~ ETD-WBA-F-G-EFAE-ETWA-P/E/P-I-I-WED ~ Ending This Depression – Would Be A – Feel-Good – Experience For Almost Everyone – Except Those Who Are – Politically / Emotionally / Professionally – Invested – In – Wrongheaded Economic Doctrines

~ ITDO-BP-A-BI-TGUITD-BPABA-T-F-B-FALTTWVW-NFTNAAW-B-FAHOVWVIP ~ It Took Decades Of – Bad Policies – And – Bad Ideas – To Get Us Into This Depression – Bad Policies And Bad Ideas – That – Flourished – Because – For A Long Time They Worked Very Well – Not For The Nation As A Whole – But – For – A Handful Of – Very Wealthy – Very Influential – People

~ BEP-CSHSES ~ Big Economic Problems – Can Sometimes Have – Simple / Easy – Solutions

~ CTWYMT-DDNMSAAWP:OPDIAPA-S-TWIUBTAODOT ~ Contrary To What You Might Think, Debt Does Not Make Society As A Whole Poorer: One Person’s Debt Is Another Person’s Asset – So – Total Wealth Is Unaffected By The Amount Of Debt Out There

~ TCSOTWE:RN:DCS-A-CWS ~ The Current State Of The World Economy: Right Now: Debtors Can’t Spend – And – Creditors Won’t Spend

~ L-RD-CW-IOA-FG-U-IFT ~ Leverage – Rising Debt – Compared With – Income Or Assets – Feels Good – Until – It Feels Terrible

~ ALADLAFL-BEE-ALTB-FAFB ~ As Long As Debt Levels Are Fairly Low – Bad Economic Events – Are Likely To Be – Few And Far Between

~ OT-TPT-DIS-LT:MRLS;BAF-A-D-THOB;OLOLITER ~ Over Time – The Perception That – Debt Is Safe – Leads To: More Relaxed Lending Standards; Business And Families – Alike – Develop – The Habit Of Borrowing; Overall Level Of Leverage In The Economy Rises

~ ‘F’-AEF-WC ~ “Flexibility” – A Euphemism For – Wage Cuts

~ A-A-T-B-CIW-LEITSP-EFOT-IREI-B-TLODRTS ~ An – Across-The-Board – Cut In Wages – Leaves Everyone In The Same Place – Except For One Thing – It Reduces Everyone’s Income – But – The Level Of Debt Remains The Same

~ CLO-CB-S/D/P-BD-IR-AAA-R-SIGI-B-TWB-TACTBKA-‘TW’ ~ Collateralized Loan Obligations – Created By – Slicing / Dicing / Pureeing – Bad Debt – Initially Received – AAA – Ratings – Sucking In Gullible Investors – But – Things Went Bad – These Assets Came To Be Known – As – “Toxic Waste”

~ CDS-HBPTTIWSBSEHITAL-WTWW-TI-DHALEMTMGOTP ~ Credit Default Swaps – Helped Banks Pretend That Their Investments Were Safe Because Someone Else Had Insured Them Against Losses – When Things Went Wrong – The Insurers – Didn’t Have Anything Like Enough Money To Make Good On Their Promises

~ TFE-WWA-RLOD-A-A-ICATR-W-M-IN-R ~ Those Few Economists – Who Worried About – Rising Levels Of Debt – And – An – Increasingly Casual Attitude Toward Risk – Were – Marginalized – If Not – Ridiculed

~ SBS-RAR-PIP-T-PABC-WD-EI-RWU-TDWA-CFS-TCODAFTKRUWABFITDSATCTF ~ Step By Step – Rules And Regulations – Put In Place – To – Protect Against Banking Crises – Were Dismantled – Equally Important – Regulations Weren’t Updated – To Deal With A – Changing Financial System – This Combination Of Deregulation And Failure To Keep Regulations Updated Was A Big Factor In The Debt Surge And The Crisis That Followed

~ TAT-BG-FT-FC-FAITFOEACLATF-A-TATGATF-SO-DD ~ The Attempt To – Blame Government – For The – Financial Crisis – Falls Apart In The Face Of Even A Cursory Look At The Facts – And – The Attempts To Get Around Those Facts – Smack Of – Deliberate Deception

~ DWMDTIALO-MAS-I-T-AWW-M-TRCT-FD-HLT-GIO-EP-G-WAS ~ Deregulation Was More Dangerous Than Its Advocates Let On – Movers And Shakers – Insisted – That – All Was Well – Moreover – They Routinely Claimed That – Financial Deregulation – Had Led To – Greatly Improved Overall – Economic Performance – Growth – Was Actually Slower

~ FA-SBI-M-HTEO-FD-A-GD-WIATO-EIG ~ For A – Small But Influential – Minority – However – The Era Of – Financial Deregulation – And – Growing Debt – Was Indeed A Time Of – Extraordinary Income Growth

~ OAM-AH-TSO-T-TM-I-E ~ Owning And Maintaining – A House – The Size Of – The – Taj Mahal – Is – Expensive

~ EB-TCO2008-IWHTSW-FD-WCASS ~ Even Before – The Crisis Of 2008 – It Was Hard To See Why – Financial Deregulation – Was Considered A Success Story

~ YTW(ASI)-A-SD-ASC-T-TEOD-WOO-ET ~ Yet There Was (And Still Is) – A – Strange Delusion – Among Some Commentators – That – The Era Of Deregulation – Was One Of – Economic Triumph

~ W-SP-T-KOP-W-S-SC-O-FT-DIE-EGITI ~ Well – Some People – The – Kind Of People – Who – Say – Sponsor Conferences – On – Financial Theory – Did Indeed Experience – Extraordinary Growth In Their Income

~ UQR-TWASAME-T-T-IOTVR-WA-PSFS-TTIBI-T-OWC-RTI-TPO-SEJ-MTRTI-WT-EA-PWZ-FA-F-WAT-HG-PTIO-TW ~ Until Quite Recently – There Was A Sense Among Many Economists – That – The – Incomes Of The Very Rich – Weren’t A – Proper Subject For Study – That The Issue Belonged In – Tabloids – Obsessed With Celebrities – Rather Than In – The Pages Of – Sober Economics Journals – Merely To Raise The Issue – Was To – Enter A – Political War Zone – Fierce Attacks – From – What Amount To – Hired Guns – Protecting The Interests Of – The Wealthy

~ ROHI-DLI-A-S-A-D-W ~ Recipients Of High Incomes – Don’t Live In – A – Supply-And-Demand – World

~ The Fact That A Return To Pre-Depression Levels Of Inequality – Was Followed By A Return To Depression Economics Could Be Just A Coincidence

~ M-B-I;BM-B-BI ~ Money – Buys – Influence; Big Money – Buys – Big Influence

~ TPTGUWWA-W-TNDMFMP-W-FAWAL-VGTAFPATT ~ The Policies That Got Us Where We Are – While – They Never Did Much For Most People – Were – For A While At Least – Very Good To A Few People At The Top

~ T-GPP-O-TR-BS-WTRAR ~ The – Gravitational Political Pull – Of – The Rich – Becomes Stronger – When The Rich Are Richer

~ B-S-1970-TEPRDNKETPAROAR-T-GD-A-T-MOTPPTFWIHL ~ By – Say – 1970 – The Economics Profession Really Did Not Know Enough To Prevent A Recurrence Of Anything Resembling – The – Great Depression – And – Then – Much Of The Profession Proceeded To Forget What It Had Learned

~ T-W-A-IF-NE-T-‘WO-T-A-TICO-NR’-APASRIHTEB ~ There – Was – And – Is – In Fact – No Evidence – That – “Worries Over – Taxes – And – The Increased Costs Of – New Regulation” – Are Playing Any Significant Role In Holding The Economy Back

~ IOB-HWCS-ATME-WRWI ~ Instead Of Being – Helpful When Crisis Struck – All Too Many Economists – Waged Religious War – Instead

~ IS-TSTL-T-BYDOTC-T-PMBCTSTM-T-DTCE-TTMIDSYC ~ It’s Strange – To Say The Least – To – Base Your Demands On The Claim – That – Policy Must Be Changed To Satisfy The Market – Then – Dismiss The Clear Evidence – That The Market Itself Doesn’t Share Your Concerns

~ ‘II’-TBT-PM-S-DUP-IAW-TB-T-NF-O-SAD ~ “Immaculate Inflation” – The Belief That – Printing Money – Somehow – Drives Up Prices – In A Way – That Bypasses – The – Normal Forces – Of – Supply And Demand