Terms  |
Definitions |
| AAA-Rated Securities |
The new word for what used to be known as sub-prime mortgages or, more colloquially, as worthless crap. See Fool’s Gold.
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| Action Axiom |
The “foundation” of Austrian Economics. Quoth Hans Hoppe, “This axiom, the proposition that humans act, fulfills the requirements precisely for a true synthetic a priori proposition. It cannot be denied that this proposition is true, since the denial would have to be categorized as an action – and so the truth of the statement literally cannot be undone.” Clearly, the action axiom is a platitude. Hoppe could just as well have said, “This axiom, the proposition that economists use word processors, fulfills the requirements precisely for a true synthetic a priori proposition. It cannot be denied that this proposition is true, since the denial would have to be written on a word processor – and so the truth of the statement literally cannot be undone.” See Section XIV of my 2004 paper.
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| Affirmative Action |
The antithesis of all that is good in America. Affirmative action is an embarrassment to those of us who did it the natural way, without asking for charity from anyone. (Unlike Barack Obama, I checked “White, non-Hispanic” on every school or job application that I ever filled out.) See US of KKK-A.
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| Aggregate Utility |
Price times stock. See my Simplified Exposition.
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| Alarmism |
While the problems that we face are serious, getting all gloomy and doomy doesn’t help. We have survived recessions and – Dare I say it? – depressions before, and civilization emerged mostly intact. Even if the dollar loses its status as the world’s reserve currency, I don’t think that we’re going to be donning loincloths and foraging for food a decade from now. (At least I hope not, because I don’t look good in a loincloth.) See McPherson, Guy.
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| Answer, The |
In Section VI of my 2004 paper, I write, "credit limits are more important than interest rates and there are many people who cannot get credit at all. Interest rates only affect how much money is being transferred. They do not affect who gets it." Recently, Alan Zibel confirms that, “lenders [who must satisfy Fannie and Freddie] are demanding bank statements, big cash reserves and second appraisals before they approve a loan to refinance a home. Mortgage rates are hovering around 6.6%, about the same level as a year ago.” See The Question.
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| Apartheid |
What the Palestinians are living under. When a paramedic straps on an explosive vest and states in her farewell video that she wants only to “knock on heaven’s door carrying the skulls of some of her people’s oppressors,” that can only be called “bitterness.” See Carter, Jimmy.
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| Armies |
What crosses borders when goods are not allowed to.
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| Audacity of Hopelessness |
Why organizations like Hamas are dangerous. As Sun Tzu observed, when one puts people on death ground, they live. See Apartheid.
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| Austrian Economics |
Belief in the Subjective Theory of Value and, simultaneously, belief that (to quote Robert Murphy), “the consumer’s good is always the 1st order, regardless of how far back we push the analysis, even if we go back to axes carved by prehistoric men.” See Doublethink.
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| Average Period of Production |
Murray Rothbard writes, “The prices of capital goods change like a lever being pivoted on a fulcrum at its center; the prices of consumers’ goods fall most, those of first-order capital goods fall less; those of highest-order capital goods rise most, and the others less.” But he does not define “center.” Unlike Rothbard, I do know where this pivot point is located. See Section IV of my 2004 paper.
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| Axiomatic Economics |
The greatest invention since cheese. (Well, who do you think is writing this dictionary?)
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| Bank Run |
See Bear Stearns.
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| Bankruptcy |
For General Motors, it is “not impossible,” according to John Murphy, who claims that GM needs $15 billion in new capital. Since their market capitalization on the NYSE is now $5.7 billion, they would have to sell 300% of themselves to raise that much money, reminiscent of Bugsy Siegel’s strategy for building the Flamingo. Of course, Mr. Siegel got shot for doing this, which does not bode well for Mr. Wagoner. Maybe the taxpayers can be convinced to pony up the money. See Waste.
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| Banned Books |
If you read the list of 100 banned books, you cannot help but notice that every one of those titles is available from Borders, Barnes & Noble, Waldenbooks, Amazon.com, etc. Huckleberry Finn is always near the top of the list but, as far as I know, there is not a bookstore between San Francisco and Tehran that does not carry it. So, what exactly does the word “banned” mean? If it means that a book cannot be purchased anywhere outside of a gun show, then why isn’t the Turner Diaries on the list? If it means that public and university libraries will accept a $130 hardback as a gift and immediately throw it in the trash, then why isn’t my book on the list?
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| Barbie |
“Math is hard!” John McCain agrees, having proudly told the AZ Republic on 3 Oct 99 that, at Annapolis, he gave the subject just enough study to pass the minimum requirement. (Only in America is ignorance of mathematics a point of pride for people.) Economics, which requires a background in math, is also a difficult subject for McCain. “Some economists don’t think much of my gas-tax holiday,” he admits, apparently referring to everyone in America who received a C or better in Econ 101. (Rebutting McCain’s gas-tax holiday is not exactly graduate-level material.) See Free Lunch.
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| Bear Stearns |
A recent hit by the country-western band, Ben Bernanke and the Moral Hazards. “It’s a bear, bear, bear; Bear (Stearns) market!” (Sung to the tune of “Barbara Ann,” with banjo accompaniment.)
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| Beast, Infernal and from “The Pit" |
The author of this dictionary, according to Mike Huckabee’s supporters. But I’m not letting it go to my head – I think they say that about everybody.
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| Bernanke Put |
Reducing interest rates 1.25% because the stock market dipped. And it wasn’t even our stock market! The central bankers in those countries displayed an emotion rarely seen at the Federal Reserve: Calm.
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| Bernanke, Ben |
A full-time printing press operator and part-time lead singer in the country-western band, Moral Hazard. Banjo player par excellence! Little known historical fact: As a child, Ben’s nickname was Mikey.
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| Biden, Joe |
“I think [Barack Obama] can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” But on the bright side, Joe, at least your new boss is “articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
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| Bierce, Ambrose |
Rolling over in his grave. “You idiot Aguilar, I did the ‘Devil’s Dictionary’ shtick over a hundred years ago! Can’t you think of anything new?”
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| Bills of Debt |
Function as Credit Money only if there is an active secondary market for them in the community. See my Simplified Exposition.
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| Biscuit Theory |
"If you wanna cook biscuits, you gotta turn up the heat," says Theone of the Market Ticker Forum. And, on the subject of turning up the heat, see my Rebuttals Page.
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| Bitterness |
Do poor Whites cling to religion and guns because they are bitter? Can they be bought off with the same nostrums that the Democratic Party used to buy the votes of poor Blacks? Yes and no. While the word “cling” was a bit tactless, Barack Obama is right that religious/paramilitary organizations thrive on bitterness. This is evidenced by the appeal of the KKK in the US South, of Hezbollah in Lebanon or of Hamas in the Gaza Strip – see Apartheid. However, Obama is hopelessly off-base if he thinks that poor Whites are bitter because the Republicans didn’t put the same feedbag on them that the Democrats put on inner-city Blacks. They are bitter for one reason and one reason only: Affirmative Action. When a White man’s son is denied admission to college while Black gang-bangers strut around campus with their pants halfway down their asses, he becomes bitter. See US of KKK-A.
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| Bixby, Robert |
The crucial question about the candidates is “whether they are helping to fill the hole or make it deeper. With the proposals they have on the table, it looks to me like all three would make it deeper.” To learn what hole he’s referring to, see John Maynard Keynes.
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| Block, Walter |
Co-wrote, with Joseph Salerno, the brave and inspiring mission statement for the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.
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| Boettke, Peter |
“Never be concerned about harsh criticism of your position, but always fear the weakest defense of it.” You’re my hero, Pete! So inspirational! You don’t mind if I quote your brave words on my rebuttals page, do you?
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| Bonner and Wiggin |
“Among all the empires that have come and gone, the U.S. imperium stands out as the most absurd… Everywhere we look, we see an exquisite but precarious balance between things that are equally and oppositely absurd… Something is wrong. The picture is grotesque, unnatural… like a pretty wife who rotates her own tires – it is almost too good to be true. We suspect we’re going to find out later that she sets fire to her cat.” It does seem kind of funny when you think about it. However, regarding their “theory,” See Reversion to the Mean.
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| Borrow and Spend |
Old fashioned, 1930’s-style Keynesianism. For a modern example, see John McCain’s Free Lunch.
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| Box |
What the Federal Reserve is in. See Cardillo, Peter.
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| Builders |
According to the George Bush theory of economics, these are the people who need to be artificially stimulated in the event that there is a glut of unsold houses on the market. See Recovery, Economic.
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| Buiter, Willem |
“The Fed listens to Wall Street. Throughout the 12 months of the crisis, it is difficult to avoid the impression that the Fed is too close to the financial markets and leading financial institutions, and too responsive to their special pleadings, to make the right decisions for the economy as a whole.” See Moral Hazard.
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| Bush, George |
When Hillary Clinton breathlessly tells us of dodging sniper fire in Bosnia, we can all have a good laugh because nobody died as a result of her lies. George Bush’s lies, like Saddam Hussein buying yellowcake uranium from Niger or being prepared to hit east coast cities on 45 minutes notice, don’t seem so funny anymore.
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| Bushnevik Square Dance |
The latest dance craze to sweep the nation. It’s fun and easy!
Swing your partner by the neck.
Throw her in Gitmo, what the heck.
Waterboard till she throws up.
Then strip her naked, and kick her butt.
That's it, son, you're doing fine.
Screw that old Geneva line.
Don't take no crap from that Red Cross.
Let 'em know that you're the boss.
Meanwhile, sic her with the big bad dogs.
Kick her in the head with your dancing clogs.
Punch her in the face till she passes out.
Then tell the world that "torture's out".
And that's the Bushnevik Square Dance.
(contributed by DanaRhea Elliot)
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| Buy High, Sell Low |
1) "The mortgage market is going to be a great market in this country for a long time. We've got population growth. We've got people who are always going to want to live in homes that they own. It's going to be a great market," enthused Ken Thompson, Wachovia C.E.O., on 15 May 2006, after buying Golden West Financial for $25 billion. 2) "We [Bank of America] believe that in the current turmoil the stock market has been underestimating the value in Countrywide's operations and assets. This investment reflects our confidence in their business and recognizes the importance of the company in providing home financing across the country,” said chief executive Ken Lewis on 22 August 2007, after investing two billion dollars in Countrywide Financial. See Mortgages, Sub-Prime.
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| Buy Low, Buy High |
“We aren't going to sell when it goes up and buy when it goes down. We just buy,” explains a gold bug at the Daily Paul. Honestly! That 18-year-old that they’re counseling needs a golden coin under his mattress about as much as he needs a pentacle on a chain around his neck. It’s just a talisman to ward off the hyperinflationary boogeyman. Using the nom de internet of Shaka, I tried to give him some better advice.
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| Caplan, Bryan |
“Out of the whole list [of best new ideas to come out of academic economics since 1949], there are few plausible cases where mathematics was more than an afterthought. Even there, intuition, not math, probably played the leading role. I invite others to come up with their own ‘best ideas’ list to repeat this casual experiment.” Very well, Dr. Caplan, my “best idea” was Axiomatic Economics. You tell me: Is mathematics an afterthought in my book? See my Open Letter to Bryan Caplan.
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| Cardillo, Peter |
“There’s no question the Fed is walking a tightrope here. They’re in a box.”
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| Carter, Jimmy |
“Hamas was not legitimized by my visit. They were legitimized by the fact that their people voted for them to be the ruling party in their parliament.” (One good thing about Barack Obama is that he does not believe in “punishing” people by refusing to talk to them, as George Bush does. That’s immature.) See Democracy.
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