70 Words

Billions Blown

05/22/2012

The $2 billion blunder by J.P. Morgan, while not pretty, is no clarion call for added regulation. Rather, it shows that with enough capital mistakes of this magnitude can be easily absorbed. That is, while regulations can be skirted, and…

Read More

Euro Chicken anyone?

05/21/2012

What’s going between Greece and the rest of the Eurozone is a game of chicken. The Greeks think that if they quit the Euro, the pain for the rest of the Eurozone will be so severe everyone will, again, bail…

Read More

Scale It!

05/18/2012

The Friday File: Obesity rates (BMI above 29) in the US vary from a low of 21% in CO to a high of 34% in MS. The South has the highest prevalence of obesity (29.4%) followed by the Midwest (28.7%),…

Read More

Slick North Dakota

05/17/2012

During 3/12 ND passed AK to become the number two oil producing state with 575,000 barrels a day (bbl/d) compared to AK’s 567K bbl/d. TX holds down the top spot with 1.7 million bbl/d. CA is fourth with 230K bbl/d…

Read More

Structural or Cyclical?

05/16/2012

Some argue that the unemployed have skills that are simply not needed. Thus, deficit spending will not get us out of this “structural” recession. But, if this were a “structural” problem, the unemployment rate for recent college grads would be…

Read More

Euro Budget Craziness

05/15/2012

The European Stability and Growth Pact, that Germany is insisting on –-which requires governments to keep deficits to no more than 3% of GDP — is nuts. In good times, it promotes increased government spending but forces cuts in recessions.…

Read More

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News

05/14/2012

Over the next 20 years, 10K baby boomers turn 65 daily, doubling the number of Medicare enrollees. In part, that’s why annual Medicare spending is expected to reach an unsustainable $1 trillion by ’21; 20% of all government spending. While…

Read More

Baby, Baby?

05/11/2012

The Friday File: Twin births in the US are soaring. In ’09, 1 in 30 babies born was a twin. In ’80 it was just 1 in 53! Why? Women in their 30s just have fraternal twins more often and…

Read More

Bugs and Drugs

05/10/2012

Antibiotics (ABs) work against bacteria, not viruses. Yet out of ignorance, patients press doctors to prescribe ABs for viruses. Doctors do it to please ill-informed patients. Regrettably, this results in drug resistant bacteria; a terrifying public health hazard. The dilemma…

Read More

The China Syndrome

05/09/2012

China’s economy must slow dramatically, here’s why. China’s growth over the last few decades has been based on huge government investment. But good projects are getting hard to find and rich countries are growing slowly, if at all. Thus exports…

Read More

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives