http://en.wiktionary.org/...
fetish
An irrational, or abnormal, fixation or preoccupation.
My hypothesis is that those who continue to obsess about not increasing the deficit in these extraordinary circumstances are likely to be victims of a personality disorder. I will call theis disorder Deficit Fetishism.
More specifically:
DSM-IV is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (see Wiki link below).
My question here is: Should Deficit Fetishism be considered in the next DSM IV Manual?
Deficit spending in general is seen by many as inflationary. Now it would not be. Some reasons:
a) Businesses are spending less
b) Banks are loaning less (witness their astronomically high excess reserves)
b) Almost everyone else is afraid to spend or is spending less or is unable to spend to various extents, regardless of desire.
c) Prices remain low in any case due to massive cheap imports, e.g., from China.
Deficit Fetishism is my suggestion for a specific personality disorder as a subtype of Antisocial Personality Disorder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
http://allpsych.com/...
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Symptoms
The symptoms of antisocial personality disorder include a longstanding pattern of disregard for the rights of others. Impulsiveness if often present, including angry outbursts, failure to consider consequences of behaviors...
Some argue that a major component of this disorder is the reduced ability to feel empathy for other people. This inability to see the hurts, concerns, and other feelings of people often results in a disregard for these aspects of human interaction. Finally, irresponsible behavior often accompanies this disorder as well as a lack of remorse for wrongdoings.
Treatment
Treatment for this disorder is very rarely sought. There is a limited amount of insight into the symptoms, and the negative consequences are often blamed on society. In this sense, treatment options are limited. Some research has found long term insight oriented therapy to be effective, but getting the individual to commit to this treatment is a major obstacle.
Prognosis
Prognosis is not very good because...a lack of insight into the disorder is very common. People with antisocial personality disorder typically see the world as having the problems, not him or herself, and therefore rarely seek treatment. If progress is made, it is typically over an extended period of time.
Selective Deficit Obsession is my suggestion for a specific personality disorder as a subtype of Antisocial Personality Disorder.
This is evidence of the general Antisocial Personality Disorder, as illuminated by the symptoms of such, noted above, and I believe is supportive of my suggested sub-categorical disorder of Deficit Fetishism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
"I wouldn't do a major second stimulus because I think...we run a risk that it could be counterproductive in creating a lot of additional uncertainty and undermining confidence," Rubin said.
What confidence is there to undermine? Why would it undermine and not strengthen confidence?
No answers. Why? Because NO ONE HAS EVEN ASKED HIM THESE QUESTIONS.
How could we be more uncertain? We are dealing with the collapse of the housing market, the stock market is now a crapshoot, unemployment reaching towards Great Depression numbers, the coming collapse of the commercial real estate market http://cop.senate.gov/... and the remifications of the oil dusaster.
How in the fuck can you get more uncertain than that?
I will quote this question as it was asked of him:
On the contrary we should and could be be FLOODING the whole fucking country with newly printed currency. If one worries about the deficit at all, one may do so in normal times. This can be done, e.g., by starting new public works/infrastructure programs, making unemployment comp an entitlement for the time being (years at least), more and bigger bailouts.
Consider:
You'll never see the following two absolutely critical variables in ANY economic projection:
Ramifications of the oil disaster.
The coming commercial real estate meltdown. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
"There is a commercial real estate crisis on the horizon, and there are no easy solutions to the risks commercial real estate may pose to the financial system and the public," says a report issued Thursday by the Congressional Oversight Panel, the bailout watchdog led by Harvard Law professor and middle-class advocate Elizabeth Warren.
http://cop.senate.gov/...
Therefore all such economic projections are worthless. You think it's bad now? Things are just getting started.
Extraordinary problems call for extraordinary measures. This is an emergency, folks.
These "economists" are adhering to a fear of deficits and thus not increasing the money supply.
They exclude from consideration two crucial variables: The oil and commercial real estate issues.
Fetish? I don't know. But it's either fraud or ignorance.