Votes, Vetoes, and the Constitution

President Obama vowed to veto any agriculture bill that does not include food stamps. The House of Representatives voted on an agriculture bill, and will vote separately on a bill to fund food stamps. The New York Times characterized the … Read More

Containing The Education Bubble: Is “Differential Tuition” The Answer?

The idea that an Engineer should pay the same for his degree as an English major sounds implausible on its face. It is a relief to see the Wall Street’s Journal Real Times Economics blog call the idea into … Read More

Russian Troops for “Security at Mass Events” in US! What Are They Thinking?

When people in power have more time and money than wisdom, the best we can expect from them is foolishness and waste. Usually we get worse. Thus comes an announcement of a meeting on June 25th between the Federal Emergency … Read More

Feds Play by Own Rules, Reap the Benefits

A town in Australia has one-upped Obamacare: Charges for going even one kilometer over the speed limit.

Brilliant! Who can resist going 61 in a 60? Nobody. The windfall? Millions per year for the Queensland government. And while Obamacare relies upon many thousands of expensive … Read More

Detroit is the Canary in the Coal Mine for Munies

I have pleasant memories of Detroit.  For almost fifty years, I have been making the summer drive to the Mackinaw City area of Michigan near the Upper Peninsula.  Until I was a teenager, we used to pass through Detroit on … Read More

Learning from Anti-Market Wal-Mart Hatred: Investing in the Invisible Makes More Sense

The city government of Washington DC is about to raise the minimum wage to $12.50 an hour, though the mayor is threatening to veto it. Wal-Mart officials have said they will pull out of three new stores that were to … Read More

Beyond Corporate Profits: TV Talking Heads Miss Loss of Small Business Income

Among television talking heads on stations like CNBC and Fox Business, the health of business tends to be measured only by corporate profits. That’s understandable given that these venues focus on the performance of stocks and bonds being traded … Read More

Who Wants To Buy A $20 Happy Meal? More Nonsense About A “Living Wage”

McDonald’s is under fire from a few people in the media for their website design which helps employees use budgeting to get ahead financially. The critics are up in arms that the budget expects employees to work a second job. … Read More

Zimmerman Verdict and National Dissolution

Events confirm moral truths. Thus does the ruling class’ contempt for the jury’s verdict in the George Zimmerman case illustrate the Judeo-Christian hierarchy of sins: In the Old Testament as well as the New, pride is worse than greed. Self-serving … Read More

Oil Prices Up: Media Should Look at Egypt, Bernanke and Obama

It can be very entertaining – though at the same time a bit bewildering and depressing – to observe the media trying to explain price changes in the market. And then there are the misguided policies from elected officials and … Read More

How to Quickly and Effectively Change Your Business… Overnight

Imagine your business is producing significantly more sales at better margins, with happier customers.

Many business owners struggle to change their businesses… for the better, of course. But there really is only one thing necessary to bring about radical … Read More

IRS Abuse Just a Customer Service Problem?

The New York Times’ news report that “a closer look at the I.R.S. operation [against conservatives] suggests that the problem was less about ideology than about how instructions to analyze applications were applied” reminds us of Groucho Marx’s story about … Read More

Dodd-Frankenstein Set to Go Global: Investors Beware

Three years after Dodd-Frank came alive, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was set to enforce its cross-border derivatives rules on July 12th, 2013. The CFTC has primary responsibility for overseas derivative trades (a small slice is reserved for the … Read More

Uncivil Wars: Gay Marriage, Immigration, and the Ruling Class Gloating

The 150th anniversary of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg invites us to keep in mind that civil wars are worse catastrophes than market crashes, and that avoiding them should be any nation’s priority. Today, American society is split socially and … Read More

Companies Come and Go, But Creative Destruction is Forever

Record companies used to have a business model that created terrific profits. These companies owned the rights to their product, built on the shoulders of creative and talented people, and then controlled the distribution system for that product. Consumers … Read More

How Can You Protect Your Money if You Don’t Know What it is?: Protecting Your Assets in an Age of Theft

Money. What is it? Why do we need more of it to buy the luxuries of life like bread, milk and sugar?

Money primarily consists of currency (notes and coin) and credit. Credit allows you to buy things just as … Read More

All in the Family: Ruling Class Moves Napolitano from One Giant Bureaucracy to Another

The University of California trustees’ appointment of Janet Napolitano to preside over the nation’s largest academic institution — a half million students, two hundred thousand employees, and $2.5 billion per year – is consistent with who she is and with … Read More

How to Keep Your Job in Troubled Times

In troubled times, people worry.  If they have jobs, they worry about the pay scale staying where it is. They worry about whether or not they’ll keep those jobs. And many, many people worry about how they will live if … Read More

Twinkie’s Preservatives: Private Capital and Non-Union Workers

Twinkies – along with my personal favorite, Hostess CupCakes – make their return to store shelves today. Call it the new Twinkie-nomics.

What’s the key economics/business lesson to be taken away from the resurrection of these tasty snacks from the … Read More

Tools Before Toys: Thinking About Icahn’s Move On Dell

The news has been filled with stories about how Institutional holder Service sided with Michael S. l rather than with activist investor Carl Icahn (see here and here, for example). I don’t have a real strong opinion on this particular … Read More

Forget the Rhetoric; Follow the Money

One of the biggest misunderstandings between many people is the flow of money and, especially, the flow of money from the purchase of foreign goods. “Buy American” or “buy Australian” are common refrains. But these slogans are the rhetoric of … Read More

Wal-Mart Proves Higher Minimum Wage Kills Jobs

And quite a few, in this case.  It’s just one glaring example of how this plays out nationwide.

According to this story, Wal-Mart is set to cancel the building of three new stores in the DC area if the … Read More

China’s Change from Psychotic to Neurotic is an Improvement

Reuven Brenner predicted in an article last March that China should continue to prosper, but there may be more than a few speed bumps along the way. He pointed out two major issues: first, there is an absence of both … Read More

How the ‘Asian Tiger’ Model Mauled the World Economy

“China Inflation Data Underscore Weak Economy” runs the New York Times headline datelined July 9th, 2013 — yet another in the unrelenting series of data points indicating economic slowdown in the world’s most populous country. Consumer prices rose only 2.7% … Read More