…Calmly observing the changing world

The global economic crisis affects every country in slightly different ways. For Iceland, it meant a currency collapse, which is perhaps preferable to the non-currency collapse of Ireland, whose Euro-strangled economy is truly on the brink (Telegraph). But what about those countries that are already poor? Do they have even farther to fall, or will [...]

Whenever the economy is “bad”, it is always the number one issue: it’s the economy stupid. So somehow, to get Obama’s policies implemented, he will have to couch them in economic terms. That the result becomes completely nonsensical hasn’t seem to have detered him. President Obama’s latest push for health care involves economic arguments in favor [...]

The monetary system of the United States is controlled by the Federal Reserve, which is a private bank whose shareholders are unknown, whose profits are unknown, and whose policies are only deciphered through Congressional hearings – during which representatives of the Federal Reserve speak in FedSpeak, and run intellectual rings around most of the Congressmen, [...]

In a wild and crazy financial story (no… really!), two Japanese citizens were caught by Italian border patrol agents while on a train at Chiasso headed to Switzerland with an unusual amount of foreign bonds. To be clear, by “foreign bonds” in this case I mean American. And by “an unusual amount”, I mean $134,500,000,000 [...]

I’ve never known quite what to make of memorial day celebrations, but I try not to take things too literally. I fail, but I try. Some people went to parades, or even tea parties. Maybe some somberly went to cemetaries, and hopefully everyone at least thought of the sacrifice that freedom requires, and was thankful for those [...]

As the relentless forces of globalism seemingly march towards complete domination of our economic environment, it’s fascinating to see the most ancient and local of all economic forces starting anew in the United States: the market. Yesterday, I walked about 3 blocks from my house to the local Saturday Market (the “farmers’ market”). It’s only [...]

With stress tests, politics, and even beauty pageants dominating the headlines, it can be difficult to locate the truly important story. It might be interesting to ponder what events occurring right now will be viewed as important by future generations. Some of these events like the Obama presidency are obvious. Others, may lurk deeper beneath [...]

Facing almost certain defeat in the 2010 Republican primaries, the senior Senator from Pennsylvania joined the Democratic Party today. In a style reminiscent of a bygone era, the senator plainly spoke of it as a political necessity, as it was clear that he hoped to secure President Obama’s support in 2010 in exchange for yet [...]

After spending the last two nights rushing to file my taxes, I had to go check out the nearest Tea Party. If that sentence makes no sense to you, you should know that “Tea Parties” have been organized around the country to protest… well… bailouts, socialism, increased federal spending, etc.  Sure, it may be a [...]

This is a recent quote from Presdient Obama. Let us play a quick game and guess the next line of the quote. This plan will require significant resources from the federal government… but while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be greater. For it [...]