John T. Reed’s news blog

You can now order my new Book How to Spot Dishonest Arguments and keep your own thinking straight from my web site. However, it is not yet pictured on my home page. Underneath my photo is the word “books” with a carat. That part of the Web page is called the menu. Click on the word “books” and you get a pull-down menu with How to Spot Dishonest Arguments listed in it. If you click on the book title, you are taken to the books page where you can read more about it and order it.   I am waiting...

The second editorial in today's WSJ has the call out, "we are all modern monetary theorists now.".That is a take-off of a misunderstood statement by Milton Friedman that “We are all Keynesians now.” The late Friedman would likely be raving against the hyperinflation threat pose by our current national debt to GDP ratio, now up to 117.76% compared to the all-time record of 122% after WW II and the Korean War..Keynes was not even a Keynesian. He was a famous economist and economists get their greatest recognition when they give intellectual cover to politicians who want to use taxpayers money...

Interesting situation in Lebanon: they are currently going through a economic crisis that involves hyperinflation. Though they have pegged their currency to the dollar and many citizens held their bank accounts in dollars, the banks forced them to withdraw their deposits in Lebanese Pounds at of course, non-market exchange rates. Demonstrators defy coronavirus lockdown and set fire to banks amid mounting currency crisis and joblessness About this website FT.COM Lebanese riots over economy and soaring poverty leave one dead and dozens hurt Demonstrators defy coronavirus lockdown and set fire to banks amid mounting currency crisis and joblessness Demonstrators defy coronavirus...

A Facebook reader posted this comment:.Only real solution is to recognize the Wuhan virus as no more deadly than its sister the flu and reopen the country... President Trump listened to the deep state Dr Fauci science not realizing he was deep state... now he will get us out of this... just like he got us out of the Obama economy.John T. Reed repsonse: Trump worsened international trade stats compared to Obama. Trump improved the tax code and reduced regulation, both of which helped the economy although the diminution in international trade cancelled some of it out..All of your phraseology is too...

This is my answer to a facebook reader question:. My Schwab money is not insured by FDIC because it is in a Schwab index fund and a Schwab REIT index fund. FDIC insures against loss of the deposit, not the deposit’s purchasing power disappearing. In hyperinflation, $250,000 will buy you a candy bar. . In hyperinflation, dollar-denominated assets like savings accounts become worthless—guaranteed by definition. In that event, FDIC is irrelevant. The Schwab index fund is not guaranteed to do better than zero by contract, but stock market history in hyperinflated countries was that stock markets in those countries went...