Prices are what organize the market economy, which means prices are a crucial form of communication that governments should never, ever meddle with. Too bad Milton Friedman’s monetarism continues to shrink the discussion of what’s 3rd grade (money), but at the same time thank goodness the only closed economy is the world economy such that the Fed […]
Paul Volcker Never Was Because Monetarism Never Will Be Read More »
While there’s no evidence that Albert Einstein uttered the quip long associated with him about compound returns as the “8th Wonder of the World,” it’s not unreasonable to imagine the genius wit saying something just like that. When it comes to savings, compounding has wondrous qualities that become magical over time. That’s why the patient investor can
When Buy-and-Hold Results In Capital Gains Taxes on Retirement Read More »
“Will Andersen’s father looked at a golf course and thought it should be a farm. Will looked at a farm and thought it should be a golf course.” That’s how the Wall Street Journal’s Ben Cohen described what became Landmand Golf Club in Homer, Nebraska. Presently one of the most sought-after tee times in the world, it wasn’t terribly long
They Can’t Steal Your Ideas Because They Can’t Steal Your Mind Read More »
When Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, the deal wasn’t seen as obvious or a slam dunk… for Facebook. Which is a statement of the obvious, one abundantly proven by modern estimates that place Instagram’s standalone value at something north of $100 billion. Which brings us to another statement of the obvious,
A Weak Market for ‘Unicorns’ Muscularly Supports Meta Over the FTC Read More »
“I have such easy access to my fans and customers.” Those are the words of Kylie Jenner, from a 2018 Forbes profile. Jenner was on the path to billionaire status, but in many ways the billionaire part was the least interesting aspect of her ascent. Much more interesting was that Jenner had built her eponymous cosmetics
Book Review: Diane Coyle’s ‘The Measure of Progress’ Read More »
The EU is presently trying to limit a prominent source of income for Meta. The biggest victims will be European businesses. The EU wants to force Meta to provide Facebook and Instagram to users for free, even if they choose to navigate both without ads. Translated, the EU’s actions amount to a price control.
European Businesses Will Be Hurt the Most By the EU’s Attacks on Meta Read More »
With its antitrust lawsuit against Meta, the FTC’s goal is to force the sale of WhatsApp and Instagram, Meta’s up-to-now most successful acquisitions. Wise minds inside the Trump administration will hopefully choose to drop a suit first introduced during by a Biden administration reflexively disdainful of big. While the economic boom of the 1980s
With Its Antitrust Suit Against Meta, the FTC Brings Back the 1970s Read More »
Jobs are the easy part. It’s worth remembering every time a politician talks about “jobs created” by his or her economic program. They’re missing the point. True economic growth is an effect of the work not required of humans. SalesForce founder Marc Benioff explained all of this so well in a recent opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal.
Marc Benioff Wisely Reminds Us What Economic Growth Is Read More »
Gold and the foot are constants. You don’t adjust value and height against them, rather you adjust the value of everything else and length of everything else in terms of gold and the foot. Consider North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. He is 5’7”. It’s easy to imagine him redefining the foot as 6
There’s No Such Thing As ‘Adjusting’ Gold Price To ‘Inflation’ Read More »
There’s foolish and then there’s macroeconomics. Macroeconomics insults foolish. Was “economics” always this dense? Acknowledging that there’s no empirical way to answer the previous question, it will simply be said that the answer is yes exactly because “macroeconomics” has been around a long time. And it’s a fraud. Economies are people, which means there’s
There’s No Such Thing As ‘Rebalancing’ Global Trade Read More »
