I have seen the top of the Dow Jones index as 16,800, but when the ECB loosened monetary policy to an extent never before seen last week, the Dow Jones lofted over 16,800. It is now hovering below 17,000, but there are concerns that it should not loft higher. I refer to an article by […]

 Via the IMF comes this interesting note: Managing the revenue from natural resources—what’s a Finance Minister to do? By Sanjeev Gupta and Enrique Flores The Finance Minister answers her mobile. On the line is the Minister of Energy, who informs her that the country has struck oil and that he expects revenues from its sale […]

I’m posting this here as a topical subject.  It may not seem economics related, but to me it is as it speaks to trust.  There is no way a nation can continue to produce $16 trillion dollars a year and not have trust as a basic position to starting all conversations.  No nation built on […]

The Real News Network interviewed 2 scientists about a new study on current extinction rates. The scientists interviewed are Dr. Terry Root & Dr. Stuart L. Pimm. The study shows that extinctions are occurring much faster than previously thought and that within 100 years, one third to one half of all species could be extinct. […]

When I was a newbie Social Security commenter and then blogger back in the 1999-2004 era there was a day I only half faceticiously called “The Bestest Day of the Year at Webb House!”. Yes it was Social Security Report Release Day which came out like literal clockwork on March 31st, so much so that […]

Over at Tax Research UK, Richard Murphy offers a simple test to distinguish between tax planning and tax avoidance. As he told a journalist, “That is easy. It’s getting legal opinion.” With tax planning, Murphy says, you decrease your tax risk. “There are obvious examples: paying money into a pension, for example, does not create […]

This was an answer in the local Weekly Reader to a couple of others who insisted VA healthcare should be disassembled and handed over to the private sector. I guess I could have said “nuts; I did say “nonsense.” “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re […]

I wrote back on January 28, 2014… “This is a character defining moment in capitalism, when the majority are not aware that the end of a business cycle is forming. There is asymmetric information, if you will. A few understand it. The majority do not. So what should be a time of seeking a sustainable […]

Sorry for my absence. This is mainly a link to this post by Emily Badger at the still excellent wonkblog. just a quote a 10 percentage point increase in Medicaid eligibility among children in a state translated into a 5.2 percent decline in high school dropouts (among all students), a 1.1 percent increase in college […]