Re: Leftists knocking Friedman ?

<stuff_stuff@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:jq6er3dtas7dps3027b4u6iljd8jcl686f@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:50:02 -0600, "John Galt"
> <whoisjohngalt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>> (This stability is one of the reason markets and the economy perform
>>> better under Democratic administrations that push regulatory policies
>>> that increase stability. )
>>
>>Perhaps a bit of a reach here. You'd have to wait until the end of the 
>>next
>>business cycle to determine if such intervention was in fact working,
and
>>there's a pretty good chance that event will occur in somebody else's 
>>term.
>
>
> We've had this discussion, but the numbers bear it out.
> http://www.coba.unr.edu/econ/wp/papers/UNRECONWP06008.pdf
>
> (He also does it with various lag times.)

Doesn't matter. Programs and policies take on lives of their own and their

effects continue into perpetuity. Over time, it becomes an
incomprehensible 
mishmosh of stuff that only partisans who are obsessed with the opposition

care about.

Keep your party affiliation all you want, but never forget that two viable

parties are necessary for a functioning democracy. Remove one from
viability 
and you start moving on the milieu between democracy and totalitarianism, 
and the latter is a worse devil than the party-you-don't-like.

JG


>
> Table 4
> Postwar Economic Performance, 1949-2005
> Annual Averages
> Democrats
> Republicans
> t-Statistic
> Real GDP Growth Rate
> 4.2%
> 2.9%
> -2.90*
> Real GDP Growth Per Capita
> 2.9%
> 1.7%
> -2.72*
> Unemployment Rate
> 5.2%
> 6.0%
> +7.79*
> Change in Unemployment Rate
> -0.4%
> +0.3%
> +4.19*
> Growth of Multifactor Productivity
> 1.7%
> 0.9%
> -1.59
> Cor****ate Profits (share of GDP)
> 10.2%
> 8.8%
> -6.96*
> Real Value of Dow Jones Index
> 5.4%
> 4.3%
> -0.81
> (in logarithmic growth rates)
> 4.4%
> 2.8%
> -1.28
> Real Weekly Earnings
> 1.0%
> 0.3%
> -1.01
> CPI Inflation Rate
> 3.8%
> 3.8%
> 1.37
>
> Table 8
> Average Growth in Federal Receipts, 1949-2005
> Democrats
> Republicans
> t-Statistic
> Current Federal Receipts:
> Average share of GDP
> 18.3%
> 18.0%
> -2.40*
> Average four-year change in GDP share
> +1.4%
> -0.9%
> -2.20*
> Federal Budget Deficit:
> Average share of GDP
> 0.4%
> 1.8%
> 5.76*
> Average four-year change in GDP share
> -0.9%
> +1.2%
> 1.56
>
>>Even leaving out Clinton (best economic performance) and Bush II
mediocre 
>>doesn't improve things much:
>
> Table 3
> Postwar Economic Performance before the Clinton and Bush
> Administrations
> Annual Averages
> Democrats
> Republicans
> Real GDP Growth Rate
> 4.5%
> 2.9%
> Real GDP Growth Per Capita
> 3.1%
> 1.7%
> Unemployment Rate
> 5.2%
> 6.1%
> Change in Unemployment Rate
> -0.3%
> +0.3%
>
>>And going back to 1929 doesn't help:
> Table 1
> Economic Performance since 1929
> Annual Averages
> Democrats
> Republicans
> Real GDP Growth Rate
> 5.1%
> 1.9%
> Real GDP Growth Per Capita
> 3.8%
> 0.7%