I have been having a running debate with one of my investment bank friends (call him Mike) about how to stimulate the economy. His essential premise is that below-water mortgages (where the value of the home is less than the outstanding mortgage) are causing banks to freeze lendable assets in anticipation of being forced to write down potential bad loans in the inevitable event of a homeowners default. If the government “covers” the portion of the account underwater and allows the bank to remark...

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Sanity Zone 9-25-2011

The Role of Government

I am not going to offer a political commentary on this topic, but rather an attempt to offer a distillation of the competing theories of “government” and what the impacts may be. As with any short piece, there will be missing or abbreviated concepts, so address those with comments, please.

First, let’s get definitions:

• Government: A third party formed to create and enforce

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Hi Everyone.

I thought it somewhat necessary for my intellectual health to write at least something on the foolishness surrounding the so-called "Debt Crisis." I hope you all remember that I have no dog in this hunt, save that I am partial to eating and sleeping safely in my home, working for a wage, and not being persecuted for my beliefs.

For all those who wonder whether it would be catastrophic to allow the US to default on its obligations, the answer is yes....

Parties that seem to not understand the problems, but instead try to exploit them to gain a larger share of power , and ultimately do nothing to fix them.
Problems that include debt, the financial market, and FEMA are not brought to the table until the last seconds.
Congressmen explain it away as something the government didn't foresee or expect. But didn't we vote for them because thats what they brought to the job, or promised they did?

Social security is used as...