FORECASTING THE ECONOMY: Keynesian Economics vs. Austrian Economics – [VIDEO]

The 2 videos are designed to convince you that the Austrians’- economic predictions are more accurate for use laser rangefinder -Laser Rangefinder for hunting.

The first video has an intro in French, sorry for that, but the rest of the video is in English (with French subtitles).

Keynesians’- forecasts (featuring Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman) vs. Austrians’- forecasts (featuring Ron Paul and Peter Schiff):

Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and all the Giving Pledge billionaires, should rather do what Peter Thiel does -go investing their cash and/or (liquidated) fortune in futuristic projects. – [VIDEO]

This morning, I wrote that I disaprove Bill Gates and Warren Buffett&#8217-s Giving Pledge operation, because I rather favor billionaires investing in young startups lead by visionaries. Well, just after the publication of that post, I stumbled on the &#8220-Audacious Optimism&#8221- event, which satisfies my request.

The Thiel Foundation is encouraging philanthropists to donate more money to scientific pursuits that could lead to big breakthroughs in medicine, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology, among other fields.

Note that Peter Thiel draws a distinction between “extensive” technologies, which “take things that are working and replicate them&#8221-, and “intensive” technologies, which try to “take the things that are best in the world and make them qualitatively and dramatically better&#8221-.

Auditing the Federal Reserve – Ron Paul style

InTrades bank is in trouble.

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New York Times:

Revelation Rocks Bank in Ireland

By MATTHEW SALTMARSH
Published: December 19, 2008

A major Irish bank was shaken Friday by the revelation of 87 million euros, or $125 million, in undisclosed personal loans to the bank’s chairman — prompting his resignation as well as that of the bank’s chief executive. Sean FitzPatrick, chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, announced his resignation late Thursday after regulators discovered that he had hidden the personal loans from shareholders. The bank’s chief executive, David Drumm, also resigned. The scandal sent the shares in the bank plummeting […]

A statement Friday from the regulator, the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland, said it became aware this year of “matters surrounding loans from Anglo Irish Bank to Sean FitzPatrick.”

“While it does not appear that anything illegal took place in relation to these loans, the financial regulator was of the view that the practices surrounding these loans were not appropriate,” the statement said.

Analysts said the scandal could affect the pace of the government’s support for the banking sector. […]

InTrade:

Where is my money held?

Your funds are held in segregated accounts with Irelands largest banks including National Irish Bank, and Anglo Irish Bank which. Your funds are completely separate and distinct from the Exchanges own reserves.

To provide additional transparency we have introduced a unique service where an individual member can have a specific account established at our bankers within the suite of segregated accounts. Contact us for more details.

STRAIGHT FROM THE TRUISM DEPARTMENT: Money buys happiness.

No GravatarThe richer people and countries become, the happier they get.

Wow, that&#8217-s what I call a discovery.

Freakonomics – #2 – #3

New York Times

CNBC video

Previous blog posts by Chris F. Masse:

  • Just like the armchair generals (presented on television as “military analysts”) carry the Pentagon’s propaganda, are our economics professors (who need the exchange data to pursue their academic career) in fact John Delaney’s unofficial P.R. agents, hidden behind an appearance of objectivity, and whose agenda is to generate favorable news coverage for InTrade? Is the symbiotic relationship between the prediction exchanges and the economics researchers dangerous for the truth?
  • Can we still trust Betfair? Should we trust Betfair? Or indeed, any betting exchange?
  • Prediction Markets at Google — by Peter A. Coles, Karim R. Lakhani, Andrew McAfee
  • Is that HubDub’s Nigel Eccles on the bottom left of that UK WebMission pic?
  • Collective Error = Average Individual Error – Prediction Diversity
  • When gambling meets Wall Street — Proposal for a brand-new kind of finance-based lottery
  • The definitive proof that it’s presently impossible to practice prediction market journalism with BetFair.