Growth Industry

The third-quarter GDP results were just announced, and they showed a 3.5% growth rate.  This has prompted Ben Bernanke to declare that, no matter what the uninformed masses standing in the ever-growing unemployment lines might think, the recession is probably over.  As if on cue, the media have been quick to parrot the Federal government’s [...]

Macro for Dummies

 
Note:  I’m a big fan of The Daily Reckoning, and they have been kind enough to allow me to reprint some of their material here.  The following piece was written by Bill Bonner.  If you like this article, be sure to check out their site – there’s a lot more where this came from.
 
“He who [...]

Tooth Fairy Heralds Dollar’s Demise

My daughter is bouncing up and down with excitement.  This afternoon she lost another baby tooth (her third to date) and she knows that the tooth fairy will visit her tonight and leave her some money.  I remember the feeling.  As a kid, whenever I lost a tooth I could look forward to finding a shiny [...]

The Desert Island Test

 “No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.  If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.” 
Facebook users will no doubt recognize the above quote, which was recently posted as a “wave” by some supporters of socialized [...]

It’s Hard To Be Humble

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.” 
Perhaps libertarianism would be more popular if it weren’t such a humbling philosophy.  One of the key insights of libertarian thought, particularly as it relates to economics, is that the collective [...]

The Public Option

My little girl started first grade last week at the public school here in our neighborhood. We sent her to a private pre-school for the two years prior to kindergarten in the hope that we would be able to keep her in private school for the duration of her academic career. As everyone knows, though, [...]

Borrowing Our Way Out of Debt

So now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wants Congress to raise the national debt ceiling.  The debt ceiling is the statutory limit that Congress imposes on the federal government’s debt.  Of course, whenever the government’s debt approaches the maximum amount allowed by law, they simply raise the limit rather than doing anything nutty like cutting spending.  [...]

The Land of Milk and Honey

Senator Chuck Schumer recently introduced S1542, the “Milk Import Tariff Equity Act.”  If signed into law, the bill will impose quotas and increase tariffs on imported milk protein concentrate, or MPC.  MPC is not currently subjected to the same degree of protectionism as other dairy products, and food producers have naturally shifted to MPC as [...]

Demon Soda

According to the US government, I am overweight.  I’m 5’8” tall and this morning I weighed in at 187 pounds, which gives me a body mass index (BMI) of 28.4.  That’s pushing the upper limits of the “overweight” category, trending toward the dreaded “obese” label.  I have resolved to lose weight, not only for personal [...]

The Return of the Idiot

I just finished reading The Return of the Idiot (El Regreso del Idiota), by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, and Alvaro Vargas Llosa.  This book is the 2007 follow-up to Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot (El Manual del Perfecto Idiota Latinoamericano) written six years earlier.  The two volumes examine the reasons for [...]