Jim Bennett's Page

He Jim,

Happy New Year to you.

I sent an email to the james@jamesbennet.com address and it came back with this message, "No DNS information was found for the 'jamesbennett.com' domain".

Give me an email so I can send a direct message regarding your comment about having a line to Herman Cain.

Larry Walters, repeal_16@earthlink.net

Longwood, FL 

Hey Jim...Hank on Feb. 13 posted that the FairTax "excepts" education tuition. Really? I'll have to have him give me page and section because as far as I know there are "NO EXCEPTIONS" and to think that we have to share "all this information" with the FEDS to get the prebate like we do on the 1040 is also false...or am I wrong?!

Jim, Thank you so much for the "discussion/debate" regarding the FairTax on SmartGirlPolitics. HELLOooooo we can't undo 200yrs. of tweeking w/our Constitution in one "minute". OH and the States seem to be just OKAY will taxing our incomes which could be kept in the states. Amazing! As a matter of fact "yes" absolutely one of the reasons I am for the FairTax is getting rid of the IRS & "engaging EVERY American" at the cost of our Federal Government. Keep up the good work! Goooo FairTax!

I hate to say it, but the first mistake your children made was to listen to NPR for information about economics or finance. I listen to NPR regularly because I have no choice where I live to get morning radio news. I can tell you that NPR is an instrument of the worst socialist sentiments harbored in this country. That said, let me offer some ideas you can discuss with your children.

The idea implied by the NPR item is that somehow saving instead of consuming is bad for us. That idea is sometimes called the paradox of thrift. According to the POT, it's great for an individual to save, but if we all do it at the same time, there won't be enough spending to drive the economy. At first blush, this seems sensible. But like most first blushes, this one is flawed to the bone.

This POT idea comes from the mistaken ideas of John Maynard Keynes. Sadly enough, lots of economists who should know better continue teach their naive freshman students this tripe. The flaw in the idea is the hidden assumption that somehow what we save does not find its way into the spending stream we call GDP. Any dollars saved by anyone does enter commerce, but the dollars are spent on capital goods (plant, equipment, research, business working capital) instead of on consumption goods. (cheeseburgers, clothes, coffee).

Another flaw in the idea is confusing money with real stuff. It will help your children understand if they imagine an economy that does not use money. In such an economy, exchange would occur through barter. In a barter economy it becomes entirely clear that production of real stuff is income. In such an economy, income is exhausted annually by consumption plus saving plus taxes. In such a barter economy, no one can borrow what has not yet been produced! That means no one can borrow unless someone else saves. That means that businesses will need households to save in order to make investments in capital goods (plant, equipment, working capital, etc.)

Japan's malaise for a decade was not caused by too much saving. It was caused by too much intervention in financial markets by the Japanese government. Of course, your children will never hear such a proposal on NPR.

The problems we are having right now in America were caused by people borrowing money instead of borrowing what had already been produced. That was made possible by the Fed. In fact, even when we do have money in the economy, no one can really borrow what has not already been produced and saved. But the Fed can delude us into thinking we can borrow what has not been produced by creating new money.

I recommend that you visit my blog at www.econoblast.blogspot.com for much more on these topics. Check out the articles I've written throughout February.

Best wishes,

David

Jim:

I will call you within a few days to discuss a meeting. As of tonight, we have 30 and 4 or 5 who from NJ who signed on to the national site.
I emailed from the list up to D5 and as far back to 4/08

Jim:

I emailed to the entire 2nd district last nite. I will do 1st tonight

Jim:

I had quite a flurry of reaction to my email. Will review with you shortly

There are 2-3 people in my district who signed up for the national site. I have asked them to join NJ group. We'll top 21 shortly. Bottom line, this emailing works. Lets talk soon about a possible group in person mtg

Give me a call to discuss