Utopia, you are standing in it!

Sweden ended its negative rate policy recently. Bernanke recently spoke on how consequences of negative interest rates have not been that bad.

Daniel Lacalle gives an Austrian school perspective:

Negative rates are a huge transfer of wealth from savers and real wages to the government and the indebted. A tax on caution. They are the destruction of the perception of risk that always benefits the most reckless. The bailout of the inefficient.

Central banks ignore the effects of demography, technology, and competition on inflation and the growth of consumption, credit, and investment, and with the wrong policies they generate new bubbles that become more dangerous than the previous ones. The next bubble will again increase the fiscal imbalances of the countries. When central banks present themselves as the agents that will reverse the effect of technology and demographics, they will be creating a greater risk and bubble.

PROFESSIONAL climate alarmist, Tim Flannery was head of Australia’s Climate Commission. For his $180,000, three day, part-time working week, he made decisions that affected billions of dollars of Australian taxpayers money.

A MUST WATCH! And, ask yourself one question while viewing: Would you want this freak show in charge of your hard-earned? …

See more Flannery :

• TIM FLANNERY – Professor of Dud Predictions and Climate Falsehoods | Climatism
• Tim Flannery | Climatism
• Flannery sacked | Herald Sun (Great look at Flannery’s impressive ‘CV’)

Prior to the general election, several of the parties’ manifestos called for the creation of a codified constitution for the UK. In December, the Constitution Unit hosted an event to debate the merits and downsides of such an exercise. Harrison Shaylor summarises the discussion.

What did the 2019 Liberal Democrat election manifesto and the Brexit Party’s ‘Contract with the People’ (from the same election) have in common? Both advocate the need for a written constitution in the UK. So too did the Green Party manifesto, and that of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. Meg Russell took part in a discussion on a written constitution in The Briefing Room on Radio 4 in September, and on 28 November, the Constitution Unit held its own event entitled ‘Do we need a written constitution?’. Two distinguished law professors – Sionaidh Douglas-Scott of Queen Mary University of London…

I posted on my “current work” page a new paper “Technological Diffusion News, A comment on “Whither News Shocks?” by Barsky, Basu & Lee” It is forthcoming in the NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2014, Volume 29

As written in the abstract,

I have posted on my “current work” page a (very) updated version of a  paper with Paul Beaudry  and Dana Galizia “Putting the Cycle Back into Business Cycle Analysis“. As written in the abstract,

All of us who identify as Democrats or liberals are biting our nails about this November’s elections. Can Trump possibly win again? I go back and forth on this, but lately am more optimistic that, because of the impeachment proceedings and Trump’s unhinged behavior about Iran and international affairs in general, the Democrats have a good shot at getting the White House this year—and maybe even (but probably not) the Senate. I’m confident they’ll keep the House of Representatives, but of course the Presidency is also important in a way that the Congress is not: the Prez chooses Supreme Court nominees, and if the nominees are young their influence could last decades—or longer. And we all know that Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a left-leaning Justice, probably won’t keep her seat through another Trump administration. The brave woman is hanging in there, but she’s made of flesh.

The article below, by two…

Anne of Cleves (1515 – 16 July 1557) was queen consort of England from January 6 to July 9, 1540 as the fourth wife of King Henry VIII.

Anne was born in 1515, on either September 22, or more probably June 28. She was born in Düsseldorf, the second daughter of Johann III of the House of La Marck, Duke of Jüliich-Cleves, and Berg. Johann III was also Count of Mark, and Ravensberg. Johann held the titles Duke of Jüliich, Berg and Count of Ravensberg jure uxoris which means by right of his wife Maria, Duchess of Julich-Berg (1491–1543).

Anne’s mother Maria of Jülich-Berg (August 3, 1491 – August 29, 1543) was born in Jülich, the daughter of Wilhelm IV, Duke of Jülich-Berg and Sibylle of Brandenburg, a daughter of Elector Albrecht III Achilles of Brandenburg (1414–1486) from his second marriage to Anna (1436–1512), daughter of the Elector Friedrich II…