Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Friday, May 7, 2010

Where Your Tax Dollars Will Go


For context, here's the spending breakdown for some of the big-ticket items in 2009, based on the numbers in this CBO report:

Defense, 18%
Social Security, 18%
Medicare, 12%
Medicaid, 7%
Interest, 5%

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Just The Tip Of The Iceberg


This link will take you to an explanation of the SEC's case against Goldman Sachs.

China's Real Estate Bubble


There's a lot of pressure being placed on China to allow its currency to appreciate. This is reminiscent of the pressure placed on Japan in the mid-1980s that served as the lead move toward its eventual lost decade. The link takes you to an article from a Japanese economist offering China some advice.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Learn These, Or Else!!!!

Ten Key Principles in Economics

Everything has a cost. There is no free lunch. There is always a trade-off.

Cost is what you give up to get something. In particular, opportunity cost is cost of the tradeoff.

One More. Rational people make decisions on the basis of the cost of one more unit (of consumption, of investment, of labor hour, etc.).

Incentives work. People respond to incentives.

Open for trade. Trade can make all parties better off.

Markets Rock! Usually, markets are the best way to allocate scarce resources between producers and consumers.

Intervention in free markets is sometimes needed. (But watch out for the law of unintended effects!)

Concentrate on productivity. A country’s standard of living depends on how productive its economy is.

Sloshing in money leads to higher prices. Inflation is caused by excessive money supply.

!! Caution: In the short run, falling prices may lead to unemployment, and rising employment may lead to inflation.
permanent link

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Remedy For Our Ailing Economy? Sacrifice

After reading the article linked above, comment on the following statements in the box below.
*Unlike your grandparent's generation, who were born and raised during the Great Depression, your generation is ill-equipped to make the sacrifices necessary to get the nation's finances under control.
*America is an economy in decline, and in the foreseeable future there is nothing on the horizon that will generate the type of economic growth we witnessed in the 1950s and 60s. Therefore, our country should anticipate at least a decade of economic stagnancy.

Click on the comment link below and a box will appear.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Tuesday, January 5, 2010