Guy Berger

I'd like to draw a line separating Friedman's scholarly contributions from his personal beliefs. The Keynesians weren't "pro-inflation" -- their research merely argued that you could achieve lower unemployment / higher economic growth as long as you were willing to tolerate a higher level of inflation. Friedman pointed out that this was factually untrue. It wasn't a personal judgment on the merits of inflation. Guy

Here is an article from wikipedia about his scholarly contributions. My summary: 1) The effectiveness of monetary policy: Friedman thought that monetary policy (policy controlling the money supply, as set by the Federal Reserve) was more effective than fiscal policy (government spending and taxation) at affecting the state of the economy. He also argued that bad policy execution by the Federal Reserve turned a minor recession into the Great Depression. 2) The permanent income hypothesis: Friedman argued that consumption/expenditure of a household/individual should not be affected by changes in temporary/current income but rather by expectations of permanent income. (For example, let's say your income varies from year to year; you will smooth consumption out, so that your expenditures depend only on your long-term income -- not on your year-to-year variations.) 3) The short-term nature of the Phillips Curve: many macroeconomists in the 60s believed there was a permanent tradeoff between growth/unemployment and inflation (the Phillips Curve). In other words, as long as policymakers were willing to tolerate higher inflation, they could use policy to permanently reduce unemployment and increase economic growth. Friedman pointed out that agents in the economy would eventually adopt expectations of higher inflation into their decision-making processes and this relationship would break down. In other words, you would need ever-higher inflation in order to reduce unemployment. 4) Inflation as a monetary phenomenon: in the short run, growth of the money supply can increase economic growth. In the long run, however, that growth translates into higher inflation and no change in economic growth. Guy

This might have to move into politics eventually. Not surprisingly (and perhaps unfortunately), they emphasize his politics over his scholarly contributions to economics. Not many of the giants of economics left -- Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, Ken Arrow, maybe a few others. link

A tip: unless you are going into the sciences or economics/finance, don't do it. Finding a job afterward is hard -- you probably won't be teaching anybody at the college level. Guy

Chalupa, that's a horrible story. The Warriors have now won 3 in a row, which means the mid-season meltdown is inching closer. Guy

Apparently he's a big fan... link

40 kg = 88 lbs 1.72 m = 5'9"

It's a shame that no jazz artists have covered "Glad" -- that's a great soul jazz tune, but lacking any major improvisation on the original version. Guy

Jon, All the paintings are very good but I especially dug the penguin. Guy

And one more question -- is Widespread Panic really influenced by Traffic? If so I may have to check them out. Guy

Here's an older thread on this album. Guy

Up. Not sure why, but I got a serious itch to listen to Traffic today and put Heaven Is in Your Mind (the US version of Dear Mr. Fantasy) on my ipod. DAMN, IT'S GOOD. Especially the title tune(s). Like Bev, I don't completely understand the fascination with Dave Mason. He had a few good songs, but he wrote some really goofy stuff on the debut. Are the Traffic albums post-Low Spark good? I really like 4 of the songs on that album, but two of them ("Rock and Roll Stew", "Light Up and Leave Me Alone") kinda suck. Now I'm chilling out to John Barleycorn Must Die -- another great one. Not a bad song on it. Nobody ever seems to mention "Every Mother's Son" -- I love that tune. Are live Traffic recordings from the site which must not be named worth checking out? I get the feeling that despite their jazzy dabblings they might have been boring live. If you're joining this thread late, be sure to go back to page one for some truly classic posts from chewy chew chew. Guy

you seem to like this... just to sample i loaded up "Oy Veys Mir" from emusic - choy boyh it's a shavingah! I already stomped on my coffee cup! Hmm... I may have to check this one out. Guy

I don't really see it that way. A few encounters with people saying stupid stuff don't make a "social commentary". I think Kevin Drum has it right: "But the lesson of the movie wasn't some razor-sharp subversive point about how we're all racists and xenophobes an inch under the surface, the lesson was that if you act like a complete whack job you can get ordinary people flustered and flummoxed." Guy

Jason Kidd's line last night against the Wizards: 11 rebounds, 18 assists, 4 steals, 15 pts

I don't think Big Ben is 7 feet tall. Guy

I think so. Guy

God, the Heat are looking awful so far. They're lucky that the eastern conference is so weak. Houston and Utah are looking really good so far. The Clippers are playing well too but so far their schedule has been soft. We'll see what happens when they go on the road. Guy

FWIW, the BBC version is apparently chopped/edited. The dude who directed/produced the series was really pissed. Season 2 goes live in a few months! Can't wait! Guy

Now that's what I call a SPANKING! Good to see JRich playing well again. Another good game from Baron -- his shooting percentage over these last few has been much better. Monta Ellis is a turnover machine. Guy

Michael Redd scored 57 pts tonight... not good enough. Guy

You're right that the vibe of this album is different from the Atlantic recordings. But I would put this in a very ballpark from the other Impulse ensemble album -- this one is much edgier. I don't think Let My Children Hear Music is as good. Maybe a comparison that shouldn't be made, but it's the only other "big band Mingus" I've heard. Guy

Great album! I kind of wish Dolphy had been on it, but maybe that would have been "too good". Mariano is spectacular, as you say. Also, Jerome Richardson (I think) has a nice solo or two near the beginning. But in general this music isn't about solos. Guy

Chalupa is confusing pounds and euros. Guy