The Macro View

In this 5 part series we discuss financial markets, their role, the various financial products out there, why they are so important, and how governments corrupt them...

The financial markets are often misunderstood. People refer to them as “a casino” or “rigged”. Wall Street is among the most hated institution, not only in the US but around the world.

Is this a fair characterization of financial markets?

Possibly, under the heavy direction of the government there is no doubt that the financial markets have become utterly corrupted.

Absent government involvement, however, the financial markets are the most important development in the history of the world for human progress.

The ability to match, swiftly and for low cost, savers and borrowers, investors and entrepreneurs changed the world.

The financial markets are often misunderstood. People refer to them as “a casino” or “rigged”. Wall Street is among the most hated institution, not only in the US but around the world.

Is this a fair characterization of financial markets?

Possibly, under the heavy direction of the government there is no doubt that the financial markets have become utterly corrupted.

Absent government involvement, however, the financial markets are the most important development in the history of the world for human progress.

The ability to match, swiftly and for low cost, savers and borrowers, investors and entrepreneurs changed the world.

Before our host took his well deserved vacation, we discussed the Federal Reserve in part 1 of this 2 part series. Tonight we finish that discussion!

The Federal Reserve's track record shoiuld be a warning to us all that it has been an utter failure.

In 1933, the FDIC was created using the same pitch as was used to create the Fed - End the Run on Banks and a period of utopian economic stability will come about!

Banks still have to deal with runs, there's been multiple financial panics and deep recessions since then, and there have been more and more regulations layered on top of existing government interventions to continue to try and bring about the statist planner's vision of Utopia!

In the first part of this two part series discussing the Federal Reserve, Host of TheMacroView Andrew Smith, walks listeners through the history and mechanics of the Fed plus more!

The Central Bank of the United States has re-emerged into the forefront of the American Populace's dinner table discussions, much thanks to Ron Paul and the push for transparency that his campaign in 2008 sparked. 

While we all hear about the Fed, and their interest rate adjustments, few understand the mechanics and effects of actions that the Fed takes.

Tonight we unveil the Wizard behind the manipulation of markets and discuss exactly what it is about the Fed that makes it such a potent force in the United States.

The 16th Ammendment was ratified in 1913, before that income taxes had been ruled unconstitutional because of the apportionment clause in the constitution, which required revenues to the federal government to be apportioned by each state.

In the 2nd part of a 2 part series, TheMacroView host walks listeners through a history of taxes in the US before and beyond the income tax and discusses the implications of the 16th ammendment beyond granting the power to tax income in a non-apportioned manner to congress.

Living Caricatures of the Political Left - such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, have been pitching massive tax hikes, as high as 70% or higher for the top 1% - they use past tax rates as reference but whats the truth?

Tonight on TheMacroView we walk listeners through the Income Tax rate history of the United States in less than 25 minutes.

Its very important to understand the nuances of this history to debunk the myth's preached by leading politicians with socialist tendencies. The fact of the matter is that these high tax rates were levied on incomes of such a high level that very few people, if any at times, even came close to paying the top rates, while rates on the "Top 1%" at any given time could carry a wide range, many many brackets, and other nuances.

Middle class folks were promised upon the ratification of the 16th amendment that they would NEVER have their income taxes. That this was just a tax on the "the Top 1%" - meanwhile, since 1913, the effective rate on taxable income have climbed from 0% initially, to 6% during WW I, back down to 2% in the mid 20s, before skyrocketing - reaching their high, believe it or not, in the early 1990s.

Social Security taxes are included in tonights episode, as they have been a deceptive form of taxing income, and doing so in a highly regressive manner.

Further, there are all sorts of distortive loopholes, and incentives to get people to behave a certain way, invest in certain things, donate money to not-for-profits, and much more!

Tune in to get a full history of income taxes in the US - delivered in less than 25 minutes!

In this 2 part series, host Andrew Smith discusses the environment leading up to, during and after the financial crisis!

Slideshow accompanying this episode shows the statistics mentioned, if you are NOT listening to this from the Show page at MacroViewNews.com or on BlogTalkRadio directly you will want to tune in via one of these two channels so that you can follow along. If NOT stay tuned anyways and try to follow along.

If you just sit back an listen to some of these statistics...

Tonight on The First Ever TheMacroView Debate Kyle Wagner - Founder of the Anarcho-Capitalism vs Minarchism Debate Group on Facebook - Joins TheMacroView to Debate the Host Andrew Smith.

The Libertarian Movement has grown significantly, with the growth however, there have been the development of factions that - frankly to many the believe in the original libertarian ideals - can be quite frustrating.

The Libertarian Movement at its heart always had two core factions - Minarchist and Anarcho-Capitalists.

Tonight Host Andrew Smith takes the Affirmative Position for No State while Kyle takes the Affirmative Position on Minimal State!

DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS LIVE DEBATE!

It is sure to be intellectually stimulating and exciting!

Last Night we debunked the mainstream Keynesian economic theory detailing the great depression, WWII Deficit spending, and how in fact – said spending HURT the economy and caused a net drag for decades to come. Tonight – on a much more concise show, we’re going to discuss the monetarist view, which was presented originally by Milton Friedman in Monetary History of the United States. Milton Friedman and Co-Author Anna Schwartz in a Monetary History of the United States – argued, however that the Fed did NOT do enough. The theory – at the time – was considered revolutionary and caught on strong with a lot of the non-Austrian “Right” side of the political spectrum, because it gave those on the right a way to say “Fiscal Stimulus wasn’t needed”. The argument that Friedman laid out was one that essentially said, and properly so, that low interest rates and quote unquote “EASY MONEY” were NOT synonymous. While true – there are still a lot of flaws with the monetarist view of the Great Depression – Namely that it purely encourages another unsustainable boom by propping up prices before markets fully clear and pulls its evidence from the previous decade and the fact that the Fed kept propping up the market at every downturn. When the Fed finally decided NOT to continue propping up the overvaluation of assets then the market crashed. By Milton Friedman’s account had the Fed just propped up asset prices once again in 1929 and despite the malinvestment and the fact that many businesses were booming on credit with no sustainable organic growth just doesn’t matter.

There’s other issues with what Milton Friedman and the Monetarists say. Tonight we Discuss

Popular opinion, especially among Keynesian's, but forfeited by Monetarists as well, states that World War II budget deficits ended the Depression But the Truth Is  by 1940 - before War Time Spending Provisions DRASTICALLY increased the budget - Private Investment had ALREADY driven Per Capita REAL GDP to above its 1940 levels... Primarily in the face of the ACTUAL budget cuts (Real Per Capita) in 1932 and 1933. Hoover's first two years 1930 and 1931 spending actually increased, and despite the later year cuts was NEVER actually cut below 1929 Levels!

Tonight we debunk the whole history, Great Depression, through WWII, through the Great Society, up through the Ford-Carter-Reagan Presidencies, and then through the Bush, Clinton, Bush in a History of Government Spending, Private Investment, Consumption and Incomes in the US.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Jobs at the Expense of Wealth

Jobs at the Expense of Prices

Jobs at the Expense of Productivity

Jobs at the Expense of Freedom

Jobs at the expense of everything.

 

Tonight we Debunk the Zero-Sum game Fallacy using the greatest reductio ad absurdum ever written, one of the most beautiful short essays revealing logic behind economic theory.

Namely we focus on trade and government/the populace's, view of contempt towards it.

We discuss the other areas in which the logic, rationale or end result, is similar.

We, because sometimes I can't resist it, destroy, once again Keynesian's view of unproductive labor to make the final case in point in this obliteration of the interventionists that believe in trade AND interventionists that don't.