The Truss/Kwarteng Era
- Thread starter nsacpi
- Start date
oes the Truss/Kwarteng era represent a valid data point about how libertarians are likely to conduct macroeconomic policy upon rising to positions of responsibility.
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
So if we just have a MAGA dictator for a while we can someday have liberty. That is, uh, special.
Is Truss a Libertarian? Never heard of her before. Shes been PM for like 2 weeks?
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
Theres a wide range of Libertarians from a moderate like Gary Johnson who is basically just Republican lite to straight up anarchists.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
I do find it interesting that it is fairly rare for someone who self-identifies as a libertarian to rise to an actual position of responsibility. It seems that as a group they are temperamentally better suited to issuing critiques as outsiders than actually dealing with the messy world of governing and compromise.
cajunrevenge
Well-known member
Right, because Republicans and Democrats do such a great job at running anything. The fact of the matter is the barrier to entry for any other party is intentionally absurd to overcome. The only thing Republicans and Democrats agree with is **** the third party. Libertarians can and have won running as Republicans. Gary Johnson was a very succesful Governor of New Mexico. Bill Weld was also governor of Massachusetts. I dont know much about his term to say how good it was. For the most part a Libertarian is a mixture of ideologies of left and right. So its really absurd to me to say they cant run anything. Me personally, I am very big on civil rights, a fair justice system, real accountability for police, actually asking police to enforce laws that represent the will of the people, and strong fiscal conservative policy. I think you just buy into the stereotype of Libertarians being anarchists.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Weld was a great governor. I was living in MA at the time. A very talented and interesting politician.
At the same time, I can't help but note that Ron Paul's macroeconomic views (gold standard, etc) are distinctly of the crackpotish variety.
I guess Libertarians are a big tent when it come to macroeconomic policy.
Truss/Kwarteng were a disaster at many levels. Shocking incompetence really. I've been having fun with them as an exhibit of what not to do in the past two months with my macroeconomics students. Been like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
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cajunrevenge
Well-known member
If we stuck to the gold standard there wouldnt be any inflation. I understand the reasons they did it but our money is backed by barely more than bitcoin is. Its far to late to go back to the gold standard. Heres a hint though, guess who owns a lot of investments in gold.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
We had periods of both inflation and deflation while on the gold standard and prolonged recessions and various banking crises. The good old days werent.
sturg33
I
we were on the gold standard during this period...which by the way set the way for many of the financial excesses that culminated in the Great Depression
You're either dumber than I imagined or you are assuming the readers are dumb.
But interesting that chart starts at 1914. A history lesson for the lecturer
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system.
We had high inflation and asset price bubbles during multiple periods of the gold standard, including the late 1960s.
We had high inflation and asset price bubbles during multiple periods of the gold standard, including the late 1960s.
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Interesting that one of Truss' rivals foresaw what happened.
Rishi Sunak
Sunak has proved to be something of a prophet of the government’s demise, as many of the predictions he made during this summer’s leadership about Truss’s economic plan came to pass.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) warned that Truss’s unfunded tax cuts would lead to a run on sterling, a panic in the bond market and concern from the International Monetary Fund. Perhaps even he would have been surprised by the pace with which he was proved right.
Sunak has experience of economic crisis-fighting, having guided the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also secured the most votes from MPs in the last leadership election – comfortably clearing the new threshold with 137 endorsements. Although Truss eventually won the decisive members’ vote, Sunak only lost narrowly – with 43% of the vote.
The trust he has among MPs – and the vindication his predictions have gained – may make him the most likely next set of hands to steer the ship.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/uk/liz-truss-possible-successors-intl-gbr/index.html
Rishi Sunak
Sunak has proved to be something of a prophet of the government’s demise, as many of the predictions he made during this summer’s leadership about Truss’s economic plan came to pass.
The former Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) warned that Truss’s unfunded tax cuts would lead to a run on sterling, a panic in the bond market and concern from the International Monetary Fund. Perhaps even he would have been surprised by the pace with which he was proved right.
Sunak has experience of economic crisis-fighting, having guided the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic.
He also secured the most votes from MPs in the last leadership election – comfortably clearing the new threshold with 137 endorsements. Although Truss eventually won the decisive members’ vote, Sunak only lost narrowly – with 43% of the vote.
The trust he has among MPs – and the vindication his predictions have gained – may make him the most likely next set of hands to steer the ship.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/uk/liz-truss-possible-successors-intl-gbr/index.html
sturg33
I
Is it your contention that Woodrow Wilson did NOT create the federal reserve and detach us from the gold standard in 1914?
nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
The primary motivating force behind the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was the Panic of 1907 when many banks went under and more would have if JP Morgan had not stepped in the provide liquidity to the system. The realization set in that there would not always be a JP Morgan to step up to the plate. Hence the need for a central bank.