Economic Recessions naturally occur every 8 to 9

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by Pub-911

Economies need to be artfully managed if they are to remain stable and supportive of their populations. Some people call this "socialism". Worth it at twice the price.

In a modern economy, the boundary between public-sector and private-sector is outright imponderable. Surely an incompetent or breezily inattentive government would result in an unstable economy, in loss of confidence. Markets would seize up, wealth would decline. But just as surely, no amount of enlightenment or deft processing of big-data can replace the price-signals of the market itself. “Artful management” can degenerate into mismanagement, and is liable to do so, in direct proportion to unbridled self-confidence.

Throughout this discussion, it is imperative to admit that much of our view of the economy is not contingent on measurable facts. It devolves to opinion – to politically charged opinion – and to narrow confines of personal experience. Is there really a precise, unassailable definition to terms such as “bubble”? If not, then one person could regard the dot-com situation as a spectacular bubble, and another could term it as being rational and mild response. For people who bought Lucent stock in 1999, seeing their investment collapse within a year or two, it was a thundering collapse of a bubble. For those who elided tech-stocks, or didn’t have much invested in general, and whose jobs were more or less secure, it was a merely a mild recession.

It seems to me, that we must avoid twin dangers: regarding the economy as a robustly self-correcting machine, that would do fine if left entirely alone; or, trying to prod and correct it at every turn. If a true middle course is impossible, to which extreme do we cleave? That, I contend, is really a matter of opinion – not “facts”.

[Pub-911]

Blah, blah, blah. No form of capitalism except managed capitalism has anywhere long succeeded or endured.

[Camlon]

Pure capitalism hasn't been tried anywhere, just like pure communism. All capitalist systems are managed in some way.

Also, from the post below it seems like you are a big fan of Hugo Chavez. How did that turn out?

Hugo Chavez was ultimately able to overcome all of that, and for most of the next 15 years, he made Venezuela work as an engine for its people. Sadly, he died young (age 58) and his nation is once again in peril of falling into the evil clutches of the oligarchy.

That's typical pro-oligarchy tripe. You were scared by the boogey-word of "socialism," weren't you. As the administration of Bush-43 should have taught you, you actually have much more to fear from laissez-faire free market capitalism than from socialism. Venezuela actually had a much better President than we did back in those days.

//www.city-data.com/forum/econo...l#post46400133

[toosie]

I got through about 40 posts. Please don't be jerks to each other. Stick to the topic.