Sue Ann Hamm, now ex-wife of oil tycoon Harold Hamm, has been awarded about one billion dollars in a recent divorce settlement. And she is appealing the award “on grounds that it grossly undervalues the marital wealth she is entitled to.” On first glance, her appeal sounds ridiculous. Let’s say that she lives another forty […]
Continue reading →In a video clip puzzling both for its transparency and its open attack on the traditional family structure, Barack Obama said “we” (whoever that is) don’t want any Americans to make the choice to be stay-at-home parents: And sometimes, someone, usually Mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her […]
Continue reading →Some economists are recommending that the federal government raise marginal tax rates to 90% on 1 percenters, the 1% of Americans who make hugely “unequal” sums of money a year. Marginal tax rates are taxes on amounts above a certain amount. So a 90% tax rate wouldn’t liquidate 1 percenters entirely. It would just mean […]
Continue reading →Amid sanctions on Russia by the US and other Western countries, Vladimir Putin is solidifying his economic relationship with China: And while China remains on the sidelines in Ukraine, the deal with Moscow allows Beijing to signal its sharp disapproval of Western sanctions as a political tool to force Russia to change its policies. “The […]
Continue reading →According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China has just overtaken the US as the world’s largest economy. Of course, this is not in terms of overall GDP, yet. It’s in terms of purchasing power. As an article in Forbes explains: The simple logic is that prices aren’t the same in each country: A shirt […]
Continue reading →Obama recently unveiled Operation Choke Point, an executive cocktail intended to force banks and payment processors to divine what their customers are using their services to procure—and prohibit such sales/transactions if they fall under a wide range of “high-risk” goods of services. Well, prohibit is the wrong word. Operation Choke Point isn’t a law. It’s […]
Continue reading →If you listen to leftists and big-government stooges, the middle class is evaporating because of low minimum wage, greedy corporations, and tax-breaks for the rich. Which would indicate that, in order to grow the middle class, the civil government needs to get more involved. No one argues with the fact that the middle class drives […]
Continue reading →The common understanding among big-government proponents (which includes pretty much anyone who has ever voted Republican or Democrat) is that the civil government actually protects its citizens from greedy corporate interests. But what if regulation is actually one of the ways big business is screwing its customers? Consider the recent net neutrality debates swirling around […]
Continue reading →Nassim Taleb tells a little parable in his excellent book Black Swan. It’s a moral tale about the Thanksgiving turkey. For months leading up to Thanksgiving, it is singled out for good treatment. It is pampered and well-fed by its human caretakers, and it has no reason to think anything foul (pun) is afoot. In […]
Continue reading →Inflation is not as high as it “should” be. In spite of the fact that the Federal Reserve has pumped $4.5 trillion dollars of non-existent money into the economy and has held its interest rates at zero percent for six years, money just isn’t moving around much. And the Federal Reserve thinks it knows why: […]
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