Category Archives: Economics

Oil Spill and Green Energy: Why America Doesn’t Care

Posted on July 22, 2010 | 1 comment

Size Baby!  Because SIZE matters!

And American’s love size.  And that’s all there is to it.

So, when given the option between savin’ the environment and drivin’ big cars, we choose big cars.

Always.

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Posted in Economics, Energy, Politics: National

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Would You Promote Your Worst Employee?

Posted on July 19, 2010 | 2 comments

Then why would you fund your worst performing school?

Consider a business owner with 3-4-5 stores.  Every year, she evaluates her business in an effort to determine which store is doing well and which is under performing.  I can see her ranking her stores, best to worst.

Now imagine if she were to take that list, identify the worst performing store and reward its manager with a raise. 

That’s what we do with our public schools.

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Posted in Economics, Education, Politics: North Carolina

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Impact of Minimum Wage: Black Teens

Posted on July 14, 2010 | 1 comment

Last month I posted about the minimum wage and it’s impact on teens.  Back then, I commented on how a post by Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem pushed me to finish my data analysis.

The results were drastic.  And now, I wanna show the same analysis but for black teens in America.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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The Changing Face of Labor in China

Posted on July 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

Slave wages in putrid working conditions.  That’s China.  Right?

If you think so, your opinion is shared by many American’s.  And it’s wrong.

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Posted in Economics, Liberty, Politics: International

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July 12, 2010: Chance of Recession in the Next 12 Months — 00.122%

Posted on July 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

For the 23rd consecutive month, the NY Fed says that the chance of recession in the next 12 months is under 1%.  However, for only the second time in 8 months has that value gone up.

The Twins have a better chance of winning the, um, of winning the, jeez, of winning the Division than we have of going into recession in the next 12 months.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

Some Notes on Chance of Recession

Posted on July 12, 2010 | 1 comment

Last month, I posted the NY Fed’s “Chance of Recession” spread.  It’s a fun little chart that shows the chance that our economy will be in recession in the next 12 months.  It’s SUPER fun now because the value is about as low as it’s ever been; 00.041%.

TJIC called shenanigans:

So you think that the chance of a recession is 200:1 against?

Tell you what, I’ll offer you great odds – 100:1 (that’s twice what the data suggests).

Good point.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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The Free Market Unleashes Untold Millions

Posted on July 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

I recently posted that the free market and competition will save consumers $462,000,000 per year.  Turns out I was wrong.

It could be closer to $1,709,400,000.

Per year.

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Posted in Economics, Technology

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Unemployment and Benefits

Posted on July 1, 2010 | 6 comments

Once upon a time I became unemployed.  And I registered for benefits.

Now, I looked for a job; kinda.  But after not very long, it became apparent what I was up against.

My benefit was something like $150.00 a week.  If I found work, the first $50 I earned didn’t count against my benefit.  However, after that each dollar earned meant one less dollar in benefit.

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Elections 2010, Politics: National

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Spoons and Buckets

Posted on June 30, 2010 | 2 comments

There is an old story about Milton Friedman.

It goes roughly like this:

Milton Friedman was being escorted past a large construction project by a government finance minister. Friedman observed that all the workers were using shovels and he asked the finance minister why there were no bulldozers or excavators. The minister said “Because, Mr. Friedman, our goal is JOBS.” to which Friedman responded, “If your goal is jobs, give them spoons.”

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Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

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More on Boosting

Posted on June 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

Earlier I mentioned that I found it funny that somehow having the government take money from some people and give it to other people is seen as a good thing.

Step away for a second about where the money comes from, from whom it comes and other such details, I am interested in the science that states, in essence,

“Money in the hands of someone unemployed is spent better than that same money in the hands of someone NOT unemployed.”

Can you answer that question?

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Posted in Economics, Welfare

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