Reddit Reddit reviews How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

We found 41 Reddit comments about How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes
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41 Reddit comments about How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes:

u/favourthebold · 766 pointsr/AskReddit

Well this seems like a good opportunity to post a few of the lessons I learned in my 20s.

To my former self:

If you're depressed, here's how to turn it around

  • Stop drinking, this is the main cause.

  • Lift weights. This alone could also stop depression. It's likely related to low testosterone levels

  • Fapping too much makes the depression worse

    Fap less, and never to porn

  • Ejaculating too often removed your motivation to take actions and start tasks. You can consider porn like a poison for the mind. Pleasurable but it desensitizes you to all other pleasures, making life seem bland and boring. Until the only thing you want is porn. It perpetuates itself.


    Gratitude

  • Whatever you are grateful for will grow

  • Gratitude is the only way to be happy. If you think about what happiness is, it's appreciating what you have. When you think of something that would make you happy, you are imagining yourself appreciating it when you get it.

    Wealth

  • You can have anything you want, as long as you create enough value for others first.

  • To be wealthy, don't try and do tomorrow's work today, just have a successful day each day. If you have more successful days than unsuccessful days, your wealth will grow. As you have successful and productive days, opportunities will be attracted to you.

    Theories

  • The key to success in any area is having the right theory. A small amount of work, or a massive amount of work, with the wrong theory, won't lead to success.

  • With the right theory, success will be relatively straight forward. When you do the thing, it will basically work every time. Anything that has been done many times before, can be done yourself with the correct theory

  • When most people speak of the 'years of hard work' they put in before they 'cracked the game', usually means they were laboring under the wrong theory, and then one day they found the correct theory, and when they applied it, it worked. (excluding world class athletes, talking about common things like starting a business or growing muscles)

  • Theories can be gathered by spending tens of thousands of dollars on seminars or tens of dollars on books. Both can contain theories that work and theories that don't work. Higher cost definitely does not mean they have the right theory

  • Some theories can seem like they are guaranteed to work, but on testing, actually don't. When someone says they have the right theory, it will seem worth any price. Often they actually don't. Beware. If possible buy their book and test it for yourself, it's just as good in book form.

  • This whole list is a list of theories, as you can see, they are usually quite simple and easy to understand. Complexity is usually a sign the person doesn't really know how things work


    Girls

  • You cannot make a girl like you, you can however find a girl who likes you

  • They key to getting girls is to get in excellent shape (lift weights), dress well, and talk to girls until you find one that likes you

  • If a girl is unsure if she you likes you, won't go on a date with you, or doesn't let you touch her in anyway. She doesn't like you. Find one that wants all those things. Don't be fooled by girls who seem to REALLY like you but doesn't have time to meet, or won't let you touch her. They do not like you like that.

  • Hot girls are just as likely to like you as not hot girls

  • If you like a girl more than she likes you, and she doesn't want to meet up/hang out/have sex. Let her go and move on


    Career

  • It's very easy to get ahead if you just try, most people don’t

  • You career will naturally progress just through normal learning, don't worry about it


    Flow

  • If you want things to happen without effort and struggle, live a life with gratitude and presence. Things will seem to happen easily and naturally.


    Meditation

  • Mediation gives you the ability to be your best. Very handy for improving at anything, particularly gaming, as you see more and learn more. It gives you access to creativity in solving problems and improving your performance

  • Mediation allows you to 'stop the mind'. Do this if you're stuck in over-analysis

  • To meditate, set a time on your phone for 20 minutes, sit still and don't move a muscle, and focus on your breath as often as you can. Your mind will try to stray, just focus on your breath as much as able. This is how you quiet the mind

    *****
    Edit:

    To answer some requests, here's my list of resources.

    Wealth/Metaphysics

  • http://www.audible.com.au/pd/Health-Personal-Development/The-Science-of-Getting-Rich-Audiobook/B00FMUQVSI
    This audiobook has the best summary I've found of how wealth works

    Lifting

  • https://stronglifts.com/5x5/

  • https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Strength-Basic-Barbell-Training/dp/0982522738

  • http://startingstrength.com/

  • http://www.leangains.com/2011/09/fuckarounditis.html

    How Procrastination works:

  • https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

  • https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html

    How Business works

  • https://www.amazon.com/Personal-MBA-Master-Art-Business/dp/1591845572

    What innovation actually is and how to do it:

  • https://www.amazon.com/Innovation-Entrepreneurship-Peter-F-Drucker/dp/0060851139

    How economics works:

  • https://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X

    How to get things done:

  • https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280

    Task Management tool:

  • https://todoist.com/

    Spiritual Books

  • Spiritual books won't make sense unless you've had an awakening, and you can't make this happen, it happens by chance/grace. If you have, anything by Eckhart Tolle will be amazing.

    How to be a man:

  • https://www.amazon.com/Way-Superior-Man-Spiritual-Challenges/dp/1591792576

  • https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Truth-Spiritual-Guide-Death/dp/1591792592

    Audiobooks (most of these can be found on audiobook):

  • Audible.com

    Frame Control (Anytime you feel like you're trying too hard or begging for something, you lost the frame)

  • https://www.amazon.com/Pitch-Anything-Innovative-Presenting-Persuading/dp/1501211811

    This is my favourite book of all. They talk about the new type of conscousness which is really really interesting to me. May not apply to all people.
    If anyone find this book interesting I'd love to talk about it:

    How the world works:

  • https://www.amazon.com/Spiral-Dynamics-Mastering-Values-Leadership/dp/1405133562

  • https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Spiral-Dynamics-Integral-Audiobook/B00FO5660E

u/ChillPenguinX · 32 pointsr/economy

This recession was coming either way. The economy never actually recovered from the last recession because the core problems of bad loans and inflation were not only unaddressed, but worsened. The economy isn’t built on fucking spending. It’s ridiculous that this is what mainstream “economists” think. An economy grows through savings and production, and everything the Fed does to try to fix a struggling economy only worsens malinvestment. Recessions happen not because spending is low, they happen because malinvestment is high and real savings are low (which in turn cause spending to dip, but you actually want that in that situation). You can’t just drive consumption and have that manifest a stronger economy. It’s about as legitimate as alchemy.


Edit: wow, I’m actually getting upvoted :). I wonder how many of those upvotes would’ve been downvotes had I explicitly mentioned that I’m arguing for Austrian economics. If anyone interested in learning how the economy actually works, here are steps One, Two, and Three.

u/Stubb · 16 pointsr/investing

My recommended reading list includes One Up on Wall Street, Fail-Safe Investing, The Black Swan, How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes, and Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds. The first book talks about picking individual stocks based on what you already know, the second about structuring a portfolio for growth while still playing defense, the third about common fallacies and hubris, the fourth about basic economics, and the fifth about irrational behavior.

If your money is sitting in a US bank account, then you're making a 100% bet on the future of the US dollar. At a minimum, diversify your currency holdings by buying sovereign and high-grade corporate debt in countries with strong currencies.

u/mgbkurtz · 14 pointsr/Accounting

Take a break from accounting and finance books. I have a few recommendations from my recent reading:

The Intelligence Paradox

The Evolution of Everything

Delusions of Power

Equal is Unfair

The Feminine Mystique

How an Economy Grows - And Why It Crashes

Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York's Underground Economy

Buddha's Brain

The Red Queen

Obviously there's a political bend in some of those choices, but I can suggest others (it's always important to challenge your beliefs).

I love to read, can provide some other recommendations, but those were just some recent books I just pulled off my Nook. There's some fiction as well.

u/UnknownChaser · 8 pointsr/roosterteeth

I gotchu fam, been saved in my amazon wishlish all this time. "How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes" by Peter Schiff.

u/rootb33r · 7 pointsr/roosterteeth

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes.

I read it in grad school and it was OK. It's very macro-focused. If you like that, that's fine. I find macroeconomics to be sort of boring and useless in many situations. It's good to know basics about how the economy functions, but you really don't need to know that much unless you're in the business of policy making or research.

u/Slyer · 6 pointsr/Anarcho_Capitalism

I, Pencil

After that I highly recommend reading Peter Schiff's How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

It's an easy read but drives a lot of very important points home.

u/d00ns · 6 pointsr/GoldandBlack

How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. https://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X

It's got pictures, and teaches very easy to understand concepts which will allow you to refute economic nonsense. This is the best choice because non-avid readers aren't going to read Bastiat or Hayek or anything heavy.

u/captainpuppy · 5 pointsr/Libertarian

How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes by Peter Schiff. You could even read it to your kids!

u/btc_is_gold · 4 pointsr/Bitcoin

Bitcoin is based on Austrian School of economy instead of Keynesian economics which is used in current fiat currencies. There's a great book How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes showing Austrian school. I can't recommend it highly enough. It's written in such a simple way that even your grandma gets the idea.

> Expansion of the money supply is a normal feature of a currency.

I live in a country where inflation devalued the currency almost by 50 % within several years. And it's not that bad, in Greece, Venezuela and other countries it's way worse. People in UK, USA may not see the problems with inflation.

Currency should hold value. Yet expansion of money supply decreases the value.

> Deflation is undesirable in a currency.

Why?

Deflation is bad for borrowers. That's maybe why central banks and governments hate deflation. If you owe something and next year you owe more, then you don't like deflation. Debts of countries is so huge that deflation would be bad for the countries. Inflation on the other hand makes the debt to be smaller.

Bitcoin isn't only about deflation. Bitcoin's property is that you can be your own bank. You don't have to trust others. Currently you have money in banks in order to pay online. The banks lend your money for 10-20 % interest because of Fractional-Reserve Banking.

u/Captain_d00m · 3 pointsr/roosterteeth
u/conn2005 · 3 pointsr/Libertarian

Peter Schiff's How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. More of a illustrated novel than comic.

u/indirecteffect · 3 pointsr/Libertarian

I would suggest reading How and Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. In my opinion, it has dethroned Hazlitt's Economics in one Lesson as the simplest and most enjoyable way to understand basic economics. It is essentially written in comic book fashion and just flies by. Of course, you won't be an expert after reading it, but will be much more informed than the average person!

u/GarretJax · 3 pointsr/Libertarian

All excellent books, but I would add How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes by Peter Schiff as an excellent intro to economics book.

u/saMAN101 · 3 pointsr/NeutralPolitics

I would recommend Economics in One Lesson (which you can also buy here) because it teaches you how to use reasoning in economics and figure out where people are using bad logic in their economic thinking.

I would definitely recommend this as one of the first books you read because there are a lot of economic fallacies out there put forth by pundits, talkshow hosts, and even some economists; this book will allow you to see whether or not their economic thinking and logic is sound.

On a personal note, this is one of the first books on economics that I read, and I absolutely loved it. While it might not be the most entertaining read, it is certainly more interesting than your standard economics textbook.

After you finish that book, I would recommend you read How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes because it explains, in a way that even a child could understand, why an economy grows. The overall concept is fairly simple, but it is vital to fully understand it before trying to understand more important concepts.

u/tildiff · 3 pointsr/politics

Say you want to open a small business or take vocational classes or buy a car. You go to the bank to take out a loan. You win by getting the loan and pursuing your goals, the bank and the depositor wins by getting interest.

If the depositor didn't deposit any money, the bank would just turn you away.

This is basic Econ101 stuff, so any introductory econ book would explain it in more detail. Also, you can read

http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X

u/LibertyAboveALL · 3 pointsr/Libertarian

Have you read the latest version of this story by his sons, Peter & Andrew Schiff called Why an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes? If so, your thoughts on their changes/updates would be greatly appreciated.

u/Winking-Cyclops · 3 pointsr/IWantToLearn

Start with this one:

how economies grow and why they fail




This next book is a bit more cerebral but you understand the world if you read it

Thomas Sowell’s Basic Economics

u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/dogecoin

Cool. Thanks for the tip. Doge really does follow Austrian principals. Bitcoin does too but the mining process is much longer. (gold, silver, pearls, shells... they all follow this) Look into it if you have a chance. [Book] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X)

u/Natefil · 2 pointsr/IAmA

You're going to be getting a lot of counter-Austrian perspectives in your macroeconomics classes. Basically the majority of macroeconomics is oriented towards Keynesian/Monetarist economic philosophy. Honestly just pick up a macroeconomic book and go through the history of economic though in the 20th century and you'll see what I'm talking about. I'm not bitter about this, it's just simply oriented towards those avenues.

If you want to watch some videos: here is the Austrian perspective in a modern sense.. I especially like this one for its informative value. And if you want something for entertainment anything by Bob Murphy is great because he's just so entertaining but his bit on the Great Depression is probably my favorite.

As for books:

Principles of Economics

How the Economy Grows and Why it Crashes

Also for foundations of liberty you can go with Mises or Rothbard.

u/Justinw303 · 2 pointsr/AskSocialScience

How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes is a really good primer for macroeconomics and will set you on the right path.

Economics in One Lesson is a great book that will give you a solid theoretical foundation and perspective.

I also recommend anything by Thomas Sowell, such as Basic Economics or Applied Economics.

u/Luna1943XB · 2 pointsr/EnoughLibertarianSpam

That entire fiishing analogy and the whole Irwin 'The Tax Dodger' Schiff and Peter 'The Gold Shill' Schiff book: How and economy grows and why it crashes is aimed squarely at shallow thinkers. It appeals very well to those who would like to believe everything is just so simple.

That said I do actually like the book from a stylistic point of view, it really does present Austrian Economics spam in a interesting and easy to understand format, the style is brilliant I think.

But unfortunately dunning krugerand libertarians read it and subsequently think they are experts at socio-economic policies because herp derp everything in society is just like two men on an island fishing.

Private ownership of natural resources, discrimination, historical oppression all doesn't real and doesn't matter even if they were.

Our complex society can just easily be hyper reduced to two men fishing in the sea. (Two men who started off on equal footing btw)

As you said once you change the scenario to where one man owns the entire island and everything on it and the second man only has the option to either pay rent by working as a chattel slave or rely on mother nature and hope he can evolve into an aquatic mammal before he runs out of energy and drowns in the ocean., the fairy tale doesn't sound as great any more does it.

u/Agricola1 · 2 pointsr/booksuggestions

Try this if you really want to know what went on and why we aren't going to "recover" from this "recession" but are heading into another collapse.

http://www.amazon.com/Meltdown-Free-Market-Collapsed-Government-Bailouts/dp/1596985879/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371881724&sr=1-1&keywords=meltdown+tom+woods

Anything by Peter Schiff is also a great read.

I wouldn't recommend Paul Krugman myself, though you might want to read him and then compare what he says to something like this,

http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371881329&sr=1-5&keywords=peter+schiff

by Peter Schiff.

u/Gaoez01 · 1 pointr/CanadaPolitics

Here is some reading material:
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/economic-freedom-of-the-world-2017.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X
https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/the-impact-government-spending-economic-growth
https://www.mercatus.org/publication/does-government-spending-affect-economic-growth

I am sure we can both cite lots of sources to support our own claims. But the fact of the matter is that Keynesian economics have a horrible track record of predicting economic downturns, compared to some other schools of thought.

u/BifocalComb · 1 pointr/Anarcho_Capitalism

OK see when you say that non-substantive buzzword salad it shows me that you don't understand economics at all, you're just repeating things you've heard.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X

Here's this. It's a quick read, as it's meant for children, but it lays out basically how the economy works. Really good book, don't let its juvenile appearance put you off. I'm actually serious, too; I just read this again recently and it explains a lot of things that I sometimes have trouble articulating very succinctly and neatly.

u/nagdude · 1 pointr/economy

I had this moment back in 2006/07 when it became incredibly clear to me something was seriously out of whack and i needed to at least try to make sense of it all. It has been quite a journey but in the end i ended up basically changing my entire outlook on life, the economy and politics. I will come with some suggestions for reading and watching material but i just want to give one piece of advice: Every book you read, every article, every blog, every youtube lecture you see. You have do think, decode and analyze as best as you can. They will provide you with "lenses" that you can see the world through. The more you learn about a subject the sharper your lense will be able to focus information before it enters your mind. When you obtain new knowledge you might have to substitute a lens because this new one provides a better way of interpreting the world. When you have read so much that you have accumulated a good set of lenses about economy, history, philosophy, physics etc you can stack them and filter the information you perceive through all lenses at the same time, effectively they work like binoculars at this time. It is then that you will understand that you can maybe not grasp everything, but at least you will see a lot clearer than people only using simple and crude lenses. In addition you will be able to recognize, through their actions or words, the lenses that people around you use to understand reality. Im sorry if this was abstract.

1.
History, most undervalued subject when it comes to economics:
Read, watch listen to everything from Niall Fergusson. This man has a grasp of history that is very rare.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson

2.
Do not be afraid to listen to fund managers, they are the most brutally honest, no nonsense people you will ever hear from. Their only goal in life is to obtain what they refer to as 'alpha', the truth. If you know the truth and everyone around has a clouded judgement or preconceptions about the economy you will win.
Of the most outspoken and knowledgeable managers:

  • Ray Dalio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Dalio)
  • Hugh Hendry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Hendry)
  • James Grant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Grant_%28finance%29)
  • Bill Gross (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gross)
  • Mohamed El-Erian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_A._El-Erian)
  • Kyle Bass
    I would watch all videos on youtube that any of these people are involved in, twice. Any term they use i would google and research thoroughly.

    3.
    Other notable economic/political figures:

  • Robert Prechter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Prechter) You can choose to believe or ignore his wave theory, but his observations on human emotions and how they run our lives are incredible informative and mind opening.

    4.
    You also have to learn a lot of new words and what they mean. Everything your read or watch will refer to a lot of strange terms, people and philosophy, if you want any deeper understanding you have to read books on some of these specific terms. I would advice to learn in detail about:

  • The bond market (http://www.amazon.com/Bond-Book-Everything-Treasuries-Municipals/dp/0071358625)
  • The history of precious metals
  • Keynesianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes)
  • Ludwig von Mises and the Austrian School of economics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises)
  • Capitalism, Socialism, Fascism, Collectivism and Corporatism. These are extremely important to learn as much as you can about with as much depth as possible. Incredibly enough this is the topic most of the population struggles most with but at the same time have very strong opinions on. Correctly identifying objectively what kind of "ism" that is the current dominant one and what was the dominant one at different stages in history. This is an extremely difficult topic because people get so emotional so fast, its difficult to find rational conversation partners.

    5.
    I would be careful putting too much faith in these notable people:

  • Peter Schiff (He is blind to the real possibility of a deflationary shock)
    Even if he is blind to this he has the most perfect introductory book to economics:
    http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322700761&sr=8-1
  • Paul Kruegman (He has blind faith that governments can allocate resources adequately good during a crises - a money printer)
  • Max Kaiser (I dont know what to say, he is both a genius and a moron, you just dont know which one at which time)
  • Gerald Celente (He seems very observant, but he always says the same thing, stagnant)
  • Jim Rogers (He provides no real insight)
  • Warren Buffet
  • George Soros

    6.
    Be very weary of people who have a very binary view of economics or politics, they often only see the world through one lens. This gives them a very polarized outlook.

    7.
    Stay away from very technical blogs (like zerohedge) in the beginning. If you don't have a very clear and deep understanding of what you are reading it will just confuse. You need to know all the terms used and what they really mean, and not on a superficial level.

    I spent the last 5 years basically reading any book on any relevant subject, now i'm pretty content with my overview now. I have taken a somewhat negative short term view (the next 4-6 years) on behalf of the developed economies but an incredibly positive view on the long term outlook for the human race, the developing economies in particular. It is too late here now, i must sleep, i have probably forgotten a great deal of good names.
u/WhiteCrake · 1 pointr/Libertarian

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes
By: Peter Schiff, a modern Austrian economist amazing!!

u/nkfallout · 1 pointr/Libertarian

The best book for economics. A follow up to that is Peter Schiff's book How and Economy Grows and Why it Crashes.

Another is The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek

u/rocknrollercoaster · 1 pointr/Economics

>well, obviously you're always going to have some. but the gov't was too new at that time for business influences to infiltrate it deeply. Esp relative to the situation today.

Not true at all. The country was founded on the principle that the role of government should be to protect private property from the majority of people. Originally, you couldn't even vote if you weren't a landowner. Businesses didn't infiltrate it, they completely controlled it.

>how is that any different from having politician running things? who decides who gets to vote? doesn't direct democracy require that all citizens vote on all policy initiatives? what's to stop this small group of voters from colluding?

You honestly can't see the difference? If a factory (for instance) needs to make policy decisions, the workers all vote on what to do. They're all collective owners so they all get a say. It's not that difficult really.

>i don't give a fuck if i can survive on potatoes and a hut I grow and build myself. I want a plasma TV and to fly from New York to Seattle in 4 hours and a nice house and medical care. I think you're making a LOOOOT of assumptions about people's willingness to accept self-sufficiency for a horrible quality of life.

That's nice. I'm sure you also enjoy buying designer clothing that is drastically overpriced and made in sweatshops where the owners hire thugs to keep workers from organizing. I think you're also assuming that self sufficiency requires abandoning technology and living in a hut. It definitely doesn't. I can't tell if you're being deliberately ignorant or not.

>that's veeeery subjective opinion. i agree global warming is real, but it's a huge step to say it threatens life on Earth.

Then you must not know too much about global warming.

>this was not due to capitalism though, it was entirely the gov't bailouts, bank deposit insurance, and low interest rates.

According to Marx's social analysis, yes this is 100% capitalism. The bailouts and recession basically happened exactly how Marx predicted that the capitalist economy will function. According to Marx, it's not just about free competition, it's about the wealthiest companies using their wealth and power to stamp out competition and rig the system for their own interests. After all, they're only trying to make money so why wouldn't they? Money is such a strong incentive, isn't it?

>It seems our debate ends here. We seems to disagree on points that would take a lot of effort to explain to each other. And I'v got boards in a week. Take it easy. If you have time and interest to learn about Austrian Econ, I'd recommend http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1370971957&sr=8-4&keywords=peter+schiff

Peter Schiff is an idiot and a pseudo conspiracy theorist. I've already taken time to learn about Austrian economics. It has some decent ideas but if you're getting your view of Marx from Austrian economists then you're not going to know what you're talking about. All in all, it's one school of economics but it's not the only school or even the most practical school.

u/prqd112 · 1 pointr/Economics

> That's just not true.

well, obviously you're always going to have some. but the gov't was too new at that time for business influences to infiltrate it deeply. Esp relative to the situation today.

> It would tend to be professionals who are trained in that speciality voting on how to go about their tasks

how is that any different from having politician running things? who decides who gets to vote? doesn't direct democracy require that all citizens vote on all policy initiatives? what's to stop this small group of voters from colluding?

> No because it's a system designed for self-sufficiency.

i don't give a fuck if i can survive on potatoes and a hut I grow and build myself. I want a plasma TV and to fly from New York to Seattle in 4 hours and a nice house and medical care. I think you're making a LOOOOT of assumptions about people's willingness to accept self-sufficiency for a horrible quality of life.

> You could just as well say that we're currently sacrificing our planet for more wealth.

that's veeeery subjective opinion. i agree global warming is real, but it's a huge step to say it threatens life on Earth.

> For one, money isn't the only incentive.

true, but it's the strongest one.

> America didn't just become rich because people 'busted their asses'

we'll have to disagree on this.

> if you look at what happened after the crash, the biggest losers were actually people in the middle class

this was not due to capitalism though, it was entirely the gov't bailouts, bank deposit insurance, and low interest rates.

> Basically, you seem to have a very romanticized vision of capitalism in your head that simply doesn't reflect historical facts.

I would say the same of you and communism.

It seems our debate ends here. We seems to disagree on points that would take a lot of effort to explain to each other. And I'v got boards in a week. Take it easy. If you have time and interest to learn about Austrian Econ, I'd recommend http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1370971957&sr=8-4&keywords=peter+schiff

It's short and explains things from scratch.

u/flyingkiwi9 · 1 pointr/newzealand
  1. You are straight out wrong, your logic makes no sense.

  2. Excuse me for oversimplifying.

  3. Because you proposed this QE post EQ, the market values are already set. Devaluing the dollar will mean less actual value comes in. This is economic fact, creditors (anyone claiming insurance) prospoer through change of interest rates. But this is a long winded story.

  4. All other negative effects on push-pull inflation

    GFC has everything to do with QE (book) and why the effects are so large.

    Since we're having the argument and /r/newzealand loves a good inequality post - Britain's richest 5% gained most from quantitative easing

    As has been mentioned. QE is a last resort. Not a luxury to help exporters.
u/rco286 · 0 pointsr/technology

Woah, man. I don't know where you received your economics education, but everything you said in there is dead wrong. That is not how capitalism works.


>Impossible. For anyone to amass that much wealth, someone else has to suffer for it, there isn't enough to go around for everyone, so for someone to go with so much, someone else has to go without.

The economy grows when entrepreneurs take risk, hire more people, and offer superior products that enrich all our lives. The ability to utilize the savings of others to expand business is the source of wealth creation, not government programs. Individuals looking after their own self-interest, through the powers of supply and demand, benefit society. As someone else already pointed out, that is the zero-sum fallacy.



>It is inconceivable that someone could make that much money while running an honest business.

An overwhelming majority of businesses do make their money honestly. And those that don't are utilizing government power, which as I've already said, needs to be reduced.


>It is inconceivable that someone could make that much money while running an honest business. Someone, somewhere down the totem pole, is getting exploited and shit on. It might be 100% legal, but it sure as hell isn't "earning their money honestly".

This couldn't be more wrong. When an entrepreneur expands his business and needs help, he hires people. Maybe this is someone who had a job, or maybe it's someone who was previously unemployed. Either way, it's an improvement in his or her situation. Otherwise, they don't have to work for them. What happens if that entrepreneur or any other businessmen decided to stop seeking additional profits? Nobody expands their businesses, and nobody gets hired.

Check out Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson

Or maybe Peter Schiff's How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

u/oolalaa · -1 pointsr/ukpolitics

I suggest you do a little research yourself. Schiff is a spectacular talker and debator - he's probably better on camera than he is on paper. He's regularly on business/economic TV shows, he very often gives lectures, and he hosts the 2 hour "Peter Schiff Radio Show" 5 days a week.

That said, he has written 3 or 4 great books, detailing the reasons for previous crash (and future ones!), and how an economy grows and why it crashes, as well numerous articles that I'm sure won't take long to google.

His books:

Crash Proof

The Real Crash: America's Coming Bankruptcy

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes


Btw, Schiff, being an American, focuses primarily on the US economy, but 90% of what he says can be applied directly to here in the UK. We are the United States little brother.

u/HHH_Mods_Suck_Ass · -1 pointsr/socialism

>no worker would accept to create value for someone else in exchange for a small wage unless he was forced to do so by the conditions he is in.

False.

His "condition" is that he has 2 choices: Grow and hunt his own food, or starve to death. Is he being exploited by nature, since nature forces him to do some work to survive? No.

So then why couldn't he take option 3, which is to do work that's not hunting and farming, in exchange for a wage that will allow him to acquire what he needs to survive, and then some.

Socialists make the mistake of assuming that 100% of the value associated with a product is due to the input of the direct laborer. You conveniently ignore the fact that the very production of that good or service would not be possible without the capital supplied by the capitalist. Why shouldn't the capitalist be paid for the contribution his capital made to creating the goods?

Did you really just link to the Labor theory of value? Hate to break it to you, but that theory was proven bunk quite a while ago.

You'd benefit from reading this book, a beginner's guide to economics that even a 7th grader could read and understand.

u/peppajack217 · -1 pointsr/math

Economics is combination of math, finance, and psychology. Most economic-math is just linear regression and whatnot, and even then it is incredibly inaccurate. ModularToil is right in that most Econometric problems are ones with too few constraints, so a talented mathematician can make the numbers do what he wants. If you only read one book, get Economics in One Lesson. It's a slow read, but it is a great reference book. Really, you only need the first chapter. If you get a second, get How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. It is written cleverly as a children's book that furthers the points made in Economics in One Lesson, as well as giving a good explanation of why the economy is in the shape that it is right now. If you are still interested after that, find topics that pique your interest here.