Niall Ferguson on the Financial Crisis

[MrSeekerofjustice]

Niall Ferguson is a moron!! How did this guy get into harvard?? Utter nonsense this guy speaks!

[dthomas9444]

@MrSeekerofjustice probably because the people at harvard—who you consider intelligent, based on your comment—evaluated his teaching and research capabilities rather than his tv appearances and political viewpoints. I think we can both agree that a) they are more suited than you to do the former and that b) you have no idea what it takes to be tenured at harvard.

[MrSeekerofjustice]

@dthomas9444

If you find out how Harvard chooses its lecturers, you will be shocked!

[toodietoodieomg]

@MrSeekerofjustice If he is a moron then how did he get to the point he is at now?

[MrSeekerofjustice]

@toodietoodieomg

contacts.... the guy is a joke!

[panniize]

Ha ha why is this fool even on tv ? Bloody imperial apologist.

[equsnarnd]

Has to begin in 1929 with the Wall Street Crash? No, No, NO. You have to begin with the rise of Progressivism and the institution of the Federal Reserve and the Income Tax.

[pretorious700]

wow, to have so many degrees and connections to respected institutions, this guy has it all wrong.

[MrSmackdown100]

Ferguson is right ; the US will remake itself .

[kotash2]

He is completely wrong. The US fed reserve and treasury CAUSED the great depression. ALL the actions of the fed and the treasury is ensuring that the great crises currently unfolding will be WORSE. THe gov is doing everything wrong. The right thing to do would be to let all the bad debt be liquidated ...let all the bad unsustainable enterprises fail. NO bailouts!

[skemmite]

The root cause of the problem is the theft of the common land by physical violence. The brutal criminals force the people by pain of death to acknowledge them as owners. Of course they then parade around as Emperors ,Kings/Queens etc. Committing outrages against Humanity. They pay off their Generals, Judges, Bishops with a share of the proceeds.

The land is common property is self evident. Let them produce their title deed from God.

PS Im not a Communist.

[infokemp]

@skemmite good comment

[badsign1980]

i think hes blinded by his own sense of english white superiority like usa is, witch has turned them into loosers, the only way uk usa makes money nowdays is through wars, jewish mafia deturping the gold market i dont think he knows shit, things are simple not complicated,usa uk bankrupt he just does not want to admit they are like the mob, have no class at all he said the usa will partners with china ina chinamerica partnership, i rest my case... this guy is supposed to be best usa has? lol

[MatDerKater]

@badsign1980

This man is an idiot, over brimming with pompous self satisfaction, very low on original ideas. The reason he does so well in establishment academia is cos he knows how to suck the right ringpieces at the right time. Search his works/articles back over time and see how his tune changes almost as rapidly as his accent has(from educated Scotsman to upper glass English aristocrat).

[IlRezzonico]

@MatDerKater ha ha dead right - he's so successful at arselicking and knobsucking that he's professor at Harvard AND Oxford AND Stanford - quite amazing how he manages to do all that teaching and research AND make so many TV programmes at the same time! oh hang on, apart from spouting waffle in his TV appearances and enjoying the sound of his own voice he doesn't do very much! He's very much like celebrity scientists like Brian "Dimwit" Cox - great at self-publicity

[MrSmackdown100]

@IlRezzonico If you knew what you were talking about you would be dangerous ;as it happens you have said nothing because you know nothing.

[Ry26100]

Ascent of Money is tops. My home city is in it, Glasgow. I live in shettleston. I couldn't believe it when i heard him talk about dodgy loan sharking there in the Ascent. Oan yersel, big yin. Frankly, what you've achieved coming fae glesca is just fantastic in every sense of the word. How did you manage to get from Glesca to Harvard!! Big Niall? what can you say. superb. The cash nexus is a good read too.

[MoronsnUtube]

Niall Ferguson is a genius. Please watch the Ascent of Money or read his book. It was mind blowing and eye-opening.

[MatDerKater]

@MoronsnUtube

Niall Ferguson is a pro-establishment ass sucking pompous whore.

Follow his work and watch him change his tune in line to real world events (which he never ever predicts even remotely accurately before the event), faster than he has changed his accent (yes, believe it or not, he is Scottish and once upon a time, actually sounded Scottish).

[tanyamuriyan]

Try Asian women # lushfmlk.info #

[natalierosen]

He is BRILLIANT!!

[goPistons06]

most of what i learned in history was political history-presidents, battles, etc.

[aferg76]

We economy would have been in danger with any administration. The revolt will start when republicans get in office and want to cut everything. When the unemployed can't get their benefits they will steal from the wealthy. When Social Security is cut grandparents will have to compete with their grand kids for jobs at McDonalds. This country will eventually face what every other country has faced.

[khold1983]

Investing in Us Treasury? Is this guy on drugs?

[truthsabre7]

Don't buy gold at $400 too expensive.

Don't buy gold at $600 too expensive.

Don't buy gold at $800 too expensive.

Don't buy gold at $1000 too expensive.

Don't buy gold at $1200 too expensive.

Ok when can I buy gold now?

[seeriktus]

@truthsabre7

Gold is where money tends to get invested during financial crises since its a 'real' commodity as opposed to abstract concepts like money. So during financial crises golds price rises, and falls after.

If you think youre entering a crisis, buy gold like everyone else, because everyone else is buying gold.

[bocacristian]

Buy silver !

[dynomike1964]

@truthsabre7 Don't buy gold at $ 1600 too expensive.

[pismo10]

The depression began years earlier with the bubble of the 1920s and the causes of that bubble. He does not mention that at all. Very similar to the bubble of the 90s and 2000s.

[thepixieful]

economic, also hungry people, great depression had an 8 year drought, yes EIGHT years. crops became DUST hence the dust bowl, boys and girls, not just banks but yes wheel barrows full of paper currency for one loaf of bread in europe which in that region also made HUNGRY people. these people were not thinking straight as a result of the hunger. sadly dictatorial leader followed. and it got worse.

[digwillhachi]

ermm, how about how bankers created the great depression, and funded hitler, leave that out of the history books did they Mr harvard. Just shows that teachers arent allowed to connect the dots and teach us the truth.

[kaihansen665]

This professor brags about the importance of economics for the understanding of history, yet he only uses some vague keynesian concepts. He does not even integrate the facts in a coherent explanation. The best part is ¨do you imagine what would have happen if we did nothing¨. PLEASE! In 1819 and in 1920-21, the government did nothing. It even shrunk the budget and in less than a year the problem was gone. Even applying the same inductive reasoning that Ferguson uses, he is defeated. PLEASE!

[kaihansen665]

A whole bunch of facts presented in the more disconnected and kaleidoscopic way you can imagine. The conversation goes from the great depression, to derivatives, to China, to Europe... There is no subtlety in the analysis at all. Things like ¨we came out of the great depression as the first nation in the world therefore we are coming out from this one better than everyone else.¨ No mention of the savings rate, no mention that the debt of WWII was mostly internal, etc.

[biggsy182]

Ferguson, what a joke. Austerity measures don't work, never have, and he knows this. This is the same man who in the early noughties was proclaiming the genius behind derivative finacial instruments.

[filmsnoirs]

The more I listen to this guy (which is rarely) the more he convinces me he has total shit for brains. Typical eulogising of the American dream, its"innovation", etc. When he condemns the "labour camps" of the Soviet Union does he forget that the US economy was built and came to global dominance off the back of the slave trade? And what counts as "innovative" is surely economically determined? US "innovation" is a contingent "counterfactual" quality, according to his own famous reasoning.

[jaghad]

@filmsnoirs I think you are wrong. The USA didn´t built global dominance on slave trade. The southern states were poor. It was the northern states that won the civil war and did so because they hade better technology and more money.

If you look at the US today the have most of the really smart people in the world. These people win the Nobel Prize over and over again. There is no doubt in my mind that what Niall is saying is absolutely correct.

[filmsnoirs]

The more I listen to this guy (which is rarely) the more he convinces me he has total shit for brains. Typical eulogising of the American dream, its"innovation", etc. When he condemns the "labour camps" of the Soviet Union does he forget that the US economy was built and came to global dominance off the back of the slave trade? And what counts as "innovative" is surely economically determined? US "innovation" is a contingent "counterfactual" quality, according to his own famous reasoning.

[ahamatmabrahman]

Like how he say's "I am real"! What a great guy he's wide awake.

[equitemcroce]

I think that it's important to introduce the importance of the financial history in our current culture since we seem to be fixated with the topic of money...might as well know how it happened. However, I have a concern, the great irony of our capitalist system is that it supports a culture that fought an ideology that tried to justify and explain history through economic perspective (marxism). Like I said, it's just a concern...history is much greater than mechanical happenings.

[JointBuster]

what does the word "ensenuates" mean?

[testbooster]

this guy is awesome...

[lemdixon01]

These financial products are made complicated but can be summed up simply. They are gambling debts and not part of the physical economy and any attempt to save them will destroy the real economy. We see the dismantling of the car industry and other parts of the real economy. This guy represents the bankers and globalization which is a nice name for empire. They are parasites and will speed up and make worse the impending economic collapse. Search Larouche and the true nature of Empire.

[suenoir]

Thank goodness Obama was elected at this time.

[Kritikakis1968]

We tried the same stimulus measures in Greece in the 80's (the ones Obama is trying now). Result: increased unemployment, inflation, and weak position in the Euro that followed. Due to these stimulus policies of the 80's Greece has no chance of recovering now... those policies established a weak fiscal position and the "dictatorship of the public sector unions".

[Wonaneektte]

@Kritikakis1968 The stimulus package the US is using is not a "fixing" measure. unemployment has increased, yes. I dunno the exact numbers, the point being that without the package it would be much higher than it is. The stimulus is meant to avoid depression, rather than fix a recession. that's why ferguson talks about "the great repression"~ what's interesting to me is that he believes keynesian policies would actually do better in a MORE centralized economy, like China's.

[franicks]

@Kritikakis1968

I am asking myself how a rising in unemployment can lead to a "dictatorship of public sector unions". I thought that a rising in unemployment will more weaken any union power since more and more people will have to accept the poorer offers from firms or the state (who is also not wanting that wage-costs rise in a public sector) since there are many others who will take the job if you dont.

And even if this happened, I prefer a dictaorship of the unions then of the corporations.

[ahamatmabrahman]

@Kritikakis1968 Max Kieser has been filling the Greek President in on what is really going on in the background so it will be interesting to see Geece accepts a loan from the world bank, it is also very interesting to watch what happens when countrys refuse to accept further dept slavery eg Benjamin Fulford ( you can find him here ) tells the story of how the Japanese minister of finance was threatenb with an earth quake ( check HAARP ) if he didnt turn over the Japanese monetary system to USA

[siggensax]

moving to England, so that I can get his accent, its awesome!

[172Break]

Siggensax - Niall is Scottish. He was born in Glasgow.

[OlderG0ds]

Definitely Englishman accent though is it not?

[randommental]

@OlderG0ds It's a middle class Scotch accent, you have to listen hard to discern the difference. He has modified his accent slightly to mimic received English, very ambitious fella.

[conradvink]

He sounds like a government spokesman.

[hyylo]

hi

if you like niall ferguson search youtube for peter schiff. you will like him.

[Blakebong]

@dasmysteryman12 The only way you can become him, as per the rules, is by withdrawing a sword and uttering 'There can be only one', then you slaughter him, then you feast on his corpse, THEN you will become him

[dasmysteryman12]

@Blakebong Hahahahaha... NO. Is that suppossed to be a joke???

[Phead128]

@dasmysteryman12.

I discovered him when he spoke at my university. DAMNIT, I should have gotten his new book "Ascent of money" autographed. :-P

[guninthewater]

@Phead128 War of the World is great as well.

[freeinwaysyouarenot]

@guninthewater: Absolutely. Its his best book in my opinion.

[Tippersnore]

@dasmysteryman12 We're also big fannies of his bum in that chair diba.

[coolwhitedude]

@dasmysteryman12 I'd like to think I'm a smart guy, and I've listened to/read dozens (hundreds, thousands) of extremely intelligent people that I couldn't compare myself with and been impressed...but this isn't my first encounter with Niall Ferguson, and every time he just floors me with his insight and ability to make connections.

[xhamlin]

he's also wrong in that this crisis began in 2002-2003

[hyylo]

hi

search youtube for peter schiff. you will like him.

[xhamlin]

the metaphor "great repression" is quite apt as we are merely holding the *necessary* recession at bay and trading long-term pain for short-term gain - the consequences of which could be horrific. the asian markets have outperformed the US market so he is wrong in that respect. he's also wrong in thinking that "stimulating" the economy is better than doing nothing. the ways this plays out will prove that.

smart guy, eloquent, well-educated and wrong.

[Villagejonesy]

Considering that the coming (or present) baby boomers' maturation means a bill for Social Security and Medicare that will be many times the amount of the stimulus, (and hence, will ruin the dollar's worth with or without the stimulus), isn't it a moot point whether there's a stimulus now or not, at least from the point of view of the dollar's worth? Don't we want to create this stimulus, and then tax the enterprises that result, in today's stronger dollar, rather than the future, weaker one?

[Villagejonesy]

On China, I would stress that Professor Ferguson said "over the long run."

However, China's growth, which has remained impressive (he didn't say it wasn't still impressive *at this moment*), is based on freeing their entrepreneurial class. But how can an authoritarian regime and an entrepreneurial class survive together? Surely the one is anathema to the other?

[nihoncol]

"US is also good at exporting crisis" LOL

[ajstryst]

Great Repression indeed

[prayfortruejustice]

"The Great Repression" ... perfect.

[shorberm]

I'm a big fan of Ferguson. In all that I've seen of him, he's able to take very complex ideas and make them very accessible.

I also really like Steve Paikin as an interviewer. He's able to ask good, probing questions, but appear fairly neutral. In doing so, he manages to participate without dominating the interview. I can't stand interviewers who either give their interviewees a free pass to ramble about all sorts of nonsense, or conversely, don't let them get a word in. Paikin does neither.

[NConway75]

Yo, the presenter in a veritable Canadian Uri Geller.

[ir5ac]

it sounds like you would not wish to "de-couple"...:)

[Braaaiiinsss]

Really good stuff, especially interesting about the relationship between economic growth and one party government.

[jarden69]

What a Smart guy.

[jordibares]

Wasn't Rosevelt doing "something" what turned it into a depression? Whatever happens one thing is clear, our debt will be enormous.

[Myndir]

Roosevelt tried to use fisical stimuli to solve the crisis, but "shovel ready" work proved to be anything but that and more importantly it's impossible to get out of a recession while pursuing a tight monetary policy. Inflation and deflation are monetary phenomena.

[xhamlin]

pursuing a tight monetary policy would allow the real recession to occur, and all the excess caused by loose monetary policy would be purged. the recession would be sharper, but we'd be better off in the long run in terms of wealth and allocation of resources, and so would the USD. the recession would also be shorter.

inflation and deflation are monetary phenomena? lol. like the supply and demand of any commodity is "phenomena" ?

[bazb1985]

Great. Thanks for letting me know. So how does it feel to live without a high school diploma?

[bazb1985]

Absolute genius. Got any thing else, particularly from 2009? Thanks.

[xhamlin]

@bazb1985

anything from 2009 would sound different as he was WRONG. again, eloquent guy and well educated and WRONG.