Reddit mentions of The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japan's Great Recession

I'm not qualified tbh. I'm just an armchair investor who reads investing & macroeconomics books (a plug for one of my favorites) and invests as a hobby. Been actively investing about 15 years outside of my 401k/Roth. I figure I know more then most on here because of the general quality of comments. But every now and then a gem is uncovered and I learn something new. I use the reddit enhancement suite that keeps track of who I upvote ... and there are a couple of posters here in /r/investing that really know what they're talking about (or at least I think they do). So I actually kind of stalk them to see what they're talking about.

My goal of commenting is slightly different. My advice isn't so much advice as it is me expressing how I think things are. I actually want to be thoughtfully challenged/corrected by someone who knows more than I do. I want engagement ... especially from the couple of posters who I value what they say. I want to be shown why I'm wrong or some nuance I don't understand or some additional link to some data set that's thought provoking.

Awhile ago I was holding some REITS and a bond fund in my taxable account (along with other things) while my Roth & 401k were 100% indexed equities. It stupidly had not crossed my mind that this was tax inefficient. I was commenting in a post and was challenged and called an idiot for holding those items where I was.

I made it a project to make my holdings as tax efficient as possible. I now do not hold anything that pays a non-qualified dividend outside of tax free accounts. It was some redditor who called me out on this. Should've been obvious ... even to a rookie ... but it unfortunately wasn't to me.

That's why I come here. That's why I comment.

Another pet subject of mine is that I think Series I Savings Bonds are the only treasury bonds somebody with a five to six-figure portfolio should be buying outside of a 401k/Roth. I espouse this continually on this sub ... partially because I think I'm right ... but partially because if I'm wrong I hope that eventually someone who knows more than I do will tell me why I'm wrong in a sufficiently convincing manner and I'll change my opinion.

Richard Koo - The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics

http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Grail-Macroeconomics-Revised-Recession/dp/0470824948/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293681846&sr=8-1

if you want a book treatment on the subject:

The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japan's Great Recession https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470824948

Mixed. On the one hand, first few chapters do bring quality insights. On the other, those insights were covered in his first book, and his insistence on how the QE 'trap' could cause a complete economic collapse is almost as laughable as his assertion that "Japan saved the global economy in the post-GFC era." Also, he spends WAY too much time on the EZ chapter when all he had to say was "Debt assumption."

Overall, I'd recommend the Holy Grail over the QE Trap, particularly because the focus on Profit Maximization vs. Debt Reduction is clearly a core tenant of capitalism. The QE trap? Not so much.

>and not the underlying economic theory surrounding the policy.

The policy is almost entirely motivated by two things: first, begin with the standard Keynesian model (lots of links are all over the internet, but if you want me to explicate PM!). Second, bring in Richard Koo's idea of a balance sheet recession well explained here: http://www.amazon.com/Holy-Grail-Macroeconomics-Lessons-Recession/dp/0470824948/ref=la_B001IZVKKK_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366976467&sr=1-1

The solutions are classic Koo (except on monetary policy, he's a crank on that).