Looks like a grad student blew th R&R austerity research out of the water
 

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...-movement.html

Ryan based his budget on a totally flawed study. Shouldn't someone have reviewed this paper before publication and not wait years for a grad student to uncover major Excel math mistakes and another to uncover statistical mistakes. I guess Haaavad professors are so good they don't need no stikin checking.

nice article. too bad the tea party sheep still will think that the balance sheet of the world's biggest economy goes by the same rules as their own checkbook. Paul Ryan has learned to use that to his benefit.....unfortunately for the us economy

You can always tell a Harvard man....;) This is huge for Herndon and the anti-austerity movement and not so much for Rogoff and Reinhart.:rolleyes:

http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/3...blication/566/

Even if the new kid is right with respect to the math he still misses the point. Namely, there is more to life than math and ever increasing numbers.

When a society prints money without bound one needs to ask what the money is being spent on and the answer to that is pretty simple. While at first it might be spent on wages, those wages ultimately get spent on stuff. That stuff comes from the earthball which is the same place that real money comes from. Real money traditionally consisted of things such as gold, salt, silver, etc or easily portable paper that could be converted into those things. The net effect of sustained debt growth is therefore taking from the earthball faster than it can replenish itself. That action manifests in things such as obesity, oil dependency, pollution, etc.

Nothing is free. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

I doubt that Ryan and modern Republicans think that deep, but old Republicans certainly do. That is the root of their agrarian thought.

Here is a book on agrarian thought. I have not read it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Agrari.../dp/0765805901

Here is an interesting blog from a fellow member of the "numbers are not God" camp. I've never heard of him, but suspect that he is a Republican of the old type. It would be interesting to hear from the Dems and see if there is much in what this man says that they disagree with.

http://thecontraryfarmer.wordpress.com/

I have been wanting to read this book for awhile. I just ordered it.

I just ordered it too. I'm curious what the "new" part means with respect to agrarian thought. With the recent "new" Federalist papers I'm concerned that it might be an instruction book on how to screw farmers even harder.

I will give it a read when I have more time. I scanned through it and it reinforces my desire to move into the Ozark woods, clear a plot, start a garden, and raise some livestock. I did it years ago. No electricity, no phone, no running water, and we built the cabin ourselves. Ever hear of the Foxfire books. We did everything by hand. no power tools were used. Don't know that I could work an adze for hours on end like I did 30 years ago so any log cabin built will be a kit. :D

It is really rough living independent from our modern infrastructure so, I will have electricity, I will pick a spot with good cell reception. I will dig (drill) a well and have satellite TV. If I loose any of it; so what. I will have rabbits, chickens, hogs, and a few beeves. I have slaughtered, dressed, and cut up all of these animals before. I don't like it but, I will do it to feed the family.

My stepfather taught me a lot about being an Ozark hillbilly. I forgot the mule. He will be used to plough the garden and dig up the potatoes when the time comes.

This kind of living is as close as you will get to austerity in this day and age. Just like in the old days trips to town are still important for coffee and other staples you can't grow for yourselves.

When my girlfriend and I (now my wife) decided to live on the land thirty years ago it was the best years of our lives. Try it. I highly recommend it.

John Mauldin gives big picture view of the R&R paper brouhaha.

http://www.mauldineconomics.com/imag...0420_TFTF5.pdf