Bret Swanson - Maximum Entropy » Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com tech, econ, Web, China, stocks, Fed, energy, IP, Moore, bandwidth, exaflood Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:34:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/quote-of-the-day-54/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/quote-of-the-day-54/#comments Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:10:48 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1731 “What’s the right policy toward China? They put a few trillion dollars worth of stuff on boats and sent it to us in exchange for U.S. government bonds. Those bonds lost a lot of value when the dollar fell relative to the euro and other currencies. Then they put more stuff on boats and took in ever more dubious debt in exchange. We’re in the process of devaluing again. The Chinese government’s accumulation of U.S. debt represents a tragic investment decision, not a currency-manipulation effort. The right policy is flowers and chocolates, or at least a polite thank-you note.”

— John H. Cochrane, October 26, 2010

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/quote-of-the-day-54/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/1727/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/1727/#comments Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:31:52 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1727 “The upside of QE is limited. The money simply won’t go to where it’s needed, and the wealth effects are too small. The downside is a risk of global volatility, a currency war, and a global financial market that is increasingly fragmented and distorted. If the U.S. wins the battle of competitive devaluation, it may prove to be a pyrrhic victory, as our gains come at the expense of others—including those to whom we hope to export.”

— Joseph Stiglitz, October 23, 2010

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/1727/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/quote-of-the-day-53/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/quote-of-the-day-53/#comments Sat, 16 Oct 2010 03:32:01 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1721 “The whole idea of having a free trade area when you have gyrating exchange rates doesn’t make sense at all. It just spoils the effect of any kind of free trade agreement . . . .”

“Fixed exchange rates operate between California and New York . . . .”

“These currencies should be fixed, as they were under Bretton Woods or the gold standard. All this unnecessary noise, unnecessary uncertainty; it just confuses the ability to evaluate market prices.”

— Robert Mundell, October 16, 2010

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/10/quote-of-the-day-53/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/09/quote-of-the-day-52/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/09/quote-of-the-day-52/#comments Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:11:21 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1699 “Since the financial panic began in 2008, global leaders have been at pains to stress their ‘cooperation’ on numerous issues—stimulus spending, new bank rules, trade. Yet they still insist on going their own parochial, self-interested way on monetary policy and exchange rates. It’s as if world leaders had consciously decided to deal with every economic issue except the most important one—the price of the global medium of economic exchange.”

— The Wall Street Journal, October 1, 2010

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/09/quote-of-the-day-52/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/07/quote-of-the-day-51/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/07/quote-of-the-day-51/#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:35:35 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1685 “I’m waiting for Spain to melt down the World Cup to pay off its debts, or more seriously, real defaults from Spain, Greece and maybe California and New York. Let’s get on with it and put the structural reforms behind us. That would be a true buy signal.”

— Andy Kessler, July 16, 2010

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/07/quote-of-the-day-51/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/05/quote-of-the-day-50/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/05/quote-of-the-day-50/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 03:35:23 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1673 “A currency union is strongest without fiscal union.”

— John H. Cochrane, May 18, 2010, in a terrific commentary on the Greek crisis and the European Union

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/05/quote-of-the-day-50/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-48/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-48/#comments Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:01:21 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1635 “Architects of the legislation that binds the nation’s communications infrastructure in the year 2010 were born in the 1870s and 1880s. There is talk today in Washington about categorizing technologies and platforms developed in the 21st century under different Titles of legislation written by people born in the 19th century. We don’t need to jettison all the wisdom of the ancients, but perhaps there’s a better way?”

— Nick Shulz, at the Enterprise Blog, March 25, 2010

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-48/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-47/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-47/#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:57:33 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1618 “If we determine that a dollar shall be our unit, we must then say with precision what a dollar is.”

— Thomas Jefferson, 1784, as quoted by Judy Shelton

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-47/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-46/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-46/#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:26:43 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1588 “No moment in technology history has ever been more exciting or dangerous than now. The Internet is like a new computer running a flashy, exciting demo. We have been entranced by this demo for fifteen years. But now it is time to get to work, and make the Internet do what we want it to . . . .

“Practical business: who will win the tug of war between private machines and the Cloud? Will you store your personal information on your own personal machines, or on nameless servers far away in the Cloud, or both? Answer: in the Cloud. The Cloud (or the Internet Operating System, IOS — ‘Cloud 1.0′) will take charge of your personal machines. It will move the information you need at any given moment onto your own cellphone, laptop, pad, pod — but will always keep charge of the master copy. When you make changes to any document, the changes will be reflected immediately in the Cloud. Many parts of this service are available already.”

— David Gelernter, “Time to Start Taking the Internet Seriously”

]]> http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-46/feed/ 0 Quote of the Day II http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-ii-2/ http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2010/03/quote-of-the-day-ii-2/#comments Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:49:45 +0000 admin http://www.bretswanson.com/?p=1580 “Only someone who has Asperger’s would read a subprime-mortgage-bond prospectus.”

— Dr. Mike Burry, in an excerpt of Michael Lewis’s new book The Big Short.

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