Heck, I thought I was cynical. After reading Dennis Byrne’s piece in the Chicago Tribune this morning, I might have to reevaluate my thinking. Byrne does a question-and-answer column this morning in which he pretends to have a conversation with Santa Claus. Dennis is asked what he wants for Christmas, and Dennis says that he’d like credit. It goes from there. From the story:Nobody’s buying anything because they can’t get any credit. Banks aren’t lending because they’re afraid that they won’t get their money back. It started because greedy bankers were giving mortgages to homeowners who didn’t deserve credit. Now, everyone is panicked, people ‘fraid of getting laid off.So, the problem is that everyone had too much credit, and the way to fix it is to give everyone more credit? Look, I might be a jolly old fat man, but I’m no fool.No, seriously. The economists tell us that’s the only way to get us out of our depression, figuratively and literally. They say empirical analysis reveals that market disturbances combined with aggregate demand shocks as well as inconsistent short-term interfacing of prices and money supply contribute substantially to rampant economic fluctuations, which in turn produce the credit complications that we’re . . .Dennis, stop with the gibberish.
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