And, I did NOT know that Greenspan said this....
Bill Bonner, back in Ouzilly...
*** "Is it important for an economy to have manufacturing?" asked Alan Greenspan, aloud, last week. "There is a big dispute on this issue. What is important is that economies create value, and whether value is created by taking raw materials and fabricating them into something consumers want, or value is created by various different services which consumers want, it presumably should not make any significant difference, so far as standards of living are concerned, because the income, the capability to purchase goods is there. If there is no concern about access to foreign producers of manufactured goods, then I think you can argue it does not really matter whether or not you produce them or not."
And here, dear reader, we reproduce a little dialog to help you understand the Fed chairman's new economy:
What will people do if they do not produce things?
Well, we can write mortgage contracts on each other's houses!
But where will they get the money to buy houses?
Hmmm... we can mow each other's lawns!
Yes, but if they cannot afford houses, how will they have lawns and lawnmowers?
Okay... well... we'll wash each other's clothes.
I don't think so, because you won't have any clothes... they're all made in China.
You mean, we'll be stark naked?
That's right, and homeless, because you won't have anything to trade with for clothes... or houses... or anything else.Well, at least we won't have to mow the lawn...
