David McWilliams Podcast

gypsy79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119297428#Comment_119297428

QED

You did realise that David McWilliams teaches "neoclassical economics"?

gypsy79

My work is done...neoclassical economics from someone who doesnt understand what economics is

Obrieski

On today's podcast, it appears DMcW was saying bad investment decisions will be shown up now as interest rates rise, by people who borrowed with the low interest rates of recent times.

Was he not saying the Irish government should do exactly that during the pandemic when interest rates were nil?

Maybe I misinterpreted but seems a complete 180 turn on what he was saying only 2 years ago!!

Hopefully what he saying about the housing market comes true. The idea of housing being a global asset needs to be smashed.

MercuryBoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119643068#Comment_119643068

During the pandemic he was advocating to increase the printing of money X10 to invest in infrastructure etc, saying inflation wouldn't be a problem, then he repeatedly claimed inflation was due to supply chain issues, and then that it was transitory, he kept with that line up until a few months ago, now as you say he has done a total U turn. He never gets pulled up on his bullshit predictions by his podcast sidekick which is a shame....

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119643068#Comment_119643068

the type of investments mcwilliams was referring to are in the private domain by using credit from private sector financial institutions, these type of investments are based upon certain preferred conditions, such as continual rising prices, and relatively stable, low interest rates, but with rates slowly rising now, this now throws the whole property investment approach completely up in the air, this could get very hairy....

yes, he and others were advocating for governments to do such during the pandemic, and they were right, as interest rates were at record low levels, some at negative rates, baring in mind, some of these rates were at fixed rates, i.e. if our governments acted on this during covid, rates would have remained unaffected, due to the fixed terms...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119645010#Comment_119645010

.....as above.....

dontmindme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119645504#Comment_119645504

bearing

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119645602#Comment_119645602

tis baring in the wrold of dysliexia!

Economics101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119297428#Comment_119297428

Of course inflation can be caused by exceptional supply-side effects like oil shocks, covid, etc. However these are hopefully transitory events, and if macroeconomic policy is conducted appropriately inflation should subside. Unfortunately for inflation there was a lot of demand-side stimulus arising from the pandemic, and this full effects of this have been felt in the past year. You can't expect standard neoclassical or for that matter any other economic model to explain what has happened in such a unique few years.

By the way neoclassical economics is not the same as monetarism (looking to money supply as the sole cause of inflation). Central Bank economists have had a much more nuanced approach to inflation in recent years, which is important given that they have the main responsibility of controlling inflation. High inflation in the 70s was arguably due to a primitive Keynesian view that demand management was all about fiscal policy and inflation was to be tackled by incomes policies and price controls. All with disastrous results until the Fed showed the was under Paul Volker.

Economic models are simplified representations of the real world, and when that world changes, so too should the models. As Keynes himself is supposed to have said "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?". Keynes was far more sophisticated on monetary matters than many of his post-war "Keynesian" followers

MercuryBoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119645504#Comment_119645504

But wouldn't this have been injecting yet more cheap money into the economy , making inflation even worse?

gypsy79

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119646611#Comment_119646611

He contradicts himself all the time. He is basically a rabble rousing leftie at heart. Its kind of mad that this who educates the uneducated

mikemac2

Looking back over the thread I complained about the podcast in 2020

I like it a lot these days and listen to 90% or so of the episodes.

I love the historical stories like what happened in New York 200 years ago or others speils. He has a wide range of knowledge. Some of it I knew already like Alexander Hamilton and consolidating national debt. He comes up with some very random and interesting stuff from history and I like it. And for stories these days the trip to Ukraine explaining the security checks and the comedy club in Kiev was funny too, super episode

As for the current affairs takes it is interesting but I have no idea if his predictions from 12 months ago came true or not. He has so many different views it is hard to keep up. I saw a post here calling it "light entertainment". Well I am happy for some light entertainment and I classify myself among the non experts so I will keep listening.

I did consider subscribing to Patreon and I do have some subscriptions there but for David McWilliams, meh maybe someday in the future I will subscribe.

I see sheep

Nice hefty brown envelope for the lads from the Nuclear Energy lobby. Times must to tough for them.

jaykay74

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120948920#Comment_120948920

If there is a nuclear lobby in Ireland they are pretty **** at their job.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120948920#Comment_120948920

...if you think fossil fuels and renewables alone will solve our future energy needs, you d be living in lala land! oh btw, we already use a very small amount of nuclear energy here, and more coming on stream very very soon, so.....

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120953935#Comment_120953935

If you think nuclear energy is the solution for Ireland, you'd be living in lala land. Makes zero sense in this country.

I'm pro nuclear but anti Ireland building nuclear. Money better invested elsewhere. Just for clarity.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121103799#Comment_121103799

I keep hearing that nuclear power production will get smaller and cheaper in time. That might be a good choice.

I'd favour it if its state run for Ireland. Absolutely no point if its just going to be added to the global energy market it would be a huge cost to add a drop to the global energy supply and to enrich Eon or whoever would own the energy.

If we could have a source of cheap energy in Ireland to bring down production costs and household bills, I'd support it. Buy there's zero point in spending billions on building a facility for Eon to come in and run and run and make all the profit while not even making energy cheap for the locals.

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121103828#Comment_121103828

A massive power plant run by a private company or the state makes no sense. We're just too small.

SMRs are interesting and may suit Ireland. I wouldn't have a strong opinion either way on them but I'd agree they should be state run.

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121103799#Comment_121103799

theres research from respected sources stating, there simply may not be enough resources on the planet to create 100% renewable energy on a global scale, if this does turn out to be true, and we dont include nuclear in our plans, we ll simply end up screwed, as you can be damn sure others are already commandeering the resources for their own nuclear needs. this leaves us extremely exposed to meeting our future energy needs, it exposes us deeply to major fluctuations in global energy markets, such as what we re currently experiencing, resulting in serious economic problems, again, as we re currently experiencing, i.e. significant rise in inflation, as is currently our major problem....

...i wouldnt overly worry about this though, as its highly unlikely we ll ever seen a reactor operating here, so we re more than likely gonna stick with the current approach of, lets remain exposed to these major vulnerabilities....

...noting we re already receiving a small percentage of our energy from nuclear means, and this is set to slowly increase, i.e. we ve outsourced the risks to other countries that are currently willing and able to....

bren2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121104440#Comment_121104440

I'm not anti nuclear. Countries like France, the USA, the UK which have a much bigger energy market should invest in nuclear imo. I think we should buy off these countries instead of building our own.

SMR's may change the game for a country like Ireland but I think we are better placed to invest in wind, solar, and hydro.

Wanderer78

good to see fg out in force over the weekend at kilkenomics!