Thursday, December 04, 2014

The Theoretical Void In Economics

English: Total Solar eclipse 1999 in France. *...
English: Total Solar eclipse 1999 in France. * Additional noise reduction performed by Diliff. Original image by Luc Viatour. Français : L'éclipse totale de soleil en 1999 faite en France. * Réduction du bruit réalisée par Diliff. Image d'origine Luc Viatour. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The 2008 economic meltdown came out of nowhere. Literally no one saw it coming. No economist of any renown had foreseen it. That is like having an army of astrophysicists none of whom can predict the next solar eclipse. I am not too impressed with the economists of the world. Reality is ahead of theoretical progress in the field, obviously.

And even when the crisis hit, the prescriptions were hotchpotch. They were coming from policymakers who sort of kind of knew what needed to be done. That is a sad state of affairs. I still see that theoretical void. It goes unfilled.

One prescription was the 700 billion dollar stimulus. That helped but was too small to make full use of the crisis. Another prescription was the Fed simply printing and pumping dollars into the economy. And that is intriguing to me. Simply by printing more dollar bills, the Feds were also having positive impacts on far flung countries. 

Wednesday, December 03, 2014

The Mediterranean Diet


 
Eating the Mediterranean diet may lead to a longer life
a menu that is rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and peas, unrefined grains, olive oil and fish. It keeps dairy, meat and saturated fats to a minimum. And you can have a glass of red wine with dinner without cheating. ........ Fruits, vegetables, olive oils and nuts -- the key components of a Mediterranean diet -- have well-known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Could a 'Mediterranean' Diet Extend Your Life?
rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, fish and olive oil


Mediterranean diet 'slows ageing' - and could even help you live longer


Nitish Has Valid Points On Indian Muslims And The BJP

हिन्दी: देश के उप राष्ट्रपति मोहम्मद हामिद अंस...
हिन्दी: देश के उप राष्ट्रपति मोहम्मद हामिद अंसारी पटना में पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री सत्येन्द्र नारायण सिन्हा(छोटे साहब) की 94वीं जयंती पर आयोजित व्याख्यानमाला श्रंखला पर पूर्व सांसद किशोरी सिन्हा और मुख्यमंत्री नीतीश कुमार के साथ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Former Bihar CM Nitish Kumar questions NDA's good governance claim
questioned why a single Muslim was not among its 282 Lok Sabha MPs from BJP ...... he wondered if the low representation of Muslims in BJP was just a coincidence or it was part of a well thought-out strategy. ..... though BJP got an absolute majority for the first time, a significant aspect was that its vote share was only around 31 per cent. ..... the party has only 22 Muslims out of the total 1,352 MLAs.