Re: "Is Macroeconomics Believable?"

["John Gelles" <jjgelles@xxxxxxxx>]

	I think we would do well to drop the abstract
	argument over saving, investment, debt, equity,
	asset bubbles, unemployment, etc., and
	concentrate for a few rounds of these discussions
	on the crises in Russia and Japan.

	       In Russia, too much foreign debt, too little
	world class export potential.

	       In Japan, too much national frugality and
	too much dependence on and excellence in
	world class export.

	       Nearly mirror opposites.

	Now let us discuss what IS and what SHOULD
	be done in Russia and Japan to reestablish the
	comfort levels they seem to have lost in recent
	years?

	I have a feeling, the picture is far more complex
	than a few lines of equations representing ideal
	systems -- not real business.  If we can put the
	business solutions into plain language, new
	equations, properly explained, can follow.


	John Gelles