Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

It’s the big one honey, I know it…

I’ve been doing some numbers concerning personal income. Breaking out share of income, savings, GDP, etc based on BEA data and Saez’s data. I’m playing with it, have converted it to year 2000 dollars and will be looking at per capita relations too. Even thinking of converting it all to 1929 dollars. I plan a […]

FTA and WTO progress

The GAO has published an interesting analysis of Free Trade Agreements made since 2002(WTO GATTS style). Congress granted the President Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) in 2002 through the Trade Act of 20021 to negotiate agreements, including free trade agreements (FTA), which aim to reduce trade barriers and expand trade with selected trade partners. The legislation […]

Sewerage in the Shenendoah and Chesapeake Bay

The other end of the the water problem continues as well. A group of environmental advocates is suing Virginia over a decision it says allows a sewage plant to continue polluting waters that flow into the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay. The discharge from the North Fork Modular Reclamation and Reuse Facility was considered so harmful […]

OldVet writes about strong dollar policy

We know who’s smart and who’s not. It isn’t Secretary Paulson, who’s been speaking platitudes about a “strong dollar policy” for his entire term. Now China, main beneficiary of its basket-peg to the Dollar, makes pious noises that echo Paulson. Two birds are singing the same song, and neither is very sincere. Strong Dollar Policy“China […]

ken melvin writes about Black Holes

This is written by KenMelvin Black Holes: Just for the sake of discussion, let’s say that there were five hundred billionaires in the US yesterday, and that, on average, each was worth $10 billion, i.e., their total net worth was $5 trillion. Further, let’s assume that, being both smart and powerful; their average return on […]

What is the least water you need?

Pricing mechanisms make for some odd thinking, or thinking of odd things, whichever is more useful at the time. $100 oil. Will this be the iceberg that rips open the prow of our economy? Perhaps I have an odd take on this, but when I look at ‘C’ note oil I still see a bargain […]

Is forgetting the means to forgive

The NYT has an article that brings back memories. The ads are filled with images like Volkswagen buses festooned with groovy graffiti, daisies and other power flowers, peace signs, psychedelic drawings in DayGlo colors and hair, long beautiful hair, shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen (to quote a lyric from the era). Music, too, is being […]

Subprime becomes prime time lawsuits?

Lawsuits as noted in an earlier post might be the real problem for traders and some bankers unless the government figures out a fix. Now, just unveiled Thursday, comes the “freeze,” the brainchild of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. It sounds good: For five years, mortgage lenders will freeze interest rates on a limited number of […]

Entrepreneurs and image problems

The NYT reports that dyslexics form a solid succesfull economic spirit. It has long been known that dyslexics are drawn to running their own businesses, where they can get around their weaknesses in reading and writing and play on their strengths. But a new study of entrepreneurs in the United States suggests that dyslexia is […]

Updating design of AB-left hand side

I noticed that parts of the website are very dated and no longer accurate. Since no one is in charge with the time available to make changes such as cactus and pgl, I would like to begin the process to make the changes and come to some consensus of how and what to change. The […]