Thinking Utopian: How about a universal basic income? … In light of the recent Oregon Medicaid study, several people have discussed the idea of taking parts of the social insurance system and replacing them with cash benefits. This naturally brings up the debate about whether it should be a policy goal for the United States to adopt a universal basic income (UBI). These poverty-level targete...Read More
Spain is officially insolvent: get your money out while you still can … I'd not noticed this until someone drew my attention to it, but the latest IMF Fiscal Monitor, published last month, comes about as close to declaring Spain insolvent as you are ever likely to see in official analysis of this sort. Of course, it doesn't actually say this outright. The IMF is far too diplomatic fo...Read More
Working with RAYNET up the Ridgeway supporting St Johns Ambulance and the Ridgeway 40 mile walk. It was rather windy. Later the rain came down in torrents.Read More
Gold: 3 Essential Facts For Your Future …When any market crashes, it's a shock. For a real nose dive it normally takes something unexpected and dramatic to kick it off. If people had any idea of the reason or that it was coming then the fall would start early and be more shallow. Gold is misunderstood and it is viewed as "the mad metal", so here are three things to remember whe...Read More
The United States warned Japan on Friday to stick to the rules when it came to the value 6:07am EDT of its currency, setting the stage for a potentially uncomfortable meeting of G7 finance ministers outside London. There has been concern among policymakers that Japan is engineering an export-led recovery that could hinder other regions' ability to grow. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Th...Read More
Stock Markets Rise, but Half of Americans Don't Benefit … Dollars to doughnuts. The stock market has been doing well, reaching new nominal highs in recent weeks. Economists have been arguing that such equity gains make people feel richer, which might encourage consumers to pick up their spending despite their stagnant wages and recent tax increases. One possible problem with this hopeful...Read More
Gold: 3 Essential Facts For Your Future …When any market crashes, it's a shock. For a real nose dive it normally takes something unexpected and dramatic to kick it off. If people had any idea of the reason or that it was coming then the fall would start early and be more shallow. Gold is misunderstood and it is viewed as "the mad metal", so here are three things to remember whe...Read More
The United States warned Japan on Friday to stick to the rules when it came to the value 6:07am EDT of its currency, setting the stage for a potentially uncomfortable meeting of G7 finance ministers outside London. There has been concern among policymakers that Japan is engineering an export-led recovery that could hinder other regions' ability to grow. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Th...Read More
Stock Markets Rise, but Half of Americans Don't Benefit … Dollars to doughnuts. The stock market has been doing well, reaching new nominal highs in recent weeks. Economists have been arguing that such equity gains make people feel richer, which might encourage consumers to pick up their spending despite their stagnant wages and recent tax increases. One possible problem with this hopeful...Read More
In Mexico, if you read between the lines, there is something … that gets little mention … Héctor Aguilar Camín, an expert on the bilateral relationship, says the two countries are beginning to address on their own account two issues that were deliberately left out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) almost 20 years ago because at the time they were consider...Read More
Welcome to the contradictory-seeming economics of the nation's fast-changing marijuana laws. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have now rebelled against the federal government to legalize marijuana, either for medical use or for fun. – WYNC NewsDominant Social Theme: Cannabis, gateway to heroin!Free-Market Analysis: Something important is stirring in the United States that cou...Read More
Kim Dotcom and two lawyers, Robert Amsterdam and Ira P. Rothken, have published a white paper defending the Internet entrepreneur against a criminal prosecution issued by the United States government. The report says the copyright case against Megaupload, the previous file sharing service run by Kim Dotcom, is based on "highly dubious legal prinicples" and that it has been manipulated by...Read More
Headlines have been trumpeting the Indian Supreme Court's decision to deny a new patent for the cancer drug Gleevec as an attack on intellectual property rights and a win for patients in need of cheap drugs. Those headlines are misleading. What the ruling actually demonstrates is that India has set a high bar for determining what is "innovative." – ReutersDominant Social Theme:...Read More
In Mexico, if you read between the lines, there is something … that gets little mention … Héctor Aguilar Camín, an expert on the bilateral relationship, says the two countries are beginning to address on their own account two issues that were deliberately left out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) almost 20 years ago because at the time they were consider...Read More