Matt Taibbi

...

"if antipathy to recent QE makes one a Paulite, I think Paul Krugman needs to be lumped in as well..."

Huh?

wuuut

Krugman thinks the treasury should be doing more stuff like QE and NOT worry about the inflationary danger (until it becomes like an actual danger.) Seems like that's the opposite of what Taibbi is positing above.

anyway it isnt the antipathy toward qe that makes one a paulite its the belief in real money

he's like an uglier michael moore

― iatee, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 3:02 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbf moor is waay better at making movies than taibbi is at writing

I don't think Taibbi is a libertarian though (or a Paulite.) There are plenty of non-Paulite who have insane inflationary fears.

yeah krugman's pretty far from a hayekian or a goldbug for that matter

"this is money that didn’t even exist!"

Taibbi's objection is about use in defense of Wall Street, not QE as a concept
Krugman, AFAIK, argues that QE hasn't gone far enough, not getting past Wall Street

iatee's argument is that Taibbi is a Paulite for his objection

xxp Right until Taibbi advocates for a return to the gold standard I don't think he should be lumped in with Ron Paul.

eh i still like taibbi better than i like moore

Taibbi's objection is about use in defense of Wall Street, not QE as a concept
Krugman, AFAIK, argues that QE hasn't gone far enough, not getting past Wall Street

this is indistinguishable

taibbis monetary views prob have more to do w/just not understanding stuff good and knee jerk dismissal of anything the government does than any sort of ideology

ideology is hard, being really angry is easy

think you guys might be giving taibbi too much credit though to think he's actually in any way thought his monetary philosophy out xpost lol

There is a lot of stuff to be angry about tbqf.

hey man free country

it's definitely true that monetary expansion will "benefit wall street" but just about any economic improvement would. if your position is that anything that makes bank balance sheets healthier is p much evil at this point, then a looser central bank is going to look like not giving the vampire quids (tm) their punishment.

its kind of like saying hit records are evil because they prevent the major labels from collapsing

taibbi is pretty irritating and has an awful rhetorical style but i don't think a guy who favors breaking up monopolies and tighter bank regulations can fairly be called a 'libertarian,' no matter how many vague worries about 'fake money' they express.

you can’t just print money and get yourself out of economic trouble that way. There is a tremendous inflationary danger here...

I have a hard time believing Taibbi hasn't figured out this whole "printing money" thing, but if this is an accurate quote, then he hasn't learned much from his last four years of interviewing and writing.

In a nutshell: during the boom years before 2008, vast boatloads of money were created out of nothing, and by this I mean many trillions of dollars. Except this money wasn't created out of nothing by the Federal Reserve. Instead, it was banks that did it. This is what banks do, even when they are operating properly -- as they were not during the boom. Creating money out of "nothing" is their business model.

In 2008, when the credit bubble built by the banks collapsed, many, many trillions of dollars of money vanished. They reverted back to thin air. But the economy was still built around the reality that this money once had, and that reality persisted in the form of contracts. Except there wasn't enough money in the whole world to fullfill those contracts. That is why the Fed has printed so much money lately. It isn't dangerously inflationary. It is profoundly necessary.

The worst part of this is that Congress should have been the agent for the Fed's easing. Congress should have authorized the spending and the Fed should have monetized the debt by buying up a few trillions of T-bonds and T-bills. Instead, the Congress went batshit and balked at doing its plain duty to the country and the Fed has been pumping all this largesse directly into the banks instead, where it does much less good.

Taibbi ought to know this. Apparently he doesn't.

he was just labeled a libertarian re monetary policy xp

confusion about QE is pretty widespread among radical populist types in general. But that said, it is sort of a big juicy target, and the main effect (insofar as it has had any) has been to shove some money to people who don't need it. It's just that inflation doesn't really enter the picture.

taibbi's written about this more cogently elsewhere actually.

and the main effect (insofar as it has had any) has been to shove some money to people who don't need it.

― s.clover, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:26 PM (59 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well that and avoid total economic calamity

brb writing dystopian novel re mccain presidency

Chabon or Lethem beating you to it

curses

Chapter 1: McCain Dies, Palin becomes President

dun dun DUN

"I can see Williamsburg from my house!"

taibbi's written about this more cogently elsewhere actually.

― s.clover, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 3:27 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

taibbi admits that his source for knowledge on monetary policy is zerohedge

http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/02/19/on-the-bailout-hustle/

it's not exactly godwin's law but come one, you need to be very leery of anyone who calls himself 'tyler durden' on the internet

ha er 'come on'

Matt Taibbi ‏@mtaibbi

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well that and avoid total economic calamity

― lag∞n, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 4:29 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think we did this discussion elsewhere, like a year ago. but yeah, I don't think QE mattered that much. Never saw any research that showed it moved markets more than a smidge. Ironically, ZH and similar types are the ones who have insisted that it's had the most impact. There's so much money in play at such volumes that QE never amounted to much, huge as it seems. And the end of QE didn't matter that much either, which helps bear this out. Lots more money than QE was doled out at the peak of the crisis in much more direct ways too, remember. And rates were hitting zero regardless, so...

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2012/07/24/1094601/the-academics-on-qe-for-now/

my reading of that post tends to support my point, but you know, who cares.

otm

Fact schmacts.

it's not exactly godwin's law but come one, you need to be very leery of anyone who calls himself 'tyler durden' on the internet

― goole, Wednesday, September 26, 2012 5:00 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there are multiple posters who call themselves tyler durden on that site lol

they all do, it's their thing

what if there are multiple Ezra kleins

all this debate abt a RS journalist while Madonna endorsing Obama as a Muslim goes unobserved; you people.

I didn't know Madonna was a muslim.

I'm glad Madonna explained herself to the Washington Post today. Otherwise millions of undecided voters who base their views on Madonna's onstage comments would have been confused. I am sure Taibbi will find a way to work this in.

Madonna in concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YIq5Q15L1o

Otherwise millions of undecided voters who base their views on Madonna's onstage comments would have been confused.

Are you familiar with the Human Rights Campaign?

^^ I laughed

haha