Student Union

Richard Vernon: Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night. That when I get older, these kids are going to take care of me.
Carl the Janitor: I wouldn't count on it.
--The Breakfast Club

Last week in one of my summer classes, I offered an impromptu extra credit assignment on the definition of a market bubble and its causes. The following session, discussion of student findings morphed into an interesting back and forth on our current economic situation and the role of policy decisions such as QE2 in helping or hurting the situation.

Once engaged, students asked thoughtful questions and voiced viewpoints that, if permitted, would easily have chewed thru our entire 2.5 hr class session. Some samples:

"How can the actions of QE2 be legal?"
"Can't we just keep borrowing and live in a situation of ever increasing debt?"
"Why can't we just raise taxes to pay off the national debt?"
"How can I protect my personal situation in case things get really bad?"
"Because banks are not lending, why can't we just give money directly to small businesses and job creators?"

When considering the situation we currently face, it is easy to slip into a state of despair. However, witnessing the level of engagement and concern exhibited by these college students is evidence that the situation is not as hopeless as it seems.

Multiply the energy of this group and you get social power. Social power is man's conquest of nature, with abundance achieved thru productive means. Its antithesis is political power, where the coercive power of the State is employed to acquire wealth.

Social power is amassed through a free thinking people. It is based on thinking thru a situation and arriving at one's own conclusions. It is not dependent on what others are thinking. Leaning on the views of others generates conditions of dependency--just what political power wants.

As such, I urged students to seek out all perspectives on our economic and fiscal situation. If they find a certain viewpoint, seek or argue the opposite. Process all info against capacity for reason.
Because we had other things to do during the session, I promised that I would post some additional charts related to our discussion. I've done that here.