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Comments

• [1] Robert from NYC November 13, 2008 - 10:33AM

  Wow, James Grant, finally someone who knows what he's talking about. Should be Treasury Secretary. AND he has a sense of humor in addition to intelligence. Good guest, he.

  
  
• [2] Tony from San Jose, CA November 13, 2008 - 10:34AM

  Back here in the Silicon Valley, when we messed up and thought that adding a .com would be the way to riches, we paid dearly for it for our stupidity.

  Why should it be different for New York or Detroit?

  A recession is bad, but it may be necessary.

  
  
• [3] Nicole Palitti from home November 13, 2008 - 10:35AM

  Good Morning Brian,

  I am listening to your show and what I want to know is:

  Why can't we just let our economy "get real?" and stop all of this propping up in order to push off the inevitable? I am so tired of watching friends and neighbors spend when they shouldn't. Can't we have some real tough love leadership to guide us out of this mess and into a real economy where we are actually producing again, like maybe green technologies!

  Concerned citizen,

  Nicole Palitti

  
  
• [4] hjs from 11211 November 13, 2008 - 10:36AM

  let them eat cake!

  
  
• [5] superf88 November 13, 2008 - 10:37AM

  Look what David Leonhardt said in 2005:

  (NYT)

  http://tinyurl.com/6bwed7

  
  
• [6] superf88 November 13, 2008 - 10:39AM

  Rather than swapping paper dollars for "precious" metals wouldn't food or commodities be more "real?"

  
  
• [7] Tony from San Jose, CA November 13, 2008 - 10:40AM

  The problem of a gold standard is that we will leave policy ofmonetary expansion to gold producers.

  It is better to leave how much the monetary mass expands by to a body of *intelligent* policies.

  Now, printing money to bail out homeowners is dumb. Prices have to go down, and if they don't other prices will go up.

  
  
• [8] Robert from NYC November 13, 2008 - 10:41AM

  I told you he's good. I just learned what the term "durables" means. I left out he's witty and on the ball.

  
  
• [9] Alex from BK November 13, 2008 - 10:42AM

  Where was this interview two months ago? Actually, the gold standard has been on Ron Paul's agenda (agree or disagree) for quite a long time. Alan Greenspan was also a huge advocate of gold before he became fed chairman.

  
  
• [10] superf88 November 13, 2008 - 10:44AM

  re gold standard

  Enough money and brains could probably come up real fast with fake real gold, as has been done w diamonds. For all we know it's already being done.

  
  
• [11] Josh from Brooklyn November 13, 2008 - 10:51AM

  All these bailouts are just nonsense. I love all these "free-marketers" who think giving good money after bad is going to help. Here's my take. Either have the government nationalise some industry to some extent (there are degrees), which I support, or let the market take its course. Make up your mind. All these bailouts prove there are no consequences for bad management. People who spend beyond their means, do not get bailouts from the government. Bailouts do not save the market, they prolong the problem. The problem here is regulation. Most of the situation was legal. Trading derivatives is legal, credit default swaps is legal. sub-prime mortgages were legal, regardless of duped consumers. There was no fraud, just ethical issues. since when did ethics require $700 billion? Such practices happen in other industries too. All they did was play by the rules. The purpose of government is to protect our rights. The problem here is that the government didn't. Only regulation to stop this stuff will save us.

  
  
• [12] Alex from BK November 13, 2008 - 10:51AM

  Price fixing is what Hoover and FDR did during the great depression. Hence instead of a short depression, America experienced a long downward spiral.

  
  
• [13] Josh from Brooklyn November 13, 2008 - 10:53AM

  Silver has long been a substitute for gold. British sterling? Take a look at William Jennings Bryan and the Wizard of Oz.

  
  
• [14] mem November 13, 2008 - 10:38PM

  i'm surprised there wasn't more about ron paul mentioned, considering he was the only politician that was speaking about the fed's constant inflation and the problems that came with that

  
  
• [15] Carl from Manhattan November 14, 2008 - 10:00AM

  Ершы This guy know what he is talking about? The gold standard was abandoned because it was a bone headed relic from an era that has vanished into the dustbin of history. Is it valuable because it has not changed since ancient Egypt? I have some REALLY ancient caprolites that have been around even longer! Just print money... there obviously are more than enough homes, cars , ipods , Flat screen TV's and High fructose corn syrup products for everyone. This "balance the budget " and "Oh my god we are creating a deficit that can never be paid back" crap is a red herring. The only thing with value is labor. Right now the Powers that be are just deciding how can they pump all this money into the economy and still keep the rest of us tied into the delusion of capitalist market economics where they pay you 40% of the wages you should get and LEND you the remaining 60%, while keeping enough of you unemployed to make labor a "seller's market" and undercut ANY thoughts you EVER had of breaking free of the economic sharecropping position that YOU are in right now.

  
  
• [16] Lawrence from Fort Lee, NJ November 19, 2008 - 03:29PM

  Hi Brian,

  I've been listening to your show since my commute time was pushed back. Love it. Mr. Grant as well as today's guest Mr. Ferguson are both incredibly informative and sensible, but funny too! Love to hear about them talk economics more than the rest. Keep up the great work!