with financial leaders, surprise.
We are here again distracting from the real issue, which is a fundamentally flawed economy. I posted on RawStory in the comments, saying,"
The article quotes the president talking about building "green jobs" and new forms of energy. Do these two things, as important as they are, (I am a sustainability expert after all) have the impact on the economy as a whole to make the changes we need to make in our money system? If this is so, prove it, please. Because I argue that no, it doesn't. I grant that we need to work HARD for environmental sustainability if we want a rosy future for the world as a whole, but unless a sustainable economic system is not the foundation for it, it will not be enough.

Why did Obama's meeting concentrate mostly on energy policy in a meeting with his top financial advisors? Weren't they supposed to be talking about the broader economic problem? Seems like a little publicity stunt trying to get people behind a New Deal-like big gov't "solution" that will "end our problems once and for all." It is a distraction from the real problem at hand, which our government is perfectly happy to gloss over, because it is to their political benefit to perpetuate the problem, which I think they sometimes don't even really understand. If BO really saw the folly in this spending spree, would he really be doing it? Yea yea, we all know, a politician has gotta spend money on "helping people," "helping the country" if they want to get reelected, which is to their benefit because it keeps their job stable and gives them the opportunity to throw bones to their contributors and possible future employers.
And this idea of America leading into the new green economy is silliness. I agree that we should lead by example in this regard, but again, can we export renewable energy installation? Can we export our infrastructure that is always talked about? Nope.
And isn't the problem today that we have a massive trade deficit that is leading us over a cliff on our mountain of debt? Yes, at its root, that is the case. The more the gov't must borrow to finance the renewable energy or other green jobs sector, the more they exacerbate the real problem this country faces, which is that it doesn't contribute anything of value to the world economy anymore, and must borrow borrow borrow and spend spend spend to maintain the standard of living we so enjoy today. It's fake. This is not partisan politics, it is straight up common sense mixed with a good understanding of reality. And sadly, these unflinching supporters of Obama are behind him again and fervently avoid educated, logical, and relevant discourse.

SuperFed!

Just another piece ofevidence that the US gov't is not listening to it's people. We say "audit the Fed!" they say "empower the Fed!" Who wins?

Theory of Moral Sentiments on EconTalk

I've mentioned EconTalk in the past as being a really good podcast available for free discussing various topics in economics and beyond. I listen to several a week, and always hear things that are very interesting. The guests and the host are smart, insightful, and I feel like I learn a lot listening to these folks. And they are typically proponents of a realfree market, to boot.
Right now, the host and a common guest are doing a reading of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, a lesser known work by the author of Wealth of Nations. (The book itself is available on the linked site, too, if you want to read along.)

I listened to this first installment, linked to above, more than 2 times. There is a lot to get, and I found this concept of the different sources or dimensions of moral approval to be worth consideration. It's interesting to think about the different people or groups that tend to focus more on one source than another, and how these things tie into larger economic/political ideas. They actually give a disclaimer in the beginning, saying that they're going to be giving this mostly unpolitical book a political reading, which you should bear in mind when listening. I think it's a very legitimate lens to look at the concepts with, though. I am about to turn on part II right now and clean my apartment. You guys should check it out. I know, not everyone wants to sit around and listen to economics lectures when they have free time, haha
I'd like to continue dialog here about this if anyone else finds those discussions interesting.

Nassim Taleb: His website links to a lot of his writings, speeches, etc. Check it out

Keep it real.