Posted by
ApolloSpeaks on Friday, November 13, 2009 5:17:57 PM
Bernanke at Shule praying to God that for once in his life he gets it right.
This is the third Friday the 13th of 2009 since the Senate passed the $787 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February and where is the economy? Going the way of Japan*. After God knows how many government stimulus programs Japan is in the 20th year of a recession. That's right! You heard me! THE 20TH YEAR! Are you listening Obama? Contrary to what you have heard Japan has had two, not one, but two back-to-back LOST DECADES (
see). The longest, the greatest, the most protracted failure of Keynesian economics in history**. Indeed, what government stimulus spending did to Hoover's Depression in the 1930s, turning into the Great Depression under FDR, so has it turned the Japanese recession into a 20 year ordeal under 12 different governments each insanely replicating the mistakes of its predecessor. The Land of the Rising Sun has become the country of risible governments, politicians and economists.
*It's truly ironic and very significant that Obama kicked off his Asia tour with talks in Tokyo on Friday the 13th..
**Since the crash of 1989 Japan's government has spent $1.5 trillion to stimulate a recovery.
But fear not. Our MIT grad economic genius-in-chief at the Fed, Ben Bernanke, assures us that the recession is over, that Keynesian spending and pumping up the money supply are finally working, and that Japan's Two Lost Decades, the Godzilla of all recessions, won't happen here. This is the same farsighted Ben who assured us four years ago that the housing market was rock solid and wouldn't crash, and that there was no danger of a coming recession or financial/credit collapse. What a comfort to be in such competant hands. And for his optimistic forecast George Bush gave him the Fed-perhaps the greatest blunder since Nixon appointed Warren Burger to the Supreme Court (or Reagan appointed Greenspan). And for his recent economic forecast and bearing of good news that the recession that couldn't be, that wouldn't be, that was impossible to be is now finally over, with recovery breaking out everywhere (however jobless), Obama reappointed him to head the Fed (
see and
see).
Postscript I: Reagonomics is the Answer
The answer for the struggling economies of America and Japan are deep Supply Side tax cuts on labor, capital and business. Called Reagonomics in the 1980s Supply Side Economics ended the disaster of Stagflation-double digit unemployment, inflation and interest rates-that Reagan inherited from Carter, and sent the economy soaring; unleashing the spirit of innovation and enterprise and creating millions of new jobs in the private sector. A numeric sign indicative that Reagonomics is the answer to the present crisis is arrived at from the following operation: If we count the number of days separating February 13th (the passing of the Stimulus Bill) from today November 13th and multiply it by 7 it will give us the year of Ronald Reagan's birth, hence:
February 13th to November 13th=273 days.
273x7=1911 the blessed year Ronald Reagan was born.
It is fascinating to note that the number 273 which when taken as days separates the 13th from the 13th is itself a multiple of 13 (21x) a number with ominous meaning for this administration in both economics and national security.
Postscrpt II: Obama, Hoover and the Number 13
What is it with Obama and the number 13? Subtract 13 from his presidency number 44 and it brings us to Herbert Hoover, President 31 (13 reversed). Is Obama following in Hoover's economic footsteps, or missteps, and turning a recession into a depression (or simply prolonging economic distress) with unemployment climbing into the mid to upper teens? Is this Obama's destiny (see )? Given Obama's egalitarian mindset, economic ignorance and confusing of spending and spreading wealth (Keynesianism) with its creation (Supply Side Economics) it looks as if Fate is at work and that the economy is now depression-bound (see and see) or due for a protracted decade's long recession.
Also see: CORRECTION ON OBAMA-BERNANKE-JAPAN PIECE