America’s Future — Some Provocative Questions

Ben Hunt, whom I know little about, has popped onto my radar screen primarily as a result of emails. It may be a site that investors or just the economically curious might want to delve into.

Here are some provocative questions he raises:

1)      Has the academic and bureaucratic capture of US monetary policy been duplicated in other policy areas, such as national security and healthcare?

2)      Is there a common academic and bureaucratic response across these policy areas to the economic and political duress of the past 10 years, such that emergency policy actions against immediate threats have been transformed into permanent insurance programs against future and potential threats?

3)      Is this the common thread woven through the three most important and controversial policies of our day: QE, Obamacare, and NSA eavesdropping?

4)      Are there useful lessons to be drawn from the last time we went through such a wholesale redefinition of the *meaning* of government policy, back in the 1930’s?

5)      What are the structural consequences for markets and investing that stem from this redefinition?

These are important issues, especially points 2 – 4.

Readers of my website, I believe know that my answers to these questions are yes and that these answers have profound impact on what kind of a country we will leave to our grandchildren.

Readers should know also that I believe the attempts in point 2 above are wrong-headed and destined to fail spectacularly.