Why the World’s Unemployed Youth are Flocking to Brazil

Man wasn’t supposed to labor like this. Not under these conditions…with a clear view of a clearer sea…a white sandy beach below his room…the sound of the crashing waves gently carrying through his window…

…and his head stuck firmly in his computer screen.

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Correction Fighting: How Feds Prolong Economic Depressions

“Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate… it will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up from less competent people.”

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Correction Fighting: How Feds Prolong Economic Depressions

“Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate farmers, liquidate real estate… it will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up from less competent people.”

[Read more...]

The “Corzine-Dimon Syndrome”

On its best days, the American judicial process is a blindfolded Lady Justice — prosecuting the truly guilty and exonerating the truly innocent. On its worst days, it is a Water Wiggle — whirling around unpredictably, without any apparent connection to guilt, innocence, Constitutionality or the proportionality of alleged crimes to one another.

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The “Corzine-Dimon Syndrome”

On its best days, the American judicial process is a blindfolded Lady Justice — prosecuting the truly guilty and exonerating the truly innocent. On its worst days, it is a Water Wiggle — whirling around unpredictably, without any apparent connection to guilt, innocence, Constitutionality or the proportionality of alleged crimes to one another.

[Read more...]

What Happens When the World Economy “Goes Japan”

The Dow sinking.

Gold sinking.

Oil sinking.

Copper sinking.

Yields sinking.

We struggled with this, Dear Reader. We meditated. We prayed. We drank heavily.

And finally…we overcame the rank desire to say: “We told you so!”

As you know, Martin Wolf, of The Financial Times, is the voice of The Economics Establishment. All that is great and good in the field — which isn’t very much — is given voice by Wolf. Then, it is acceptable for policymakers, Treasury ministers, and central bankers, not to mention the people you talk to at cocktail parties.

[Read more...]

What Happens When the World Economy “Goes Japan”

The Dow sinking.

Gold sinking.

Oil sinking.

Copper sinking.

Yields sinking.

We struggled with this, Dear Reader. We meditated. We prayed. We drank heavily.

And finally…we overcame the rank desire to say: “We told you so!”

As you know, Martin Wolf, of The Financial Times, is the voice of The Economics Establishment. All that is great and good in the field — which isn’t very much — is given voice by Wolf. Then, it is acceptable for policymakers, Treasury ministers, and central bankers, not to mention the people you talk to at cocktail parties.

[Read more...]

The Suspicious Growth of the Financial Industry

Societies become more complex as they age. Each challenge…or opportunity…is met with a new rig of some sort. A tax. A regulation. An organizational fix.

As time goes by, these fixes act like friction…they slow the machine. They make it hard to move…inflexible and unresponsive. And over time, more people gain access to a fix — each lobbying group and special interest, each with his own bailout or subsidy…and each desperate to hold onto it.

[Read more...]

The Suspicious Growth of the Financial Industry

Societies become more complex as they age. Each challenge…or opportunity…is met with a new rig of some sort. A tax. A regulation. An organizational fix.

As time goes by, these fixes act like friction…they slow the machine. They make it hard to move…inflexible and unresponsive. And over time, more people gain access to a fix — each lobbying group and special interest, each with his own bailout or subsidy…and each desperate to hold onto it.

[Read more...]