Economics achieved coherence as a science by amputating most of human nature. Now economists are starting with those parts of emotional life that they can count and model (the activities that make them economists). But once they’re in this terrain,…
Last week, two prominent commentators came out with bullish pieces. I was anxious to read them to measure the bullish case, but in the end I was unpersuaded. ***** The first piece was from Princeton Economist, and former Vice Chairman…
There is a great debate raging between students of monetary economics. On the one hand, there are the deflationists who point to the massive deleveraging in the housing, mortgage, credit and stock markets. The fall in prices in these asset…
Last week Ken Fisher went on TechTicker and said that the US is under-indebted and that more debt would actually be beneficial to the economy. That’s because our rate of return on assets is higher than our cost of borrowing. …
My sales from ’88 to ’92 were $10,000 to $13,000 a month, and the cost of goods was only $1,000 to $2,000 a month. Then they started putting out so much product, raising the price on packs and putting chase…
26 of 45 economists who responded to a WSJ survey question conducted over the last few days said the recession is already over. Another 12 believe it will end this month (August) or next. Another 6 believe it will end by the…
So it seems that we aren’t going to have a second Great Depression after all. What saved us? The answer, basically, is Big Government. …… So what saved us from a full replay of the Great Depression? The answer, almost…
Interesting article in today’s New York Times on the US Postal Service: “Increasing Postal Deficits Intensify Talks On Solution”, July 30, B1. This highlights a key difference between the operations of a private company and a public one. Private delivery…
Bill O’Reilly kicked off his O’Reilly Factor program yesterday (video here) claiming that a front page WSJ story on oil speculators driving the price of oil (“Traders Blamed For Oil Spike” (subscription required), WSJ, July 28, A1) vindicated his claims of the same from…
Krugman is relentless in his calls for increasing government involvement in the economy and regulation: What’s clear is that Wall Street in general, Goldman very much included, benefited hugely from the government’s provision of a financial backstop — an assurance that…