Final Final

Today I took my final final exam. Yep, I'm done with classes for the rest of my life! The next time I'm in a classroom, hopefully I'll be the one teaching the class. I'm super excited to finally be finished with all of the coursework required for my program! If you add it up, I've just completed the 20th grade...out of (almost) 29 years of my life total. I'm really tempted to sit down and actually count how many classes I've taken over those 20 years, but it's late so I won't. But when I sit back and think about all that I've learned, I have to admit that I'm a bit sad that it's over. Thinking of the wide, wide range of topics that I've been exposed to is actually kind of mind-boggling. Chemistry to cartography, physics to psychology, Seuss to Shakespeare to Saul Bellow to Socrates. And a whole heck of a lot of economics. Of course, it's not like I'm going to stop learning now, but it's hard to pick up as much when you're out of a classroom setting. I think that I could honestly be perfectly happy to be a professional student the rest of my life, if someone would pay me to do it. Maybe that's why being a professor appeals to me so much; I at least get to be in that environment for my career.

But, before I get too nostalgic, let's not forget how many times I've cursed homework, quizzes, papers, and exams. It definitely hasn't been an easy road, and I'm so glad to not have that hanging over my head anymore. Ugh.

Anyway, I'm done! Now all I have to do is write a dissertation...no sweat, right?

So, over the past few semesters I've posted about some things that have been on my mind: post-dated legislation, how politicians abuse economics, how MBA classes differ from Ph.D. classes, some investing advice, and a puzzle about saving during recessions. I'm going to spare you the lengthy nerd-post this time, but I do want to end with one thought.

In one of my classes this semester we examined economic crises around the world. Each class period we looked at a different country and tried to figure out how they got in to the mess and what they should do about it. We covered Argentina, Mexico, Jamaica, Estonia, Latvia, Thailand, South Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, you name it. Here is what struck me: many (if not all) of these cases looked A LOT like the U.S. looks today. Namely, people went temporarily crazy and spent way too much money, for whatever reason. The government then needed to bail them out somehow, and found itself in too much debt and in need of bailout itself. Of course the U.S. differs a lot from these other countries in many ways. But what scared me was just how similar it all was. A couple of economists famously wrote a book about this very idea not too long ago called This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. I sadly haven't read it yet, but I've heard one of the authors speak a few times and I'm sure that it's excellent.

Anyway, my personal opinion is that the U.S. needs to reduce its debt starting now. We cannot afford to think that we're different than everyone else, because when you come right down to it we're not. I'm not forecasting some major catastrophe or anything like that. All I'm saying is that the potential is there for it to happen, and it would be prudent to guard against that. How we reduce the deficit is much less important than whether we reduce it. I would vote to raise taxes, cut spending, whatever needs to be done for this to happen. I of course have my opinions about what would be the best way to do it, but at this point we just need to get it done however is possible.

So, that's all I'm going to say. For those who want to know more, do read this excellent article which basically contains my view on the matter. And, if you've ever wanted to know the difference between the Keynesian way to get out of a recession (stimulus! bailouts!) and the Hayekian method (let the market work!), but you can only learn things in rap, you're in luck. These are actually really good, if you can believe it. Highly relevant stuff, and an easy way to learn a bit about it.