Last weekend I attended the inaugural conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), in Cambridge, at Keynes Hall. That would be John Maynard Keynes Hall.
Ok, let me first be honest--the entire event blew me away and I still do not fully know how I came to be invited. Having said that, it was by far the best conference I have ever attended. Many of the conference speakers can be viewed here: http://ineteconomics.org/
In particular, I recommend that everyone take a few minutes to listen to Baron Adair Turner who is the head of the FSA in the UK. Brilliant!
All in all, I must say the conference was a non-stop parade of brilliance. I was overwhelmed.
The INET is sponsored by a number of individuals and organizations, but the founder is George Soros. In my view, George Soros deserves huge credit for seeking to understand and prevent a repeat of the current crisis. The executive director of INET is Robert A. Johnson. He is a master of conference planning. He also has written some outstanding scholarship regarding the political foundations of the financial crisis. INET will be a powerful voice in coming years regarding financial and economic reform. I encourage everyone to support its efforts.
Steve Newbold STU 3L
ReplyDeleteTo me it’s so painfully obvious what’s going on here, I just don’t understand how everyone can’t see it.
George Soros is certainly going to fix the economy. That is, after he plays his role in destroying it on purpose, he will rebuild it in his image. His ultimate goal: one world currency, which of course will pave the way for the one world government that he dreams of.
Don’t take my word for it, take Soro’s word for it. He admits to wanting to deconstruct all nations, including the United States, to create a One-World-Government. Good-bye Constitution and the civil liberties it provides. Bow down to your new Messiah, George Soros.
In the link below, Soros will tell you himself his ultimate goal is a One World Government. http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/7/25/104735.shtml
This has EVERYTHING to do with his economic policies.
Soros has the power to hurt economies by devaluing currencies through his speculations, and then suggest how to rebuild them. As he stated, he desires One-World-Government, so when he “rebuilds” the economy in his image, his economic policies reflect that.
When the Euro was created, Soros was highly critical of system. Although the European Union was united by a single Central Bank, this wasn’t enough. To Soros, the “Original Sin” was the fact that there was not a single tax system and a single treasury.
Of course first he has to destroy economies before he can rebuild them (and take credit as our economic Lord and Savior). In 1992 Soros was highly critical of the European Exchange Mechanism (when the Euro was became into use) and led a speculative attack on the pound, which led to it’s devaluation, and Soros profited 1 billion pounds from this.
Now Soros and his allies at Goldman Sachs are leading a speculative attack on Greece. They’ve used derivatives to establish positions against Greek bonds and the Euro, betting that the latter will go down. This has led to political pressure of the European and Greek Central Banks to make unannounced large scale purchases of Greek bonds and Euros to cause Soros and Wall Street to lose on their bets.
Make no mistake, Soros has waged a war on the economy. If Soros had his way, you will be ruled under a one-world-government, with a Constitution written by the Central Banks.
I challenge anyone to find economic policies that don’t reflect trying to unite countries into a single economic entity (which inevitably leads to single economic policies, and ultimately a single set of laws)
You think your taxes are only going to the United States Government? I’ll give you a primary source that would say otherwise. http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/science/20091219-climate-text.pdf
Mr. Turner mentioned in his discussion that the various idealogical strains of economic though went into business and policy as one mainstream free market/market completion/equilibrium idea saying that it became part of the "institutional DNA." He emphasizes that the lack of interruption in the economy was most likely due to this single philosophy that the market would clear itself. This recognition by Mr. Turner and the INET overall of the "oversimplified" and actually "overconfident" idealogical views which brought the economy into the crisis is a good indication that economist and the "practical" businessmen that he references will shift the economy in a new direction.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing many of the videos of the economists and columnists with respect to the INET makes me realize why the poster of this blog was so intrigued with the conference. As for Turner's perspective I also agree with his point that the "oversimplified" and "overconfident" ideological views are what helped bring this economy into the crisis. I also agree that it's the "reasonable" intellectual influential bankers who should take much of the blame for this economic crisis.
ReplyDeleteI agree and I think many others would also agree that many everyday people were given harmful wisdom which was a significant factor in the 2008 economic downfall.
One speaker I really enjoyed was John Kay who is a columnist. I agree with the analogy that he used to compare economist to doctors. "It's like they were Doctors using a diagnostic manual that didn't accurately describe how the human body works." He then went on to say that when people use the wrong theory they produce the wrong prescription.
One last point that I agreed with when listening to Kay is that the problems that contributed to the 2008 economic crisis include: the Financial Industries riskiness, the policy makers lack of regulation, and the borrowers who made unreasonable decisions.
I do feel that INET is on track to making a positive impact on our current and future economic climate.
I want to defend George Soros.
ReplyDeleteI think he is a brilliant investment manager and trader. He does not make rules, he plays by them. He would be the first to suggest we need better rules, and he does so even though it is not consistent with his own financial interests.
The INET is the only game in town, specifically because of George Soros. In my view it is the frontier of economic thinking on the financial crisis. The speakers Soros assembled are the most brilliant voices on the crisis.
We need international regulation. I see no way around it. So the idea of opposing international governance is very odd to me. I would like to see for example an international counter-terrorist force.
The more interesting issue is seeking to figure out which issues belong to the international sphere and which are best dealt with at the national level.
Anyhow, Soros is doing more than most to avert the next financial disaster. And that crisis looms.