ISG 0412 Paul Krugman: Financial Policy Despair

[Sherry Liao]

Questions: All is not lost

I think it is a shorter form of the proverb "All is not lost that is in peril". But I am not so sure. Anyone knows exactly what it means?

[Just JJ]

Expression:

Both of them are from the article, Analysis: Geithner, market get much-needed boost

01 Populist crusade:
(Accroding to "my research", I give the definition as followed)
Something people stand up to and get off to fight for, and especially for the “pure” purpose


02 Land with a thud:
From The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English:
PHRASES: with a thud used to describe a sudden and disillusioning reminder of reality in contrast to someone's dreams or aspirations: dropouts have now come back down to earth with a thud.

[Sherry Liao]

Be, become, etc. out of touch (with sth): [Oxford] to not know or understand what is happening in a particular subject or area
Ex.: Unfortunately, the people making the decisions are out of touch with the real world.

Another similar phrase:
Out of it: not aware of what is happening, usually because of drinking too much alcohol, or taking drugs
Ex.: He looks completely out of it.

It makes me think of a Chinese expression: "狀況外". To describe some of the similar situations, there are several similar expressions in English I learned before: In a group, when somebody is always 狀況外 or 跟不上 or 不到位, we can say that "He/She is always behind." When someone looks 恍神/發呆 during a meeting or discussion, we can say He/She is "spacing out/zoning out".

zone out:
to not notice or stop being interested in what is happening around you.
Ex.: When I'm dancing I zone out and feel like I'm the only one in the room. I just flew in from Europe this morning, so don't get upset if I just zone out in the middle of the meeting.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/zone+out

space out:
to become giddy or disoriented.
Ex.: Judy spaced out during the meeting and I didn't understand a word she said. I have a tendency to space out at the end of a hard day.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/space+out

[Kooper]

My summary:

Mr. Krugman is using “political capital is gone” to describe Obama is losing his credibility on financial polity to let USA get out of economic crisis. He believes Obama’s political policy is pan-wall street but not looking at the whole picture instead.
This expert also claims that Obama’s financial is like “An old dog will learn no new tricks”, proposing similar policy again and again. He, moreover, also points out that USA can’t affort to keep trying a new way out due to the on going great job loss.


I don’t know much about how financial system work, but I think I will get there sooner or later.

The info about "Cash for Trash":
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=6274975

Credibility is not found to be followed by ON, according to my dictionaries at hand, so I would rather turn the sentence into: Obama is losing his credibility by executing the financial policy to help America get out of current economic crisis.

[chiron]

Hi, guys, I think these words and phrases are worth learning.

1. be different from 不同的
As economic historians can tell you, this is an old story, not that different from dozens of similar crises over the centuries.
2. by the time 到...的時候
And by the time Mr. Obama realizes that he needs to change course, his political capital may be gone.
3. time-honered 因古老而受到尊重的
And there’s a time-honored procedure for dealing with the aftermath of widespread financial failure.
4. one-way bet
The "one-way bet" is a simple idea...if inflation is dead, the government will print money to create inflation (really to prevent deflation), causing the price of gold to rise. And if inflation appears, gold will rise even more, as the dollar continues to fall, until the Fed seriously starts hiking interest rates multiple times.
http://news.goldseek.com/DailyReckoning/1074122542.php
5. bells and whistles 產品附加的特色
…, each time adding a new set of bells and whistles and claiming that they’re doing something completely different.
6. amount to 產生...結果
— for that is what the Geithner plan amounts to —
7. come/get to grips with 勉力對付
every month that we fail to come to grips with the economic crisis another 600,000 jobs are lost.
8. hocus-pocus 戲法
And no amount of financial hocus-pocus will change that fact.

float v. (計劃等)付諸實施
Obama administration officials have floated a scheme that is essentially a rehash of the Paulson plan.

[chiron]

The gist of the article is focused on criticizing Obama administration’s bank rescue plan, Paulson and Geithner plans. Paul Krugman thinks they are actually using hocus-pocus to sell toxic debts to private investors. He thinks Obama administration is too confident at the trouble. He suggested Obama administration stop that plan for the situation is different from Sweden’s instance, or he will not only running out of time, but also his credit.

[Sherry Liao]

My summary:

In the article, Paul Krugman criticizes the bank rescue plan Obama administration is rolling out, and suggests that the government should follow the time-honored procedure which has been taken several times in history: to guarantee (many) bank debts and to temporarily take over the management of the broken banks to clean up their books.

Krugman observes that the rescue plan is using taxpayer funds to make the value of the toxic assets go up to a reasonable level the government and banks think they should be in. However, the plan was very risky and if it fails (Krugman thinks it almost surely will), Obama administration would run out of his credibility and his political capital, and will probably be unable to obtain support from the Congress to run another financial rescue proposal any more.

[Sherry Liao]

... he didn’t detail the reasons why he thought the rescue plan won’t work

Krugman explained that the plan is not based on the function of free market economy. It is just a disguised way for the government to subsidize purchases of bad assets.

and why what were done by Sweden in 1990s and by Reagan government during the savings and loan crisis are applicable to current financial crisis.

He said that the crises America are now facing are not that different from the cases in history, and seems that the procedure works every time -- I guess (since he used the term "time-honored").

[Sherry Liao]

He suggested Obama administration stop that plan for the situation is different from Sweden’s instance, or he will not only running out of time, but also his credit.

I think Krugman holds that the crises are similar. It is Geithner's opinion that the situation America now facing is different from Sweden's.

[Just JJ]

My summary:

Mr. Krugman is using “political capital is gone” to describe Obama is losing his credibility on financial polity to let USA get out of economic crisis. He believes Obama’s political policy is pan-wall street but not looking at the whole picture instead.
This expert also claims that Obama’s financial is like “An old dog will learn no new tricks”, proposing similar policy again and again. He, moreover, also points out that USA can’t affort to keep trying a new way out due to the on going great job loss.


I don’t know much about how financial system work, but I think I will get there sooner or later.

The info about "Cash for Trash":
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=6274975

Credibility is not found to be followed by ON, according to my dictionaries at hand, so I would rather turn the sentence into: Obama is losing his credibility by executing the financial policy to help America get out of current economic crisis.

Kooper: I reckon both of us are correct. Check out these news headline:

BY
01.Obama Undermines His Credibility by Not Saying Genocide in Ankara
http://www.hairenik.com/weekly/2009/04/ ... in-ankara/

02.Build Credibility By Training Your Mind To Remember More
http://practicethis.com/2009/02/24/buil ... mber-more/

ON
Washington's Lost Credibility on Human Rights
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/4292

[Sherry Liao]

Due to a sudden decision, I will be in Hsinchu this weekend. I will try to make sure everything with regard to the internet is smooth in advance. However, if I do not show up in time... I would like to apologize herewith.

I too have encountered a few problems with Wifi connections. The laptop built-in cards just refuse to make a connection, even after updating the most recent device drivers. If you can successfully uninstall the device driver and reinstall... unless it is truly a hardware problem. In that case, just go get a USB wifi adapter, which usually has a very good receptions. Hopefully that helps.

Thanks for the suggestions. The internet ran pretty well this morning, but I actually didn't change anything with regard to the hardware or the software. The only thing I did is praying to the God of the Internet and I indeed spent more time keeping company with my in-laws yesterday.

It worked. Hey, now I've got to believe in God.

......
But I also paid for it. I postponed the routine until others went to sleep last night, so I slept a bit less then usual.

[Sherry Liao]

Today, when the meeting was about to finish, Chiron commented on the sentence "Let's call it a day", and said he would prefer using "adjourn" for this situation. I check my dictionaries and found it's really a big word for me. So I would like to share another sentence with you. To end off a meeting or a class with a sentence, it is in my recollection that I once heard a teacher said "So we are gonna wrap it up". I think it would be much easier to say, though it is more a spoken language, and is not formal.

wrap something ↔ up:
[Oxford] (informal): to complete sth such as an agreement or a meeting in a satisfactory way
Ex.: That just about wraps it up for today.

[Longman] (informal): to finish a job, meeting etc:
Ex.: We're hoping to wrap up the negotiations this week.

[technobabel]

Due to a sudden decision, I will be in Hsinchu this weekend. I will try to make sure everything with regard to the internet is smooth in advance. However, if I do not show up in time... I would like to apologize herewith.

I too have encountered a few problems with Wifi connections. The laptop built-in cards just refuse to make a connection, even after updating the most recent device drivers. If you can successfully uninstall the device driver and reinstall... unless it is truly a hardware problem. In that case, just go get a USB wifi adapter, which usually has a very good receptions. Hopefully that helps.

Thanks for the suggestions. The internet ran pretty well this morning, but I actually didn't change anything with regard to the hardware or the software. The only thing I did is praying to the God of the Internet and I indeed spent more time keeping company with my in-laws yesterday.

It worked. Hey, now I've got to believe in God.

So, I guess... "God" is now a concept by which we measure our pain of not having a reliable wireless Internet connection.
I don't see how John Lennon can say no to that.




God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain
I'll say it again
God is a concept
By which we measure
Our pain

I don't believe in magic
I don't believe in I-ching
I don't believe in Bible
I don't believe in tarot
I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in Mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in Yoga
I don't believe in kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality

The dream is over
What can I say?
The dream is over
Yesterday
I was the Dreamweaver
But now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus
But now I'm John
And so dear friends
You'll just have to carry on
The dream is over