70 Words

Delayed Demography

01/12/2012

As standards of living in industrializing nations improve, their population soars. Here’s why. As better sanitation, food and healthcare are introduced death rates in industrializing countries rapidly fall. But, birth rates remain stubbornly unchanged as it usually takes at least…

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Money for Nothing

01/11/2012

The Federal Reserve transferred all $76.9 billion of its profit to the Treasury in ’11 down from the record $79.3 billion in ’10. The Fed is profitable because rather than borrowing money, it simply creates what it needs. Thus all…

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Lobbying Pays

01/10/2012

There are tons of lobbyists in DC because it pays to lobby. A paper out of the University of Kansas shows that lobbying for The American Jobs Creation Act of ‘04, which reduced taxes to 5.25% from 35% on repatriated…

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Keystone Pipeline is Key

01/09/2012

Because demand creates supply building the Keystone XL pipeline makes sense. If we don’t build it Canada will build a pipeline to the BC coast and sell its energy to Asia, leaving us increasingly reliant on OPEC. Worse, the oil…

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Worth More than Diamonds

01/06/2012

The Friday File: Psychology moves markets yet economists and others don’t appreciate it. Last month Liz Taylor’s spectacular jewelry collection went to auction and took in $116 million, five times pre-auction estimates. The auction more than doubled the record for…

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Not all Debt is Equal

01/05/2012

While being in debt is not so great for a household–because interest payments leave the household and go to a bank, or credit card company, debt can be tolerable for a country. If the debt is largely internally held (Japan),…

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Killer Cars

01/04/2012

Heavier cars are safer for their occupants, but more dangerous for all others. The baseline chance of being killed, given that you are in a collision, is one in 500. If you now increase the weight of one of the…

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Crystal Ball Economics

01/03/2012

Last year I made predictions; some right others wrong. Unless you know how good my predictions were, valuing them going forward is meaningless. With that in mind, I am pleased to inform you that 24 of my 32 ‘11 predictions…

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A Happy and Joy-Filled 2012!

12/30/2011

I want to take this opportunity to thank you all very much for your interest in my blog. I also wish you and yours all the best for 2012. May it be a year of health, joy, laughter and prosperity…

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Are all Jobs Created Equal?

12/29/2011

With the presidential primaries about to begin, what makes me nuts is watching Republican presidential contenders like Perry and Romney endlessly argue over who created more jobs as governor, including, gasp, government jobs. Yet out of the other side of…

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