My apologies up front for something less than a real diary, but I recently received an exhortation to go watch the movie Money, Banking and the Federal Reserve (available all over the place) so I could learn about the solution to our problems.
Fleur d' Kos hopping clarifies.
Of course Ron Paul's name and the term "libertarian" as key descriptors raised flags immediately, but in the interest of a fair shot I clicked the link and watched it. I can't believe the number of reactions I had to it. The problem is, I'm the embodiment of the aphorism, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing." I took Econ 101 in college, I read a lot, I'm up on all the current buzzwords, I read Krugman daily, I'm a lifelong Democrat, and given enough time, I can pair talking points with philosophical bents seven or eight out of ten times.
I got into the film for about ten minutes or so, and just as I was dozing off, I heard a description of money transfer which included the phrase "fractional reserve". I have a good memory, and remember learning about fractional reserve banking in the aforementioned econ class long ago, but this usage didn't sound right. Maybe I dozed off in class when they were doing the secondary examples, but I was uneasy. I've actually used the phrase in conversation a couple of times, so my familiarity with it is relatively current, although after hearing its use in this film, my grasp is a little suspect.
So, okay, I'm expected to grasp an upper division concept in economics from a gen-ed knowledge base. Not like I haven't attempted that stretch before. It did wake me up, though, and I listened intently through the rest of the film.
When they started bleating about government returning to a hard metal backing of currency (gold standard, although I don't think they'd mind a silver standard), my flags again went up, because I usually only see that from conservatives and/or libertarians. So, there's a possibility that my objectivity was knocked off its perch.
Calling again on my gen-ed econ expertise (pus a whole lot of reading and thought problems since), I think I've come to understand that the reasoning for a gold standard is to limit government (in whatever guise) in its ability to deficit spend. That is, of course, the code ensconced in attempts to pass a balanced budget amendment periodically advanced by conservatives and/or libertarians. Calling again on my intense and thorough one semester econ training, I've concluded that, in Keynesian terms, a balanced budget amendment isn't always desirable.
Okay, so the gold standard folks aren't Keynesians and in addition, abhor government and government spending. I went on watching the film. I started noticing the music and relatively slick production values and I realized an attempt was being made to "work" me. I'm generally pretty hip to propaganda techniques, so, shields raised, I was able to plod ahead, unmoved.
By the time the credits started rolling, however, I was pretty disgusted, plus talking head commentary by Ron Paul had became more frequent, and no one should have to put up with that. I can't articulate any specifics just now without going back and rewatching the film (please do not make me do that), but my impression was that logical fallacies started flowing like wine. Fortunately the film ended shortly thereafter.
Among other references that made me suspicious (confirmed in my mind when I did a search later) are Lew Rockwell (frequent commentary and associations—I wonder if he's related to Kos' friend…), Murray Rothbard, the Von Mises Institute, and so on. It's almost like a Ten Most Wanted list in extremist economic thinking (to my untrained mind).
What I was left with is—okay, I don't know enough to debunk this stuff (I'm pretty sure it's crap, but I don't want to label prematurely). I have a cousin who would lap this up like catnip and I want to be prepared to tell her what's wrong with it, but first I have to know what's wrong with it. I can't just say Ron Paul supports it (although that's good enough for me)—she deserves more. Plus, this is likely to come up again.
So, can a brother get some knowledge? Someone slow walk me through the mine field? And really, I'm not asking anyone to go look at it and then respond. It's bad enough if you were to elect to see it on your own—you shouldn't have to do it on my account. I'd prefer someone who's already seen it so we can conserve our precious supply of brain bleach.