Economics

Unhappy about new limits, gun makers urged to move to New Hampshire

"Firearms manufacturers upset over newly restrictive gun laws and proposals in their home states are getting a message from other places: Move here, where the climate is favorable to your products, and so are the tax codes. When the debate over gun laws reignited after the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., in December, critics of proposals to toughen state laws cautioned that gun manufacturers could move and take local jobs with them. And indeed, now lawmakers and residents in a few states are using restrictions on guns recently passed and proposed elsewhere as an opportunity to attract affected businesses." Continue reading →

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You Are an Anarchist. The Question Is How Often?

"Everyone, at least sometimes, is an anarchist. Consider Cambodia in the late 1970s. The Khmer Rouge government intentionally killed more than two million of its own citizens. That’s an average of 8 percent of the population killed each year while government simultaneously inflicted countless other horrors. Do you think the Cambodian people, faced with that government, would have been better off with no government at all? Congratulations. You are, sometimes, an anarchist. The real issue is found in an area economists call 'comparative institutions.' That is, in a specific time and place, how well would anarchy work compared to an actual obtainable state?" Continue reading →

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Guatemala’s president: ‘My country bears the scars from the war on drugs’

"This is often the problem with the war on drugs: shifting the problem from one region to another. The transit nations are now recognised as a distinct set of countries caught in the war on drugs. As they produce and consume few drugs they are among the more innocent victims. But now they have a bullish and vociferous spokesperson in Guatemala’s president, Otto Pérez Molina. A previously hardline director of military intelligence, Pérez Molina became president a year ago. He surprised many when, within weeks, he declared that the war on drugs had failed and that the international community needed to end the 'taboo' of debating decriminalisation." Continue reading →

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Doug Casey: All Banks Are Bankrupt

"The whole banking business is corrupt from top to bottom today. Part of the problem is that banks are no longer financed by the individuals who start them, putting their personal net worth on the line. Now, they are all publicly traded entities – just like all brokerages – playing with Other People's Money. Management has no incentive to do anything but pad their wallets, so they pay themselves gigantic salaries and bonuses, and give themselves options. These people aren't shepherding their money and that of clients they know personally. They've got zero skin in the game. This is true all over the world, not just in the US and Europe." Continue reading →

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Cyprus, The First Domino?

"For the investor, if he has been preparing himself carefully for the events that will unfold in the next few years, Cyprus will have been an event that did not impact him at all. This sounds like economic heresy, because the very idea that banks would systematically and intentionally steal the money of its depositors is a major, major event. Yes, it is quite definitely a major event, but one that should not have impacted the seasoned investor, as it is an event that is a mere comma in his overall outlook – it is an event that was anticipated." Continue reading →

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The Eurozone Unemployment Picture

"The unemployment rate for the currency bloc’s 17 nations was a seasonally adjusted 12% in February, up from 10.9% in February 2012. Among member nations with the lowest unemployment rates are Austria, at 4.8%, and Germany, at 5.4%, reports WSJ. Among members with the highest unemployment rates is Spain, at 26.3%. Three things are going on here." Continue reading →

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Obama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

"The Obama Administration is proposing to once again put the economy at risk by subsidizing banks to give mortgages to people with poor credit. Even though we’re still dealing with the economic and fiscal damage caused by the last episode of government housing subsidies! Brings to mind the famous saying from George Santayana that, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' But what’s especially amazing – and distressing – about this latest scheme is that 'the past' was only a couple of years ago." Continue reading →

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QE 3 Moves to Japan

"The Bank of Japan has announced a quantitative easing (mass inflation) QE program that matches Bernanke’s: $75 billion a month in purchases of Japanese government bonds. This is just under $1 trillion a year. But Japan’s GDP is only $6 trillion — 40% the United States’ GDP. This is way beyond Bernanke. For the Bank of Japan, this is QE1. But it is QE3 in the United States. It’s the same policy. The government of Japan has always been Keynesian. Now it has adopted desperation Keynesianism: just like the United States and the eurozone." Continue reading →

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The Collapse of the Value of a College Education

"The college system is far from a free market profit oriented system. Almost 100% of colleges take money from government or accept students who receive government loans. This results in colleges being required to meet government guidelines which have dramatically dumb downed the system. The Chinese government has created 60 million vacant apartments through its central planning policies, while the U.S. government through its intervention in the education system has created tens of millions of college graduates with vacant minds." Continue reading →

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NYC Apartment Rental Market; A Shoebox for $2,000 per Month

"I moved to NYC in February of 2011 and found a studio in the East Village for $1,550. A year later the landlord and I agreed to a 4 month lease at $1,650. After 4 months I had not found a new place so signed a one year lease with the hope of moving out and subletting. The new amount was for $1,725. I moved out a month later. She quickly found a new tenant willing to pay $1,900. Let me again state that this is a studio apartment. The room is 11’x13’ with a kitchen and bathroom attached that combined are 10’x7’. The term ‘shoebox’ would be generous. This is a SMALL apartment that is going for nearly $2,000 dollars! In two years the rent increased by 22%." Continue reading →

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