[Info-vax] HP stopping VMS paper documentation ?

[AEF]

On Nov 30, 3:51 pm, glen herrmannsfeldt <g... at ugcs.caltech.edu> wrote:
> AEF <spamsink2... at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> (snip, someone wrote)
>
> >> "Monetary Policy" is a poor tool, one too often used instead of
> >> rectifying the underlying problem(s).
>
> Even the Fed knows this, and says so, but they try anyway.

The Fed knows there are limits. But some action is better than none.

>
> > So what you're saying is that if interest rates were higher,
> > everything would be the same or better? I don't see how that follows.
> > In fact, if interest rates are too high you get deflation, which is
> > very, very bad.
>
> Why is deflation so bad?  It seems that we got here through a
> house price bubble that artificially raised house prices.

This is like concluding that liquids turn to solids upon heating
because cooking liquid egg causes it to solidify. One example does not
prove a general rule.

> Now the supposed solution is to wait until the price of everything
> else gets (through inflation) up to the artificial house price.

Say what? I haven't heard of any such thing.

>
> > And you get more unemployment. In fact, the
> > stagflation of the 70s demonstrated this nicely. Inflation was rising.
> > For that you raise interest rates. Unemployment was high, and for that
> > you reduce interest rates. A difficult problem indeed! Paul Volcker,
> > the Fed chairman at the time, battled this and brought inflation under
> > control. The unemployment rate later came down and stagflation was
> > beaten.
>
> Also, people claim to believe in free-market, but not really.
>
> If the free market decided that you were worth only $1/day, you
> might not believe in it either.

People believe in free market as one component of economic policy.
There are competing interests and compromises are made. Setting a
minimum wage increases unemployment, but by how much? These are
competing interests and given a well-defined goal, an optimal minimum
wage. Overall, markets are pretty much free. Some measures must be
taken to prevent abuses of the powerful over the masses. Anti-trust
legislation comes to mind.

>
> > Yes, monetary policy not a sliver bullet. It is just a tool. Other
> > measures must be taken. But it is important, nonetheless.
> >> to learn the hard way!
>
> -- glen

AEF