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The Friday file: Ever wonder why US credit card technology is substandard compared to Europe and Asia? The answer, cheap phone calls. Because calls here are cheap, credit card transactions are called in for authorization. In Europe, where state-owned monopolies…
Read MoreWith the Fed, the Bank of England and recently the Bank of Japan engaging in massively expansionary monetary policy, central banks in South Africa, India, Australia, Poland, Korea, Denmark, Israel and elsewhere are lowering their interest rates too. They are…
Read MoreIn an upset, the British Columbia Liberal Party narrowly won re-election over the left-leaning New Democratic Party. Importantly, the biggest plank in the Liberal’s platform was backing pipelines to transport oil and gas from Alberta through BC to the Pacific…
Read MoreAdding to the low inflation environment we’re in, is Japan’s central-bank bond buying. By reducing the value of the Yen by about 20% in just a few months, it has made buying Japanese cars and other Japanese goods cheaper. And…
Read MoreBecause interest to bondholders is tax deductible, while dividend payments to shareholders are not, lowering the corporate tax rate will reduce the incentive of all corporations including banks to raise capital by issuing debt. Assuming the top corporate tax rate…
Read MoreThe Friday File: While female spiders are well known to eat their suitors following intercourse, the question has always been why. Turns out, spiderlings born of females that eat their partner have a 48% of survival while spiderlings born to…
Read MoreShuanghui International Holdings’ purchase of Smithfield Foods for $7.1 billion, including debt, will be approved by federal regulators. This is because the relevant regulator, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), only blocks deals involving national security. And…
Read MoreThe budget deficit is falling rapidly and is now projected to be $642 billion, or 4% of GDP, in FY 2013. It was projected to be $200 billion higher just three months ago. This improvement will delay the next debt…
Read MoreIncluding a one-time $50.6 billion adjustment, Fannie’s Q1 income was an amazing $58.1 billion! Even excluding the $50.6 billion, its ordinary earnings of $8.1 billion were outstanding. Assuming it does that well the rest of 2013, Fannie’s 2013 income would…
Read MoreThe Friday file: Since 1940, raisin farmers have been required to give away a percentage of their crop to the Raisin Administrative Committee. The RAC annually decides how many raisins are needed and confiscates the rest. In 2003, farmers forfeited…
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