RoR: Forum

Hey, Bill! Wonderful to see Fox News giving so much air time to this. And seeing Rand's great quote about those who disdain money as looters right up there on the screen.

Showing her words, her eloquence, her arguments is ten times more effective, often, than only saying she was against regulation.

Two questions:

Is there a reason the video cuts off only a few minutes in? I'd love to see the complete discussion with Heller. And: Is this a prominent program? I don't watch Fox and don't know who the woman asking questions in the blue dress is, if it's a 'news' or prime time show...or if it came on at three in the morning or is only the little watched Fox Business network.

Post 1

Sunday, May 2, 2010 - 9:35am

Phil,

Yeah, apparently, it doesn't show the whole interview. The woman asking the questions is a regular. I've seen her on Fox News before. I don't know if the interview was part of a regular scheduled segment. I don't follow Fox News closely, although occasionally I'll tune in.

- Bill

Post 2

Monday, May 3, 2010 - 2:27pm

The key word is "made."

Since trade is always bilateral to say "-you-" made enough money is to say that many other people made "enough," also. Who are those other people? And how much of their income was "enough"?

What newly created wealth were the unnamed people supposed to do without?

President Obama has a concrete-bound idea of what money is. He is not alone in that. In a class last semester in "Ethics in Physics" the bonuses paid to bankers came up. I pointed out that these people were not porpoising around in vautls of coins and paper like Scrooge McDuck. If you get $10 million, you get a check (maybe) and stock options (most likely) and if you get a check for $10 million, you don't put $9 million into checking and take rest in cash for pocket money. That level of money can only be re-invested one way or another.

Aside from the President, other primative people think in terms of cash. The family of Omar Bongo of Gabon would fly into Los Angeles to shop with suitcases full of cash. I am sure that it was a pain in the neck for the stores in Bevely Hills or wherever. Bongo's money came from oil companies -- Shell Oil and something called "Elf" -- and they, too, had to come up with paper money in the millions upon millions for him. But, even so, the unearned loot of the Bongos went quickly into other channels where it was put to better use, as is the nature of money.

Goldman Sachs could only short the derivatives it created if other people bought them at the lower price, expecting the price to rise. Warren Buffet says that he loves people who short Berkshire Hathaway. Getting down to brass tacks, when farmers bring their grain to their cooperatives, the co-op buys and sells futures contacts both ways to protect the farmers against price changes. So, in effect, farmers are shorting their own crops, hoping to profit from the decline in case they cannot profit from a rise. So, is President Obama against farmers and their local cooperatives? Or is he just ignorant about markets?

Made enough "money".... what is "money"? Friedrich Hayek took Milton Friedman to task over monetism by asserting that there are more kinds of money in the world than central bankers can tally.

Curious Currency: The Story of Money From the Stone Age to the Internet Age

Curious Currency: The Story of Money From the Stone Age to the Internet Age

The book included gold, silver, and electronic money along with shells, feathers, stamps, and more.

Post 3

Monday, May 3, 2010 - 4:04pm

Obama doesn't consider what will happen if the top 50% of wage earners agree with him and decide they've "made enough money." There goes 100% of his federal income tax revenues.

Post 4

Monday, May 3, 2010 - 8:21pm

> I don't watch Fox and don't know who the woman asking questions in the blue dress is, if it's a 'news' or prime time show...or if it came on at three in the morning or is only the little watched Fox Business network. [me]

Bill, I was able to answer my own questions about the program:

The interviewer is Gretchen Carlson. She's the co-anchor of the show Heller appeared on: "FOX & Friends," the No. 1 cable morning program. It's on Fox News daily at 6 AM EST. She was the first classical violinist to be crowned Miss America. She graduated with honors from Stanford and also went to Oxford.

Post 5

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 10:45am

If you've spent all your time thinking about people who spend any money they've got as soon as they get it -- which can include some people with lots of income who piss it away as fast as they get it -- Obama's "logic" might seem to make sense.

But, if you've spent time examining how people like my wife and I live -- which can include people with low income but who save a portion of their meager means each month -- where any "excess" income gets invested, the more money that comes in, the more will get invested and create prosperity for everyone else.

Post 6

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 - 3:05pm

Do you consider getting books investing?

Post 7

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 3:05am

Robert, "expectation of personal gain" would apply to the acquisition of books, would it not? Curious Currency does not include books as a form of money, but you know that Farnham's Freehold ends with the sign in front of the trading post: "... Any book accepted for cash."

President Obama's ignorance about money is not his problem alone. Would he say, "At some point, I think you have read enough books."? It is the same perspective is it not?

Post 8

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 6:13am

Heh - I think he's way past that point... ;-)

Post 9

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - 10:39am

"At some point, I think you have read enough books."

If at some future date, having finished redistributing everything but books, that is exactly what you would hear Obama say. And in a way, it is where he really wants to go. To a rationing of knowledge but only because he doesn't know how to diminish intelligence and awareness directly.

Post 10

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 5:38am

"At some point, I think you have had enough of a life. Better to let you die so that someone else can have a chance at living."

While Obama doesn't say this explicitly, his egalitarian thinking demands it, nevertheless. He may never admit that, though (due to the political unpopularity of the "death panel" issue) -- but it is what socialism/communism eventually requires.

Ed

Post 11

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 9:40am

Of course - death is the ultimate equalizer...

Post 12

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 12:25pm

Will I Live to see 80?

Here's something to think about.
I recently picked a new doctor. After two visits and exhaustive Lab tests, he said I was doing 'fairly well' for my age. (I just turned 68.) A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't resist asking him, 'Do you think I'll live to be 80?'
He asked, 'Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer or wine?'
'Oh no,' I replied.. 'I'm not doing drugs, either!'

Then he asked, 'Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs?
'I said, 'Not much... my former doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!'
'Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing,
hiking, or bicycling?'
'No, I don't,' I said.
He asked, 'Do you gamble, , or have a lot of sex?'

'No,' I said.

He looked at me and said,... 'Then, why do you even give a shit?

Post 13

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 7:01pm

LOL, Sam that was priceless!

Post 14

Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 10:06pm