Devaluation is austerity done right

Post by eli_gottlieb » Fri, Jun 15, 2012, 3:41 PM UTC

roc wrote: post #53

prodigal_erik wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The current economic problem is a lack of aggregate demand. This just half-gelled a different viewpoint for me. There's nothing inherently noble about saving, because the demand doesn't vanish—that money still represents a claim on some fraction of society's resources, only they plan to consume in the future rather than now. Well, we have to align both present and future supply and demand. We can't have everyone ex…

> "We can't have everyone expecting to consume all their resources in the future, because then we're wasting our capacity to produce resources in the present." Very true. That said, there is something inherently noble about saving. Life is unpredictable and retaining your ability to weather some reasonable fraction of bad times on your own is the most base expression of a person's ability to contribute positively to…

The traditional adage for proper saving was to have six months of living expenses in liquid savings as a "rainy day fund". After that, tradition holds you can safely indulge yourself, or save for long-term expenses like cars, houses, college educations, or entrepreneurship.

Back before this Depression, the notion that a responsible person could or should hold two or three years of living expenses as liquid savings was absurd. Saving that much was hoarding, and prevented you from building up savings for your long-term goals or capital for your ventures.

Now every 6-month ant is suddenly being lectured on their grasshopper-hood by 3-year ants? Bullshit.

Post by eli_gottlieb » Fri, Jun 15, 2012, 3:46 PM UTC

crusso wrote: post #54

wazoox wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You say that as though it's a moral argument independent of other factors. No, actually it's the fruit of some thinking the structure of our ageing western societies, and the fact that the most egalitarian societies are the happiest. > Do you really believe that to be the case? More than ever. > If so, why should you disregard other factors like why people got into debt in the first place or how much savers had to…

I'm not interested in the same old argument either. If you don't consider that hard work or decision-making abilities at least factor into the subsequent states of existence in which people find themselves, what good would data points or arguments be? You have a set of experiences or mental filters completely contrary to my own experiences and understanding of how this society works. Go figure. It's like when I used…

If you don't consider that hard work or decision-making abilities at least factor into the subsequent states of existence in which people find themselves, what good would data points or arguments be?

A single individual's hard work and good decisions don't contribute that much to their individual well-being. Our thriving is largely predicated on millions of people making good decisions and working hard over hundreds of years.

Re: Devaluation is austerity done right

Re: Devaluation is austerity done right