Bank of International Settlements Report: Ya'll It Ain't Just The Tea Party Types Warning Us About The National Debt!

HT Adam Smith Institute, who do a great job each and every day.

On a daily basis now, it seems, the attacks are being launched against those of us who insist that our government is out of control, and that the spending and borrowing path we are on will destroy the culture. The 'racist' word is a popular one, followed by 'redneck', 'ignorant', 'hateful', 'stupid', all delivered with that particular "I graduated from an Ivy League School, therefore you dare not question me." sort of sneer we've all come to accept as simply part of the package from Duh Left.

However, Adam Smith Institute passes on to us word of a scholarly study commissioned by the Bank For International Settlements, in effect, the mother-ship of central banking.

This paper, entitled The Real Effects of Debt, was delivered at Jackson Hole last week. While the world was waiting breathlessly for word from Helicopter Ben about whether he intended to climb back into his Chinook and scatter more funny-munney-hunny upon the gathered crowds, these geeks were delivering the unvarnished truth about the children in charge of our governments, both in London, Washington, and the capitols of Europe.

Stephen G Cecchetti, M S Mohanty and Fabrizio Zampolli are not redneck, racist, ignorant, unwashed, stupid AstroTurf TeaBaggers. They are scholars, presenting the plain truth that neither Obama, LittleTimmy,or most of Congress wish to hear: this simply cannot be allowed to continue without destroying our civilization.

It's not about race or class, ya'll. it's about simple, inexorable math.

Given the benefits that governments have promised to their populations, ageing will sharply raise public debt to much higher levels in the next few decades. At the same time, ageing may reduce future growth and may also raise interest rates, further undermining debt sustainability. So, as public debt rises and populations age, growth will fall. As growth falls, debt rises even more, reinforcing the downward impact on an already low growth rate. The only possible conclusion is that advanced countries with high debt must act quickly and decisively to address their looming fiscal problems. The longer they wait, the bigger the negative impact will be on growth, and the harder it will be to adjust.

Here's hoping that Biden will open his yap and call someone a bad name after they quote this paper, and then use the paper to finally humiliate him into silence.

Until we insist upon a culture that will not tolerate this irresponsibility from its leadership, we will struggle as an economy.

Let's git after it, ya'll. No time like the present.

An Opportunity For Young Writers: The Adam Smith Insitute Essay Competiton

The Adam Smith Institute has created a small island of intellectual sanity in the wastelands of London.

It speaks with authority, wit and grace on behalf of free markets and free cultures, and OS tries to spend a little time in company of its leader, Eamonn Butler, every week.

Thus, in the OS Continuing Creative Revenge Campaign, the announcement below is shared. If you are a young person, anywhere in the world who writes in English(OS assumes they want submissions in English....you may wish to check with them.), and believe that your life will fare much better in a free society than in the ones that seem to be now in vogue, the Adam Smith Institute has an essay competition for you. If you win, it's £500 of cash, publication on their site, a two-week internship in their offices, and a party on their boat. If you are in high school/sixth form, and even hit the top three in this competition, take OS's word for it:  There's a ton more than £500 and a fun two weeks in it as you hit the beaches of the university admissions process. Admissions committees scour the landscape for young people who already know how to write coherent English, and compete and win. OS knows this first-hand, he's just not at liberty to talk about it for a few years...

Mom, Dad, Older Sibling, Teacher, Headmaster: It's OK to twist junior's arm on this. He'll get over it. The process of having to think it through, do some outside reading and integration of ideas, writing a few drafts and actually submitting the final product, on a tight schedule, is a fabulous education in and of itself. It's like, you know, real life work.

Someone, somewhere, is gonna win this thing. Might as well be you, your child, your student. OS will even prime the pump, two ways. Look at the bottom of the page, and you'll see the Amazon listings of a good place to begin your work.  And, if an American student wins, OS will kick in an extra £50. He'll mail it to Mr. Butler to hand to our intrepid author when he visits London. Money talks and spends. (You'll need cash in London. The Nanny State is expensive.)

Here's the announcement:
 [begin copy]

The Adam Smith Institute invites you to enter our student competition: ‘Young Writer on Liberty'.
We would like you to write three different articles on the subject:

Ways to advance freedom

The title of each article is entirely up to you.

1st Prize:
£500 cash prize
3 articles published on www.adamsmith.org/blog
3 books on the subject of liberty
2 weeks work experience at the ASI
Invitation to the prize giving on our Summer Boat Party

2nd Prize:
2 articles published on www.adamsmith.org/blog
2 books on the subject of liberty Invitation to the prize giving on our Summer Boat Party

3rd Prize:
1 article published on www.adamsmith.org/blog
1 book on the subject of liberty
Invitation to the prize giving on our Summer Boat Party

To enter:
- you have to be under 20 years of age at the time of entry
- all articles must be under 400 words
- the entry must reach us by the deadline of 30th April 2010
Please email any entries or questions to charlotte@adamsmith.org 
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Book:

The Alternative Manifesto, by Eamonn Butler