Modern Day Mercantilism
An imaginary European seaport painted by Claude Lorrain around 1639, at the height of mercantilism Wikimedia Commons / Musée du Louvre / Mbzt In the year 1776, the same year in which 13 … Read More
Category: Economic Issues
Ideas about how an economy works. Organized ideologies about economies go by names like Keynesianism, neoclassical economics, socialism, etc., etc.
The Divisive Issue of Foreign Trade
Container shipping has revolutionized foreign trade by greatly reducing costs of transportation by ship, rail, and truck. Wikimedia Commons / Hafiz343 I have written several times about why foreign trade … Read More
U.S. Economy and Stock Markets, February 2017
Real U.S. Per capita GDP in chained 2009 dollars (blue curve) and its percent change year over year (maroon curve). The thick green line is a linear fit of the … Read More
Federal Expenditure and Revenue Realities
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Brady’s controversial plan for “border adjustment” taxes are being fiercely opposed. Wikimedia Commons / Office of Congressman Kevin … Read More
How Should the U.S. React to Foreign Challenges?
Aspects of U.S. Foreign Relations Top (Left to Right): U.S. Army soldiers in Ramadi, August 2006 Wikimedia Commons / Air Force Tech Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock Container ship from … Read More
The U.S. Interactions With Other Nations
United Nations Headquarters in New York City Wikimedia Commons / Neptuul Very little divides American citizens more than questions about how the U.S. should interact with other nations. This has always … Read More
Are There Economic Laws?
The four greatest neoclassical economic philosophers: from top left clockwise, Adam Smith (Wikimedia Commons / Scottish National Gallery), J.B.Say (Wikimedia Commons), Carl Menger (Wikimedia Commons / Mises.org) , and David Ricardo(Wikimedia Commons … Read More
Say’s Law Vs. Keynes Law: At the Heart of the Argument
Left: Jean-Baptiste Say (5 January 1787 – 15 November 1832), Wikimedia Commons Right: John Maynard Keynes (5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), Wikimedia Commons / National Portrait Gallery At … Read More
The Federal Government’s Projected Bankruptcy
Which Way Can We go! (c) Can Stock Photo / svanhorn There is no doubt about it! Unless the federal government drastically reduces mandatory entitlement expenditures in the near future, … Read More
The Dodd-Frank Act: A Giant Stride Along the Road To Serfdom
Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) Wikimedia Commons / United States Congress, Wikimedia Commons / United States Congress In my last post, I wrote of how federal … Read More
Dirigisme No Longer Works. What Replaces It?
Line of shoppers in front of a Polish shop in the 1980s. A common sight in Warsaw pact countries ruled by communism. Wikimedia Commons Actually, dirigisme as a way of … Read More
Get Ready For the Real Revolution!
President-Elect Donald Trump conversing with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, November 10, 2016 Wikimedia Commons / Pete Souza The shell-shocked mass media and progressive pundits still are having … Read More
Obama Has Not Produced An Economic Recovery
Plot of annual Real U.S. GDP per capita growth in percent averaged over ten year periods The Gallup Organization Despite all the parroting by much of the media, Obama has … Read More
Human Values and the Dictates of Reality
Are you ready for your soul to be weighed? Morguefile.com / Southernfried This is not an an essay on how human values and ethics are irreconcilable with Reality. At least … Read More
Turning of the Tide of Dirigisme?
Karl Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883): Is his time finally finished? Wikimedia Commons / John Jabez Edwin Mayall The administration of President Barack Obama may have marked the high-water mark … Read More
President Trump Faces a Divided People
Donald Trump giving his victory speech early this morning YouTube / RT.com Donald J. Trump’s victory yesterday to become the President-elect of the United States is a fitting surprise for … Read More
How a Bursting Stock Market Bubble Will Hurt Everyone
OOPS! A Bear! (c) Can Stock Photo Approximately eight years ago, progressives were screaming that capitalists had with their avaricious, dishonest and selfish behavior thrown us into another Great Depression. … Read More
The Threat of the U.S. Stock Market Bubble
The New York Stock Exchange Wikimedia Commons The last time we were hit with a devastating recession, the Great Recession of 2007-2009, it was caused by the bursting of a … Read More
Does Trump Have a Chance?
Screen shot from last night’s final Presidential Debate As aired by C-SPAN Donald J. Trump is certainly not an articulate man, a weakness that is especially troubling for an aspirant … Read More
Perspectives on Unemployment
Percent of men, ages 25 to 54, who are not working and not looking for work versus year. New York Times/Bureau of Labor Statistics When a founding and respected member … Read More
Why Isn’t the US Economy Booming?
A wartime factory worker in 1940s Fort Worth, Texas Wikimedia Commons/Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division On opening up my online edition of the Wall Street Journal this morning, … Read More
The Consequences of a Hillary Clinton Presidency
Imagine Hillary Clinton here. The Oval Office during the administration of William Jefferson Clinton Wikimedia Commons/National Archives and Records Administration I hate to say it, but it sure looks like … Read More
U.S. Economy and Stock Markets, October 2016
The time-evolution of the GDPNow statistic from the Center for Quantitative Economic Research of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Image Credit: Federal Reserve District Bank of Atlanta/Center for Quantitative … Read More
How Is the Weather Like a Country’s Economy?
Hurricane Isabel, a category 5 hurricane, seen from the International Space Station in September 2003. This deadly storm had many of the same system characteristics in the planet’s weather that … Read More
Labor Market Not Nearly As Good As Many Think
The kind of jobs that are available? A railroad work crew in 1941 near Bellefont, Kansas. Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons/National Archives and Records Administration/Charles O’Rear, 1941, Photographer Many have been … Read More
Hillary and The Donald On the Economy
Our sad choices: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Photo Credits Left to Right: WikiMedia Commons/Voice of America, Wikimedia Commons/Michael Vadon On the day when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are … Read More
Economic Optimism Fading
The Wall Street Journal considers these three declining indicators as indicative of continuing economic stagnation. Wall Street Journal/Federal Reserve District Bank of St. Louis The Wall Street Journal has just … Read More
Hillary and The Donald: What a Choice!
Which to Choose? Photo Credits: CNN.com and CNN.com The choices we have for president, while … Read More
The Dirigiste Mind
Particularly notable dirigistes from the past. From top-left clockwise: King Louis XIV of France, Karl Marx, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini Image Credits from top-left clockwise: Wikimedia Commons/Louvre Museum, Wikimedia Commons/John Jabez … Read More
Is Russia Stable?
Moscow Victory Day Parade, 2015 Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru Russia is having increasingly difficult economic problems, as was discussed in my last post. A large part of the reason for that can … Read More