Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Söder, of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria’s sister to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU):
According to my forecasts, Greece should leave the euro zone by the end of the year. Each new aid measure, every easing of the demands, would be the wrong path. Athens must become an example demonstrating that this euro zone also has teeth. At some point, everyone has to move away from mommy. For Greece, that time has come.
What he said.
This is from the White House’s very own blog, from the personal keyboard of Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers:
The household survey showed that the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3% in July (or, more precisely, the rate rose from 8.217% in June to 8.254% in July). Acting BLS Commissioner John Galvin noted in his statement that the unemployment rate was “essentially unchanged” from June to July.
And so is our economic recovery “essentially unchanged” from 2009 to 2012.
I had some words on the subject of culture the other day. Another man weighed in on the subject last Tuesday; maybe you’ve heard of him: ex-Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. He offered these thoughts on culture and its role in a society’s freedom and prosperity.
[W]hat exactly accounts for prosperity if not culture? In the case of the United States, it is a particular kind of culture that has made us the greatest economic power in the history of the earth. Many significant features come to mind: our work ethic, our appreciation for education, our willingness to take risks, our commitment to honor and oath, our family orientation, our devotion to a purpose greater than ourselves, our patriotism. But one feature of our culture that propels the American economy stands out above all others: freedom. The American economy is fueled by freedom. Free people and their free enterprises are what drive our economic vitality.
The linkage between freedom and economic development has a universal applicability. One only has to look at the contrast between East and West Germany, and between North and South Korea for the starkest demonstrations of the meaning of freedom and the absence of freedom.
Israel is also a telling example. Like the United States, the state of Israel has a culture that is based upon individual freedom and the rule of law. It is a democracy that has embraced liberty, both political and economic. This embrace has created conditions that have enabled innovators and entrepreneurs to make the desert bloom. In the face of improbable odds, Israel today is a world leader in fields ranging from medicine to information technology.
I visited three lands—Israel, Poland, and Great Britain—which are defined by their respective struggles for freedom…. I am only strengthened in my conviction that the pursuit of happiness is not an American right alone. Israelis, Palestinians, Poles, Russians, Iranians, Americans, all human beings deserve to enjoy the blessings of a culture of freedom and opportunity.
What he said.
Paul H Rubin, Professor of Economics at Emory University, had some thoughts on President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” oratory. After giving Obama the benefit of the doubt and allowing that he really meant, without denigrating the accomplishments of entrepreneurs and other businessmen, that government needed to help private enterprise with infrastructure, Professor Rubin added a few items of interest in the infrastructure milieu.
Of more immediate impact, with regard to the infrastructure of roads and bridges, the administration’s attitude toward other necessary components of our transportation infrastructure is clear. It has
Concerning another area of necessary infrastructure, access to capital, there’re these:
And so on. RTWT.
Professor Alan Blinder, of Princeton University, has another laugher in The Wall Street Journal. This time he wants the Fed to “encourage” private bank lending—in an environment where the intended market is vary chary of taking on debt, new or additional—but without “without interfering in private credit-allocation decisions.”
His idea is stimulated by a scheme (in both the British and American English senses) of the Bank of England’s, itself generated out of the premise that UK banks aren’t lending enough to suit the government suits. Essentially, Blinder wants to ape the BoE scheme of giving private lenders preferential rates on central bank lending according to how much lending the private lenders are doing.
Hmm….
First, Blinder operates from a false premise. It’s impossible for government to “encourage” without “interfering in private decisions.” The whole point of government encouragement to execute exactly that interference. To claim that compliance is voluntary and so not interference is disingenuous sophistry. Banks are out to make money for their owners, just as any business must—its fiduciary duty drives it to—make money for its owners. The offer of a goodie for doing what government wants is no less a cudgel than providing a penalty for not doing.
Second, Blinder gives his game away in the penultimate paragraph of his piece:
Last, but certainly not least, there is the crucial question of what types of bank lending to subsidize.
Of course, the sole purpose of a subsidy is to drive the recipient to a government-desired behavior. The whole point of government encouragement to execute exactly that interference.