Thanks for pointing out my word reversal. Yes, banks would be required to write down balances that are currently above so-called market values

Thanks for pointing out my word reversal. Yes, banks would be required to write down balances that are currently above so-called market values

Thanks for pointing out my word reversal. Yes, banks would be required to write down balances that are currently above so-called market values

Thanks for pointing out my word reversal. Yes, banks would be required to write down balances that are currently above so-called market values

Does he not mean, loan balances that are ABOVE the appraised value?

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In his clear-eyed analysis he concludes “This regime was established by a coup d’Etat of a new and unusual kind, practicable only in a rich country. It was effected, not by violence, like Louis- Napoleon’s, or by terrorism, like Mussolini’s, but by purchase. It therefore presents what might be called an American variant of the coup d’Etat. Our national legislature was not suppressed by force of arms, like the French Assembly in 1851, but was bought out of its functions with public money; and as appeared most conspicuously in the elections of November, 1934, the consolidation of the coup d’Etat was effected by the same means; the corresponding functions in the smaller units were reduced under the personal control of the Executive. This is a most remarkable phenomenon; possibly nothing quite like it ever took place; and its character and implications deserve the most careful attention.”

The likes of Dodd and the other fools on the hill are mere mob men, performing tyrannical deeds at the behest of their masters. Oh yeah, lest I forget, their masters are NOT those who carry one vote a piece. Their masters are the money men and merchants in our times. Go figure!

Today I believe the opposite of what I believed as a child. I am truly amazed that our society functions at all with the level of dishonesty that reeks from our political class. Grandstanding political leaders who promise to solve all our problems, if only we’d vote them back in next election, are a disease for which I can see no cure.

There must be something in our genes that selects for dishonesty for it to be so widespread. We must also have a gene for big government too. I am not optimistic about my grand children’s future.

Houses would be built even if their ownership weren’t financed (as by mortgages). Perhaps many more of them would be rented rather than owned by their occupants compared with the present situation, but there would be about as many of them as there are now. The author is (speculatively) mistaken in saying otherwise.

But as Mises wrote, civilization requires cause and effect, decision and consequences. People must suffer from the consequences of poor decisions and enjoy rewards for good decisions. Someone has said that wisdom is the outcome of years of poor decisions. Helicopter parents, and helicopter states, destroy the civilizing results of natural cause and effect, and guarantee the death of civilization.

But one of the great attributes of politicians is to promise something they know will never pass.

As Archie Bunker used to say ” i’m all for being generous especially if it doesn’t cost me anthing.”