I see that Deutsche Bank is beginning to look nervously at its watch as the minutes tick by on the U. S. economic recovery, now officially three years old. I wonder where they got the average figure of 39 months? According to the official scorekeeper the average for all of U. S. history is 42 months. It’s interesting that they should be looking at the entire 158 year history, rather than the post-war average of 59 months.
We’re now entering the period during which the scientists at the Bureau of Economic Analysis delicately strike a balance between destroying their credibility with ridiculous reports and influencing the presidential election. It will be interesting.
Now entering? We’ve been there for years already.
@Dave Schuler
If you’re still interested, a better response to DeLong’s ass-covering revisionism, without Steve Keen’s “why wasn’t I included?” sort of whining.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=20040#more-20040
Thanks. I found it amusing.
I see DeLong visited the comment thread as well.
Wonder if Deutsch Bank was involved in these shenannies (maybe it’s part of why it’s looking nervously at its watch):
Barclays boss Diamond quits with immediate effect, latest scalp of price-fixing scandal
HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, and other banks are being investigated, too.
Why can’t we just shoot these sons-of-bitches?
The best part of the story is that he says he had permission from the BoE.
Why can’t we just shoot these sons-of-bitches?
Because they own the system.
Call me crazy, but last time I looked, shooting people you don’t like was illegal. Now if you’d care to elect officials who would take the bribes, er, donations of the people you don’t like…..
Frankly, I’d be surprised if Blanchard believes in Ricardian Equivalence, which has some rather stringent requirements….so I have to say I’m curious how that author can claim such a thing.
From Bill Mitchell’s link,
Uhhhmmm….no. Under certain assumptions, Ricardian Equivalence holds that issuing bonds (i.e. debt) produces no boost to economic output. Basically, people see the increased debt as future taxes so they reduce current consumption and increase savings to cover those future taxes. Thus, any boost from government spending is precisely equivalent to the cut in spending by consumers producing no increase in output….the activity is neutral.
In any event, that link is supposed to be the support that Blanchard believes in Ricardian Equivalence….I don’t see it. I followed the links, but I just don’t see Blanchard’s name in that second post, nor did I see it in the 122 page report (I used a search for “Blanchard”).
So Bill Mitchell’s assertion does seem suspect…..
BTW, the rest of that post Ben reads like a Gish Gallop, I find it rather unimpressive.