Tag: economics
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Define “Change”
I have come to the conclusion that I should not listen to national news – it just gets me agitated. I was driving home listening to NPR and was treated to actual soundbites from the rallying speech that President Obama gave to the Democratic caucus meeting. I had head about that, but hearing these gems…
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Federalist Nos. 30 – 36
Federalist 30 Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions. A complete power, therefore, to procure a regular and adequate supply of it, as far as the resources of the community will permit,…
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One Thing Is Sure
I have enjoyed a number of discussions about politics and our current economic crisis over this Thanksgiving break. During those discussions my father-in-law made the observation that those who advocate for allowing this crisis to run its course without government intervention need to consider the implications of that course and ask themselves if they are…
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“Free Market” Health Care
The call for Lawyers to join health-reform efforts was a not so subtle reminder to me about how "free" our health care market is currently. We can’t really pretend that the cost of services or the services rendered are determined by patients and providers. In fact, they are not even determined by a combination of…
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Support But Don’t Trust
I am a strong supporter of our government. I obey the laws (even little ones like speed limits and seat belt laws) and pay my taxes without complaint and without seeking any tricks to minimize those taxes. Supporting the government, however, does not mean that I trust the government when they ask for expanded powers.…
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Real Capitalists
My reaction to Obi wan’s claim that "pro-capitalist conservatives have pushed for governmental intervention into our capital markets" was that nobody who supported the bailout has any claim to being a capitalist. I find that my position is much more clearly stated by Judy Shelton in the Wall Street Journal: Honest capitalism requires the following:…
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A Budgetary Hat-Trick
Jason shared a link to Budget Hero and I had to go take a look. If the game is to be believed, all is not yet lost in the quest to get a balanced budget without abandoning all vestiges of the social safety net that we have been spinning for the last 80 years. I…
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Financial Foundations Exposed
News reports related to the fluxuations of the stock market are not surprising or inconsistent, but when I stop to consider what they say I find that they are either disturbing or based on faulty assumptions. This holds true whether we are talking about reports of falling or rising stocks and the report on today’s…
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Something for Nothing
As I have been thinking and reading about the credit crisis my mind has been chewing on the idea that there are two very different kinds of investing. One is the kind of investing where you put in an initial outlay of resources and follow that with efforts to improve the investment (whether that is…