Marc Faber and economics

Miscellaneous General
,
1

Does anybody here subscribe to the GloomBoomDoom report? Faber seems to have eclectic knowledge in economics and (more interestingly) economic history. So I’m wondering how different is his perspective from Austrian school? On history and general economics

2

He also cites economists from Harvard and stuff so I think he is a positivist

3

I have seen Faber citing Ludwig Von Mises and in all his tv appearances I think he is very austrian.

But he is an inversor and just doesnt talk about economic schools.

4

I subscribe to the GDB report. I will renew for another year when it’s out.

Faber appears to have a sound understanding of “real” economics. I have not read anything from him that conflicts with Austrian Econ. His web page has GDB report examples:

http://www.gloomboomdoom.com/public/pSTD.cfm?pageSPS_ID=1000

and

http://www.gloomboomdoom.com/public/pSTD.cfm?pageSPS_ID=1400

5

New Freedom Radio interview with Marc Faber and questioning him where his economic thoughts originate. He says it’s Austrian. But he does give some credit to Keynes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzazGIUV8qw

6

I watched the first few minutes earlier today, and then I facepalmed. Faber says he thinks it’s good (as per Keynes’ theory) for government to take money out of the economy during ‘good times’ and to spend money in ‘bad times’. What a total fail. It’s not good to take out money of the economy ever, and it’s also never good to spend the money that government has.

I feel embarrassed that Stefan had him on the show, and even more so that Stefan appeared to agree with what Faber just said.

At that point I turned it off though, so I can’t comment on the rest.

7

I agree. I suggested the video before listening to much of it. It does answer the original posters question though. I was a little disappointed that Faber would give Keynes any credit at all.

Having said that, I don’t learn about economics from Faber. And he doesn’t teach it in his GDP reports. He mainly comments on current economic events and what future trends will happen.

8

lol, well I imagine he was just being ‘respectful’ by not ‘attacking?’ the high profiled guy’s take on min. issue right off the bat. If it wasn’t an interview, if it was a call on theory or a proper podcast on a specific topic, from say a normal caller, he probably would have picked up on it.

Stef is obviously ‘excited?’ to get such an interview, and is using it to partly advertise for his site, as he posted a thread of the interview in the forums here.

shrugs

9

Are you subscribed to the actual Gloom Boom Doom report or to the Monthly Newsletter?

10

I think you misunderstood him. I think what he meant was that if the government is going take money out of then is “okay” if they do it during the good times. I’m sure that if you asked Faber if the government should take money at all, that he would say no.

11

I paid like $200 for one year and can log into his website to obtain past reports and I also receive an email every month containing a pdf of the report he puts out on the 1st of the month. The report is typically 20 to 30 pages or so and sometimes contains additional essays written by other people that he passes along.

Is there a Newsletter also? Is it free? How do I get that?

12

He was saying how he thought there was something good in Keynes’ theory. And that it was ‘misapplied’. I don’t think that means he was only going as far as ‘it is better to take out money in good times than it is to take out money during bad times’ (which begs the question of the purpose of such a statement).

You don’t come up with a ‘Keynes was misapplied’ story if you think that government/monopoly/violent intervention in the market is bad.

Conclusion: he is confused and doesn’t have a coherent theory of economics. You can’t have a little bit of Austrianism and a little bit of Keynesianism.

13

That’s the Monthly Market Commentary. http://www.gloomboomdoom.com/public/pSTD.cfm?pageSPS_ID=1000. The Gloom Boom Doom Report is a different publication.

14

Faber’s comments in that interview inspired my thread here.

15

You are correct. I thought I was getting the GDB reports. The website doesn’t say how much the report is. I just requested a quote from them on how much the report will cost in addition to the $200 market commentary subscription. When I get a response I will let you know the price.

16

I got a response back from Marc Faber’s group inquiring on the cost of his gloom doom boom report. If I remember correctly, this is why I opted for the monthly market commentary. The $750/yr GDB report is in addition to the $200/yr you must pay to get the monthly market commentary.

Thank you for your interest in our “Gloom, Boom & Doom Report”.

An annual cost of a subscription will be USD 750.

I am attaching a copy of the subscription form with this e-mail. Please
complete the form and return it
to us should you have an interest in subscribing after reading the
reports.

There is no particular day in the month the report comes out, it all
depends on Dr Faber’s travel schedule. All in all, there will be 12
reports per year. The reports are sent out by post (hard copy) every
month. They are not available electronically.

In the unlikely event that a person wishes to cancel their subscription in
the middle of it, we do not offer refunds but rather continue to send the
reports until the subscription runs out.

You may be interested to know that a new book written by Dr Faber entitled
“Tomorrow’s Gold” is just out and is available for sale on our website:
http://www.gloomboomdoom.com

Let us know if we could be of further assistance.

With kind regards.

Yours sincerely,
Lucie Wang
Office Manager

Marc Faber Limited
Suite 3311-3313
Two International Finance Centre
8 Finance Street, Central
Hong Kong
Tel: (852)-2801-5411/10
Fax: (852)-2845-9192