“Thanks to monetary policy, we could have missed our inflation and unemployment targets even more completely than we already have!”
Shorter Ben Bernanke, An Idiot’s Idiot
May 22nd, 2013Guns And Tornadoes
May 21st, 2013The number of people killed yesterday in OK City more or less matched the number of people killed by guns yesterday in the USA.
And the people of OK deserve our sympathy, even though the politicans they elect make it far easier for the people of OK and elsewhere to die.
So, perhaps a program, sponsored by the evil government, to assist homeowners and local communities to build more effective tornado shelters?
So, perhaps a bit more in taxes from the people who hold OK and the rest of us in contempt?
So, perhaps a sense at last that we are a nation not just of selfish bastards but of human beings who need each other?
Gorilla say: “Or perhaps, fat chance!”
Getting Reacquainted With Lermontov
May 20th, 2013Gorilla will devote some space on the blog to quotations and random musings about writers.
Mikhail Y. Lermontov (1814-1841) was probably the first Russian writer that kindled Gorilla’s interest in that country, its language and culture.
Russia and Gorilla more or less left each other 20 years ago, but recently the flame is burning again.
One of the great Russian writers and poets, he’s not as well remembered (outside of Russia) as contemporaries like Pushkin, Gogol, and Turgenev.
A very short life, died at 26 in a duel, but managed to publish some of the most lyrical and beautiful poems of any age.
Parus (The Sail) is a particular favorite of Gorilla’s.
And his prose wasn’t bad either:
“Мы выживаем на новизну, настолько меньше требовательны, чем обязательства”.
“We survive on novelty, so much less demanding than commitment”.
Gorilla says: “Same as it ever was!”
Repeat After Gorilla
May 17th, 2013The Unanswered Question: Year 5
May 15th, 2013The deficit’s shrinking, the polarization in DC means nothing much will be done on anything for the next 4 years, the banks and corporations are sitting on huge piles of cash, and inflation remains well below the Fed’s recently announced 2 1/2% target.
Gorilla asks: “So why is the Fed still doing so little about unemployment, a problem it could solve by giving people free money?”
Le Dip Double
May 15th, 2013No surprise, once again austerity is contractionary!
France is back in recession, and it’s likely to continue so long as the Fourth Reich reelection is the top priority in Berlin.
The Germans need to stimulate demand at home, encourage a higher level of Euroland inflation, and get off the moral low ground they mistakenly believe is virtuous.
Gorilla says: “Plus ca change, but plus, sil vous plait!”
Down The Rabbit Hole
May 14th, 2013We’re now nearly 5 weeks on from Gorilla’s prediction that the Obama Administration, outside of a miraculous retaking of the House and a few executive branch regulatory decisions, was more or less finished on April 10.
And we’ll be spending the summer talking about the Justice Department, Benghazi, the debt ceiling, Angelina Jolie’s breasts, and any other manufactured triviality, while nothing is done to address the scourge of unemployment that is destroying the lives of Americans by the millions.
Our country is polarized and only one political party is interested in governing.
So, it’s depressing to be right, as depressing as it is to watch the right ruin the country.
Gorilla says: “Being wrong means making progress, same as it ever was!”
Shorter Jolie Justice Department
May 14th, 2013We proactively engaged in illegal, warrantless surveillance of reporters because there was an 87% chance they might print the truth. A mastectomy of the Attorney General cannot be ruled out.
What Actually Happened In Cleveland
May 7th, 2013Is that the neighbors, other than the one who rescued them after one of the women escaped, treated three kidnapped women more or less like the neighbors in NYC treated Kitty Genovese …
And the local police and the FBI failed utterly, and of course will not be held accountable…
Gorilla says: “Welcome to the real America! Those who are innocent are screwed over and over, while those who are powerful escape justice!”
Sense At Last, But Will It Last?
May 2nd, 2013The ECB’s finally noticed that the Eurozone is in another recession, that austerity isn’t working at all (they’ve noticed but not actually admitted this is true), and that inflation continues to be too low.
So a cut in interest rates, not to zero, but from 0.75 to 0.50%…
Alas, what’s also needed, namely a reorganization of the banking system, a much higher inflation target, the end of austerity, large scale fiscal stimulus, and a clear assumption of the lender of last resort role remain off the table.
Until these things happen, Euroland will limp along, with all eyes on whether the Fourth Reich will win reelection in the fall.
Gorilla says: “Even idiots occasionally are correct!”
