EDITOR:

I am responding to Jesse Traub’s response to my recent letter about inflation. I disfavor prolonged back-and-forth arguments on the editorial page, so it is my intention that this will be my last entry on this thread (unless Jesse Traub comes up with a spectacular assertion that demands an answer). But, Jesse Traub is invited to write as many responses as she / he desires.

I have a fairly extensive education in economics during undergraduate school at Michigan State University. All of my economics professors were descendants of the “Chicago School,” headed by Milton Friedman (Nobel Prize Lauriat), so Monitory Theory was predominant (which has a much better track record than Keynesian Theory). I have kept up on economic theory, informally, ever since. I assume that Jesse Traub is well educated in economics.

My calculation of the expected inflation was based on the assumption that Obama / Biden would actually spend the 6 trillion that they planned to spend. I hope that they are only able to spend less, which will lead to smaller inflation.

When confronted with a question, one can use the best information available, the best knowledge available and calculate an answer. Or, one can bow to authority. The Congressional Budget Office is an authority, but one with a mission, a bias, and an agenda, none of which are revealed publically. Let’s look at a recent opinion by an “Authority:” I am typing this on Saturday, May 8. On Thursday, May 6, all of the Administration’s Economic “Experts” were saying that we would see a million new jobs last quarter. When the real numbers were revealed, the new jobs numbered about a quarter million; so the Authority missed by only 75 percent.

Please choose: Think for yourself; or bow to authority.

Ralph B. Blasier

Escanaba