Economic and Financial Thoughts and Comments
Friday, December 31, 2010
Effective tax rates
Which government takes the biggest bite out of an income of $100,000?
Effective tax rates: Let's get fiscal The Economist
Effective tax rates: Let's get fiscal The Economist
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Florida in Chill
Miami is experiencing its coldest December in 115 years. Global warming?
South Florida at Play - Sun, Sand and Chill - NYTimes.com
South Florida at Play - Sun, Sand and Chill - NYTimes.com
Surprises for 2011 from Doug Kass
Interesting thinking on what could happen - it would be a big surprise.
Surprises for 2011 from Doug Kass
Surprises for 2011 from Doug Kass
Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy
They were spending, not saving. Bet ya they want you to bail them out!
Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy - Yahoo! News
Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy - Yahoo! News
Sunday, December 26, 2010
10 Traits That Make You Filthy-Rich
Patience - for both spending money and investing,
Satisfaction -be careful about spending money, don't waste it on nonessentials,
Organization - don't waste money on late fees, interest etc
Discipline - Save you income e.g. pay yourself 10% off the top
Reflectiveness - think about it
Creativity - be prudent - make things last, stay out of debt, don't over spend
Curiosity - learn, study, improve
Risk taking - calculated risks
Goals - set goals its a road map
Work Smart & Hard
10 Traits That Make You Filthy-Rich - TheStreet
Satisfaction -be careful about spending money, don't waste it on nonessentials,
Organization - don't waste money on late fees, interest etc
Discipline - Save you income e.g. pay yourself 10% off the top
Reflectiveness - think about it
Creativity - be prudent - make things last, stay out of debt, don't over spend
Curiosity - learn, study, improve
Risk taking - calculated risks
Goals - set goals its a road map
Work Smart & Hard
10 Traits That Make You Filthy-Rich - TheStreet
Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours - NYTimes.com
Very good story on the Horizon's final hours and the people who where there.
Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours - NYTimes.com
Deepwater Horizon’s Final Hours - NYTimes.com
Saturday, December 25, 2010
‘Managed nationalism’ turns nasty for Putin
Most interesting what is going on in Russia. I did not realize. The baseball bat sales are 4 bats for every baseball sold; and the top selling bat is the aluminium bat; it is the weapon of choice.
FT.com / Europe - ‘Managed nationalism’ turns nasty for Putin
FT.com / Europe - ‘Managed nationalism’ turns nasty for Putin
Friday, December 24, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Favorite Quotes - Casey
Einstein:
“Two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity. And I’m not sure about the former.”
“After hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe is stupidity.”
My Favorite Quotes - Conversations With Casey
“Two things are infinite – the universe and human stupidity. And I’m not sure about the former.”
“After hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe is stupidity.”
My Favorite Quotes - Conversations With Casey
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Unmasking The Unintended Consequences Of US Central Planning
Government policies - stupid, time and time again. Do we learn? No, since there appears to be no costs. However, there is cost, more debt that someone will have to pay some day, or standard of living reduced. America and Western World does not live by principles, but short term thinking. This by some smart men which are just plain stupid.
Unmasking The Unintended Consequences Of US Central Planning zero hedge
Unmasking The Unintended Consequences Of US Central Planning zero hedge
Monday, December 20, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Govt Spending Now vs FDR
I am not a fan of FDR, however, his programs were lot smarter than of Bush and of the current govt and Congress and Senate. Yes, it was govt programs, but at least they produced something and kept men employed. Current programs, do not produce any thing and kept men unemployed. It is an ugly shame; and just plain stupid.
Bail outs for the banks and Wall Street. Nothing for the people.
Govt is to be of the people for the people. But money rules and the people are fooled.
From Stock Tiger:
In March 1933 president Franklin D Roosevelt issued an executive order establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps CCC. This was an incredibly smart and useful thing to do at the time and one that would reap rewards over all the years that have followed. The program was planned to employ 250,000 young men from 18 to 20 years old to work in the areas of soil erosion, flood control and other manual labor that could in the long run greatly benefit the country and in the short run help to relieve some of the unemployment problem. They were given housing, food and medical attention and were paid $30 per month with a mandatory $22-$25 of that sent to their family. By July of that year there were already over 1400 working camps with 250,000 workers. Because of favorable public opinion of this program, by 1935 the program was expanded to the age of 28 and over 500,000 enrollees were employed in about 2900 camps with 82% of Americans in favor of this program. Over the years this program was expanded to include a mandatory minimum of 10 hours a week of vocational and academic training to prepare workers for work once they left the program. Generally, workers signed up for a minimum of six months work with the possibility of staying for up to two years. The official program ended in 1942 but this became like a model which is still used today in various conservation programs throughout the country. During the time of this program the workers planted about 3 billion trees to help reforest America and they constructed more than 800 parks nationwide with thousands of miles of public roadways. America now has some incredibly beautiful national and state parks with thousands of miles of well constructed trails produced during this period. Though this program ended over 60 years ago the benefits continue. There are over 30 million RV enthusiasts supporting a myriad of businesses basically made possible by the work done in these programs.
Since the current economic crisis began the Fed has spent over $3 trillion in loans, bailouts and stimulus programs. The Fed is run by the banks so it is logical that they used this money for their own members' benefit instead of doing something that would directly help the country's citizens but congress has allowed this. In 1933 the country had a much smaller population and the economy was such that the $30 per month payment was agreed upon. If the government established a temporary worker program today perhaps they would have to pay $3000 per month but this money instead of going to banks, for them to use investing in the stock market, would go directly to the people and then into the the general economy benefiting everybody, including the banks. Goldman Sachs who received TARP money makes up to $100 million a day in stock trading profits benefiting no average American and certainly not benefiting the millions of unemployed and over 40 million living in poverty. It is difficult to get a reliable figure as to how many people are unemployed at the moment. There will always be a small percentage that are unemployed by choice, maybe temporarily or maybe due to health reasons. If the government were to now establish a work program for temporary relief of course not nearly all people could qualify for various work due to skill set sets and other reasons. For illustration purposes let's use the 14 million figure which is about how many are currently unemployed. To pay each of them $3000 per month would cost $504 billion per year or about $96 billion less than the Fed is proposing to spend only through June in buying government treasuries. If they used this money in a productive way, as seen here, you would have immediate results, at least temporarily. This money instead of being hoarded by banks would go directly into the economy and over time spark many new businesses which would then be in competition with the government for workers. It is a shame and so typical that the government does the opposite of what it should do when faced with a problem.
The US imports oil while natural gas sits unused as they say there is not a good piping distribution system to deliver it where needed. Perfect - a work program to create a nationwide delivery system and say goodbye to imported oil. President Kennedy launched an industry to put a man on the moon in 10 years creating hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs and some of that was really rocket science. Laying some pipes around with the help of some of the 14 million unemployed is not but the administration and congress instead extended payments to unemployed people with no work requirement so the country sees no lasting benefit.
Through all this the stock market though is up......which IMMHO does not make sense....but it will in time and then everyone will be surprised.
Bail outs for the banks and Wall Street. Nothing for the people.
Govt is to be of the people for the people. But money rules and the people are fooled.
From Stock Tiger:
In March 1933 president Franklin D Roosevelt issued an executive order establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps CCC. This was an incredibly smart and useful thing to do at the time and one that would reap rewards over all the years that have followed. The program was planned to employ 250,000 young men from 18 to 20 years old to work in the areas of soil erosion, flood control and other manual labor that could in the long run greatly benefit the country and in the short run help to relieve some of the unemployment problem. They were given housing, food and medical attention and were paid $30 per month with a mandatory $22-$25 of that sent to their family. By July of that year there were already over 1400 working camps with 250,000 workers. Because of favorable public opinion of this program, by 1935 the program was expanded to the age of 28 and over 500,000 enrollees were employed in about 2900 camps with 82% of Americans in favor of this program. Over the years this program was expanded to include a mandatory minimum of 10 hours a week of vocational and academic training to prepare workers for work once they left the program. Generally, workers signed up for a minimum of six months work with the possibility of staying for up to two years. The official program ended in 1942 but this became like a model which is still used today in various conservation programs throughout the country. During the time of this program the workers planted about 3 billion trees to help reforest America and they constructed more than 800 parks nationwide with thousands of miles of public roadways. America now has some incredibly beautiful national and state parks with thousands of miles of well constructed trails produced during this period. Though this program ended over 60 years ago the benefits continue. There are over 30 million RV enthusiasts supporting a myriad of businesses basically made possible by the work done in these programs.
Since the current economic crisis began the Fed has spent over $3 trillion in loans, bailouts and stimulus programs. The Fed is run by the banks so it is logical that they used this money for their own members' benefit instead of doing something that would directly help the country's citizens but congress has allowed this. In 1933 the country had a much smaller population and the economy was such that the $30 per month payment was agreed upon. If the government established a temporary worker program today perhaps they would have to pay $3000 per month but this money instead of going to banks, for them to use investing in the stock market, would go directly to the people and then into the the general economy benefiting everybody, including the banks. Goldman Sachs who received TARP money makes up to $100 million a day in stock trading profits benefiting no average American and certainly not benefiting the millions of unemployed and over 40 million living in poverty. It is difficult to get a reliable figure as to how many people are unemployed at the moment. There will always be a small percentage that are unemployed by choice, maybe temporarily or maybe due to health reasons. If the government were to now establish a work program for temporary relief of course not nearly all people could qualify for various work due to skill set sets and other reasons. For illustration purposes let's use the 14 million figure which is about how many are currently unemployed. To pay each of them $3000 per month would cost $504 billion per year or about $96 billion less than the Fed is proposing to spend only through June in buying government treasuries. If they used this money in a productive way, as seen here, you would have immediate results, at least temporarily. This money instead of being hoarded by banks would go directly into the economy and over time spark many new businesses which would then be in competition with the government for workers. It is a shame and so typical that the government does the opposite of what it should do when faced with a problem.
The US imports oil while natural gas sits unused as they say there is not a good piping distribution system to deliver it where needed. Perfect - a work program to create a nationwide delivery system and say goodbye to imported oil. President Kennedy launched an industry to put a man on the moon in 10 years creating hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs and some of that was really rocket science. Laying some pipes around with the help of some of the 14 million unemployed is not but the administration and congress instead extended payments to unemployed people with no work requirement so the country sees no lasting benefit.
Through all this the stock market though is up......which IMMHO does not make sense....but it will in time and then everyone will be surprised.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
World Collapse Explained in 3 Minutes
British explains the European economies
YouTube - World Collapse Explained in 3 Minutes
YouTube - World Collapse Explained in 3 Minutes
Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data
Interesting data....the top 50% pays for 97% of the govt spending
The top 5 % of taxpayers pays 60% of the govt spending; as well, the % being paid is up over the years, even though there has been tax cuts. Hmmmm.....lower tax rates = higher tax revenues. Its the facts.
The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data
The top 5 % of taxpayers pays 60% of the govt spending; as well, the % being paid is up over the years, even though there has been tax cuts. Hmmmm.....lower tax rates = higher tax revenues. Its the facts.
The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
Wow ....very good graphic and history over the last 200 years
200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Why Do We Have a Central Bank? - WSJ.com
Good question. No good answers. Private bank having control? No audits? Gee makes one wonder.
Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.: Why Do We Have a Central Bank? - WSJ.com
Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.: Why Do We Have a Central Bank? - WSJ.com
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Wave goodbye to Internet freedom - Washington Times
The US FCC plans to regulate the internet to ensure freedom. Right!
EDITORIAL: Wave goodbye to Internet freedom - Washington Times
EDITORIAL: Wave goodbye to Internet freedom - Washington Times
Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of a Looming Crisis
Does not look good. Where is man's intelligence?
Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of a Looming Crisis - NYTimes.com
Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of a Looming Crisis - NYTimes.com
Friday, December 3, 2010
Profiting from Policy
Good read....things need to change
Profiting from Policy - Casey's Daily Dispatch
Profiting from Policy - Casey's Daily Dispatch
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Investment Outlook - Allentown
Great article. The developed countries are financially tapped out, thus demand for more stuff (goods and services) is not growing. The developing countries do not have the financial systems, but have people that are working for less than the developed world. Thus jobs are moving from the developed countries to undeveloped. This is equalizing the world, and the standard of the living for the developed world is dropping and will continue to do so at a faster pace. The developed world solution, is not an economic one of getting a handle on it (eg less debt and more productive), but one of printing money and adding debt. This "solution" only makes the depression worst.
PIMCO Investment Outlook - Allentown
PIMCO Investment Outlook - Allentown