Global Rate Cut: A Good Start but Not Enough

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What a nation of savers we'll (not) be when interest rates go down to zero. Are they nuts or what?

Interest to depositors must equal inflation.

If not, you're kidding yourself about any economic future.

of @ Oct 08, 2008 16:07:16 PM

Roubini's problem and the housing eviction ban

We have reached the end of the utility of Roubini's analysis. He has been the one telling us that nothing can be valued, yet he wants to "triage" banks and recapitalize them. Based on what? So he is contradicting himself: he says nothing can be valued, but his suggestions are based on the idea that things can be valued.

It's idiotic.

No, the only thing to do is what I have been suggesting for over two years (to him and others) and which is part of the movement away from the West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937) "scrutiny" regime toward what I describe as the "maintenance" regime: policy maintains important facts (important using the test laid out by the Court in West Virginia v. Barnette). All this I describe in my book, The Eminent Domain Revolt (New York: Algora, 2006).

We have to have an immediate, individually enforceable, permanent, complete and absolute ban on housing evictions.

Never mind this "prime the pump" bridge to nowhere nonsense. FDR, JFK and LBJ are dead. No more of this corrupt nonsense. The political system doesn't want to ban housing evictions because it knows that doing so will take away the power of the political system over housing (in "scrutiny" regime terms, it will elevate housing from "minimum" scrutiny to "strict" scrutiny--any lawyer or judge will tell you that this means a Constitutional revolution in the United States: well bring it on!). However, the political system's power over housing has already disappeared. People will--of course!!--reject the mass evictions which are going to happen first thing in this Depression.

So enough of dropping money from helicopters. Instead, drop the political system's opposition to a ban on housing evictions.

John Ryskamp

John Ryskamp of CA @ Oct 08, 2008 12:54:40 PM

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Kirk Shinkle is a senior editor at U.S. News. He writes daily about ups and downs in equity markets, sectors and stocks. Formerly, he covered business and economics on both coasts for Investor's Business Daily.

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