Czech President to UN: Stay out of Economics and Science

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, speaking like an Austrian (economist, that is). I would go one step further and not leave the solutions to the member governments either; the solutions are to be found in free market capitalism. But I'm sure Professor Klaus knows that, as he is after all a follower of Friedrich Hayek.

From Reuters:

"UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Czech President Vaclav Klaus on Saturday criticized U.N. calls for increased "global governance" of the world's economy, saying the world body should leave that role to national governments.

"The solution to dealing with the global economic crisis, Klaus told the U.N. General Assembly, did not lie in "creating new governmental and supranational agencies, or in aiming at global governance of the world economy."

""On the contrary, this is the time for international organizations, including the United Nations, to reduce their expenditures, make their administrations thinner, and leave the solutions to the governments of member states," he said.

""The anti-crisis measures that have been proposed and already partly implemented follow from the assumption that the crisis was a failure of markets and that the right way out is more regulation of markets," he said.

"Klaus said that was a "mistaken assumption" and it was impossible to prevent future crises through regulatory interventions and similar actions by governments.

"That will only "destroy the markets and together with them the chances for economic growth and prosperity in both developed and developing countries," he said.

"The Czech president, a vocal skeptic of global warming, said the United Nations should also keep out of science, including climate change. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made fighting climate change one of his top priorities."

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Government Policies Weighing Down the Economy

And the stock market is acting accordingly, at least for today. Dow Jones Industrial Average is down over 245 points (or 2.4%), to 10,025, threatening to break down below 10,000.

Hedge fund manager Jeff Matthews says the government policies and programs are weighing down on the economy. Uncertainty and direct fear, he says, over what the government might do (so far it's "Let's tax everything and let's spend everything and more.")

He talks about a friend of his, who runs a small manufacturing companies. He told Matthews that he is not going to higher anyone in the U.S. any more when Matthews asked him about implication of health care reform.

President Obama's temper tantrum (against bankers, GOP, Supreme Court, $3.8 trillion budget thrown at us...) over the Massachusetts special election result hasn't helped anything, anybody, except for the Democratic supporters who clearly approve highly of his renewed aggressive stance.

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Yes, Economy May Have Bottomed!

Good one I found posted on Zero Hedge.

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Obama Says He Saved US Economy from "Catastrophe"

Obama says US economy saved from 'catastrophe'
(8/7/09 AFP via Breitbart.com)

"President Barack Obama said Friday his administration had saved the US economy from catastrophe and the worst of the recession may be over, after a surprise drop in the unemployment rate.

""This morning we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us," said Obama in remarks in the White House Rose Garden after new figures showed the jobless rate slipped to a better than expected 9.4 percent in July.

"This morning, we received additional signs that the worst may be behind us," Obama said.
"We are losing jobs at less than half the rate we were when I took office. We have pulled the financial system back from the brink.

""While we have rescued our economy from catastrophe, we have also begun to build a new foundation for growth," Obama said, but he also warned that tough times lay ahead before the economy would be restored to full prosperity.

""We have a steep mountain to climb and we started in a very deep valley.""

Since Obama was the one who repeatedly threatened "catastrophe" if we didn't do his bidding, I'm sure he can declare "catastrophe" over and even take a credit for it. Amazing.

What could that "new foundation for growth" be? Have you seen it? All that's growing seems to be bureaucracy and the federal government.

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Let's Pick A Name For Our Current Mess!

Dr. Walter Block at Lewrockwell.com is having a contest to pick a name for the economic crisis we've been in for some time now.

What Shall We Call the Present Economic Crisis: A Contest (6/19/09 Lewrockwell.com)

"Nomenclature first. Unless and until we know how to refer to the economic debacle of 2009, we cannot make much progress in solving it. We all know what to call the previous episode: The Great Depression. But, what about this present one?"

You can visit the site, take a look at the candidates (there are about 70-80 of them) and send him an email to vote.

The ones that caught my attention were:

• A Depression We Can Believe In
• Big Government Depression
• Fed's Second Depression
• We-Learned-Nothing-From-The-Great-Depression Depression

But then I like it simpler. So, Greater Depression is my first choice.

(I never, ever, not once, expected that I might be experiencing a Depression in person. Sigh...)

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