Capitalism

[pacfan]

1) I understand this perfect world argument, however I can't seem to find a simply chart that tracks tax levels vs. unemployment.

2) Survival of the fittest implies a monopoly QED Rockafeller, this is not a solution either, and at this point would you agree free markets by themselves cannot solve the problems created by republicans, democrats, borrowers and lenders?

1) You're right about the perfect world assumption - things don't always operate as perfectly as the laboratory based theory might suggest. Generally speaking, the taxation-umemployment correlation holds. This is especially true during times of recession where any reduction in consumption will adversely affect the already battered businesses - and employment with it. But conversely, during good times, as my infallible economic adviser Kirkland's statistics has shown, consumers and businesses can usually absorb additional tax without adversely affecting employment. Actually during prosperous times, the government usually impose additional tax just to slow down things a bit, but they are aimed at trimming the excesses in the system - nipping them will make the economy more efficient which in turn stimulates employment. (Killership, if you need any charts, try asking Kirkland; if he can't find one, you can be sure they're not there.)

2) Free market can solve anything but - take note - in a very bloody manner. So in a practical sense, the answer is no. Because nobody would want to go thru an unnecessarily bloody purge in the system when it can be done in a more humane mannner. You can't just let all those big banks to fall one by one and let the whole world go thru an excruciating depression just to let the economy start on a clean slate, particularly when there are other much less bloody ways to do it. That defeats the very purpose of the economy - to enhance mankind's standard of living, and with it, his well-being...

[Kirkland Laing]

[quote=pacfan;625080]

infallible

It's Infallible.

[pacfan]

[quote=Kirkland Laing;625372]

infallible

It's Infallible.

I stand corrected, sir. Infallible with a big, capital I.

[Kirkland Laing]

[quote=pacfan;626123]

It's Infallible.

I stand corrected, sir. Infallible with a big, capital I.

God bless you.

To follow on from what I Wrote yesterday about the media being biased, during the runup to the 2003 Iraq invasion the opinion polls showed 40something % at best supported invading Iraq. I think they cracked 50% a couple of times only, after Americans had been told "we know where the WMDs are" and "we know he's going to use them against us." But basically the majority right up to the start of the war were against the invasion and very sceptical. Phil Donohue had the top-rated MSNBC programme at the time, which meant he had an audience of less than half of 1% of the US population. And for expressing an opinion shared by the majority of the population he got taken off the air and has never worked since.

Good news from the credit markets during the week. The KLGFSRP looks like it's finally taking effect. Still a long way to go though and it'll get worse before it gets better. And we've still got a serious recession to deal with. Still, happy days.