Thursday, October 23, 2008

Things that frustrate me, October 23 edition

- That trade deficits are bad. Maybe this just especially gets me because it's in tomorrow's State Journal. I thought I'd done a workman's-like job of culling such nonsense from these pages over the last few years. Then again, it is from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, whose beta is as close to -1 as I've ever witnessed.

- That economic diversification is the best/safest/insert-your-adjective-here path for economic growth.

- The belief that we have entered into a "new economy," and that this "new economy" requires a re-thinking of economics as a whole and of the role of the public sector. It just occurred to me now, but is this the leftists circling the wagons, coming up with a new push and ceding defeat on past margins? Perhaps that's a bit too optimistic.

- That the current financial situation is what happens when you leave the free market to its own devices.

- That some regulation is crucial to protect the little people and to keep big profit-driven companies in line.

The last three are culled from topics that came up during a panel discussion I recently participated in.

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