LC Posted July 29, 2019 Share Posted July 29, 2019 https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/28/judy-shelton-fed-gold-standard-dollar-1616538 Decades after the U.S. abandoned its policy of tying the dollar’s value to gold, President Donald Trump’s latest pick for the Federal Reserve, Judy Shelton, wants to bring it back into style. A gold standard would make deficit spending much more expensive. It would limit the central bank’s ability to take the kind of extraordinary measures that it did during the financial crisis to stop the economy from going into freefall. And it would link the Fed’s interest rate decisions to gold market fluctuations rather than to its current goals of fighting inflation and maximizing employment. Reading this and thinking to myself, what economist with a plural amount of brain cells would suggest such a thing? The cursory glance of Wikipedia has cleared that up: Shelton attended Portland State University, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Education.[6] Shelton also holds a MBA and Ph.D in business administration from the University of Utah.[6][7][8] She worked at the Hoover Institution from 1985 to 1995.[4] She was on Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.[4] In 2016, she was on the Ben Carson presidential campaign, but joined the Trump campaign in August 2016 after writing a supportive Wall Street Journal opinion editorial about Trump.[4] Prior to joining the Trump administration, she was the director of the Sound Money Project[9] at the Atlas Network. She has donated to conservative candidates and causes.[4] In 2000, she advocated for open borders with Mexico.[10] During the Obama years, she criticized the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates.[11][12][13] During the Trump presidency, she advocated for the Federal Reserve to adopt lower interest rates as a form of economic stimulus. (Trump frequently criticized the Federal Reserve for not lowering interest rates.)[11][14][2] She supports the Republican Party's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and the Trump administration's deregulative agenda.[4] Before Trump became president, she was a longtime advocate for free trade, but after he became president, she supported his administration's trade war with China.[4][10] Another swamp creature, this one with the potential to do some real damage. :-[ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 In other macroeconomic news, GDP for 2Q19 was an earth shattering 2.1%: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A191RL1Q225SBEA I know it's more fun to discuss Trump's racist tendencies (is he a racist? was he secretly photographed making out with a KKK grandmaster while dropping Crip gang signs? more at 8!) But frankly from 3Q09 to date, RGDP doesn't seem to be going anywhere significantly. Obama, Trump, Cagney, Lacey...different shtick, same results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 More Mickey Mouse Macro: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/07/republicans-capital-gains-tax-cut Cruz insists that it is now crucial for the Treasury Department to adjust capital gains for inflation “so that everyday Americans can continue to enjoy better lives and livelihoods.” And by “everyday Americans,” he of course means (but doesn’t say) the spectacularly wealthy. Missing from Cruz’s call for Mnuchin to use “executive authority” to end this “unfair” treatment of taxpayers, which was signed by 20 of his Republican colleagues, is the fact that, according to the Penn Wharton Budget model, a whopping 86% of the benefit of indexing capital gains to inflation would go to the 1 percent (and reduce annual tax revenue by an estimated $102 billion over a decade). Perhaps seeking to address this criticism, Cruz claimed that changing how capital gains are taxed “would…unlock capital for investment, increase wages, create new jobs, and grow the economy, benefiting Americans across all income levels.” If you buy this nonsense I’ve got a bridge wall for sale... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardboard Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 You got your fix with Bernie Sanders. What great economic theories he has... In a different post, you mentioned that you had no time to improve your lot with investments as your return on investment on your job/salary was much more meaningful. So question for you, what the heck are you doing here spending all this time debating socialism? Hoping for some hand-out? Repaying your student loans? Cardboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 Cardboard, thanks for taking such an interest in my personal life, I'm truly flattered. My work requires significant "on call" time where I need to be available, but not so active. So I can read the news, discuss politics, watch a tv show etc. but it's difficult to sit down and perform intensive study of 10ks etc. and then jump back into my work. For me it's worth it as I absolutely love my line of business, much more so than the investing process. To each their own. As apparently our politicians also believe "to each their own" in terms of economic policy. Which is why I am posting their ideas about the gold standard, linking capital gains to inflation, and lower-than-promised GDP growth. Which is exactly what this sub-forum exists to discuss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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