Tag Archives: Capitalism

Economic Value

Posted on August 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

A very quick primer on what I think is Economics 101:

  • When two parties voluntarily enter into contract, each one, by definition, comes out ahead.
    • The milk I get from the grocer is worth more to me than the money I give to the grocer.
    • The money the grocer gets from me is worth more than the milk the grocer gives to me.
    • This is an example of a GROWING economy where people yearn to trade.
  • When one or more parties are forced into contract, one or the other -or both-, by definition, comes out behind.
    • When forced to sell milk at a price below market value, the grocer receives less money than the milk is worth.
    • When forced to buy labor at a price above market value, the employer pays more for the labor than the labor is worth.
    • This is an example of a shrinking economy.

As a point of fact.  I actively pursue things that create a situation where I come out ahead.  I avoid those where I come out behind.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Raising Men

Tagged ,

We Are Socialist: And So Can You

Posted on August 2, 2011 | 6 comments

I’m pretty free market.  I’m also of the mind that the best incentives are the ones that you remember your dad teaching you or that you teach your kids.  Hard work, eat your vegetables, save your money, do your homework….stuff like that.

I like to think that most America teaches these things to their kids.  And to the extent that some of us are better or worse, I guess that’s okay.  But the idea is the same.  This is a place where, if you work hard enough, you can have anything you want.  Which, I’ve always thought the inverse were then true as well.  This is a place where if you DON’T work hard enough, you can’t have anything you want.

So, I don’t like socialism.  Either as a way to teach our kids how to live or as an economic system where we organize our society.

But we are.

Continue reading →

6 Comments

Posted in Economics, Economy, Government, Politics: National

Tagged , , , ,

Economics: Supply and Deman – Twins Style

Posted on July 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

So, yeah, the Twins have been horrible since the start of the season.  Some of that has to do with some guys getting hurt, to be sure, but I think most of it has to do with not having very many good players.

However, as fate would have it, the Twins play in a  horrible division of baseball and are only 6 games out of 1st.

The Twins think they’re “in it”.

And so too, it seems, do the fans:

The defending American League Central champs struggled out of the gate with a mixture of poor play and injuries. Throw in some inclement weather and it was the “perfect storm” according to Michael Nowakowski, one of the owners of Ticket King, an online ticket broker. A representative from StubHub agreed, saying brokers were “giving away 400 to 500 tickets a game.”

…

As he negotiated a deal Thursday, one scalper said he was selling $60 tickets for $5 early in the season. “There was an abundance of tickets on the street. It was bad,” he said. But scalpers were getting as much as $35 more than face value per ticket for the first game following the All-Star break.

In a market that’s widely seen as free, the street, literally, is determining the value of a Twins game.

Fascinating.

An interesting side note:  Notice that in each case, the two parties that exchanged goods–one money for tickets, the other tickets for money–walked away feeling “richer” than they did when they met.  One party was able to ttrade some amount of cash for something that meant more to them; a baseball game.  The other party was able to trade a baseball game for something that meant more to them; cash.

This is the text book example of how trade creates wealth.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Fun

Tagged , , ,

Markets In Everything: Domain Names

Posted on July 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

It seems that where anything is bought and sold, certain rules are true:

A new index launched on Wednesday shows for the first time that even domain names can offer a window into the economy, just as stocks do.

The first-ever domain pricing index, which was created by economist Dr. Thies Lindenthal, joins the ranks of similar economic indicators that track everything from consumer products and homes to truck loads.

…

Domain prices rapidly gained in value from 2006 through 2007 before peaking in September of that year prior to the recession. Not surprisingly, so did the Nasdaq.

Shortly after, when valuations across the board started to fall, both tumbled. The biggest drop was in the heart of the recession between September 2007 and January 2009, with the IDNX and Nasdaq sliding about 31% and 50%, respectively.

Both started to gradually rebound in the first half of 2009 and now sit at their highest valuation since the IDNX began tracking domains in 2005.

While the two are neatly aligned, the IDNX always seems to stay ahead of the Nasdaq and remains stable when compared with Google (GOOG), showing it is less volatile in the face of severe economic headwinds.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics

Tagged , ,

Baseball And Hopscotch Are More Fun

Posted on June 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

It’s no secret, the hard makes the great.

This is true in sports, in business and in baseball.

That it wouldn’t be equally so in governing is silly.  Look, do I want people to do the right thing?  Of course.  Do I want money to flow from those that have to those that need?  Yes.  Is it hard to manage a group of people into doing that right thing?  Without a doubt.  Would it be easier to just pass a law? For sure.

But there can be little doubt that a group of people voting that property be transferred from one to another is as tyrannical as a feudal king simply taking it.

Liberty is tough; but the tough is what makes it great.  Demonstrated here via

Leave a comment

Posted in Economics, Liberty, Politics: International, Politics: National

Tagged , , ,

How To Break A Monopoly

Posted on June 28, 2011 | 4 comments

We hate monopolies.

People fear ’em and the government works to find and destroy ’em.

They’re bad and they’re evil; scourges  on civilization.

I mostly agree.  I think monopolies would be able to take advantage of markets and prices and demand and supply to benefit themselves without being subject to normal natural checks and balances.

With that said, I do not, do NOT, believe that a monopoly can exits in an open market without the aid of government.

That is government regulation creates and sustains monopolies, not free markets.

Thought experiment:  Think of one single naturally occurring monopoly in the real world.

Continue reading →

4 Comments

Posted in Economics, Liberty

Tagged , , ,

Investing and Profits: Open Thread For Populists

Posted on May 20, 2011 | 7 comments

I am going to offer you a choice between two investments.  You may pick one.  Here are your choices:

Investment Romulus:  You invest money with me and I will return $10.00 in profit.

Investment Remus:  You invest money with me and I will return $17.50 in profit.

Now, which of the two investments do you want; Romulus or Remus?

7 Comments

Posted in Economics, Rocket Surgery

Tagged ,

The World’s Most Valuable Brand

Posted on May 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

There is an organization that measures such things.  And, in fact, they place a dollar value to those brands as well.  Anyway, the latest list is out and the winner is:

Apple

In a study released Monday by Millward Brown, a market-research arm of London advertising giant WPP, Apple AAPL +0.50%  was listed as the world’s most valuable brand, with an estimated value of more than $153 billion.

And how do they determine this list?

…calculations are based on an analysis of financial data combined with “consumer measures of brand equity.”

They use how well consumers feel they are served by the corporation.

In so far as companies are “greedy” and “capitalists”, they can’t succeed unless they build and sell something that people want.  And the most successful of those corporations are exactly those corporations that do the best job at making the best products.

Leave a comment

Posted in Economy

Tagged , , ,

Capitalism And It’s Failure

Posted on April 28, 2011 | 2 comments

I just ran into a post of mine on another blog that I wrote in 2008.

Good stuff – Enjoy.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National

Tagged , ,

One Of The Good Guys

Posted on April 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

So, last night Carolina had some vicious weather pass through.  We’re okay, but MAN! did we get some rain and wind.

After the storm passed I went out to catch “Atlas Shrugged”.  But before I left, I changed shirts and walked into my bedroom.  I heard the distinctive drip-drip-drip of water moving.  BUT—the storm had passed hours earlier and rain water shouldn’t be dripping where I heard it.

Up into the attack I went and sure enough, my polybutylene pipe had sprung a leak; water everywhere.

I turned the water off, went to the theater, watched my movie while drinking a beer an came home.  Today I tried to fix said leak and gave up.

I called the plumber and within 4 hours on a Sunday drove up Triangle Plumbing.  Complete with pure awesomeness ad everything on his back bumper:

It took him more time to climb up the ladder and get his tools than it did for him to fix it.  PLUS he offered poly fixing service AND referred me to a restoration service.

Whadda country!

Leave a comment

Posted in Global Warming

Tagged , ,