It has long been argued that wars are fought for economic reasons. World War 2 brought about the rise of the “Swiss Bank Account†where money seized in war could be hidden from others. While there can be numerous reasons for going to war, money tends to be a central focus in all wars. The public discourse might be more about “stopping evil doers†or “defeating terroristsâ€, it is always important to follow the money trail, and understand who is benefiting.In the case of Afghanistan, this is a country with an enormous wealth of resources including gold, copper, lead, zinc, rare earth elements and iron ore. It appears that a big part of the US strategy in Afghanistan is to “get the economy goingâ€. A...
How many corporations does it take to equal the revenue of the United States government?$422 Billlion - Walmart$370 Billion - Exxon$368 Billion - Shell$297 Billion - BP$289 Billion - Sinopec (Chinese Oil and Gas)$242 Billion - Toyota$222 Billion - Petro China Revenue of the top 7 Corporations of the World: 2.21 TrillionTax Revenue of the United States - 2.09 TrillionSome interesting comparisons:1. So the top 7 corporations of the World have combined assets totalling more than the revenue of the United States government. 2. If Wal-Mart were a country it would be the 10th most powerful economy in the World. 3. With the state of California, the nations wealthiest state, bringing in a measly $94 Billion Wal-mart is more than 4 times largerDiscussion Questions:1. Who...
To say “Taxes are Too Low” is very unpopular statement to make, there is a lacking in critical thinking when we fail to examine the actual numbers, as we become deaf to reason through immersion in sound bites. So let’s take a look at some comparison, both to ourselves historically, and to other countries.Some Points to Consider:1. As a percentage of GDP, taxes are at their lowest in 60 years, weighing in at 14.8%. During Reagan’s tenure, taxes accounted for 18.2% of GDP.2. After the many adjustments allowed by the tax code, the richest 400 Americans paid an effective tax rate of 18.11%, down from 26.38% in 1992 (a sharp drop!). 3. The least taxed of the wealthiest 400 paid a tax rate of less...
So often we hear people warning about the dangers of inflation, and that by creating more money, the fed could bring about “hyper inflationâ€. When people say, “but wait, there is very little inflationâ€, often the reply is “just keep printing more money, and you will see the worst ever!â€. But is all inflation bad? What about deflation? Let’s examine some important areas and how they are affected by inflation.Home PricesAcross the country, home prices are off more than 30% from peak in most major markets, and off more than 50% from peak. In other words, home prices have deflated more than at anytime in our lifetimes. There are hundreds of thousands of home loans that are “under waterâ€, meaning more is owed than the...
A few days ago I wrote about how easy it is to start trading ETFs where the minimum investment is less than $50, and you can trade single shares an unlimited number of times. Today I want to cover some of your options for which company would be best for you. Each offers benefits and limitations, but overall it is still very easy to get started. There is somewhat of a “war” going on with ETF offerings which makes this a great time for the consumer.I started out with Schwab ETFs. There are currently 13 ETFs available from Schwab that can be traded for free as often as you like with no minimums. Probably the biggest drawback of Scwab is they only have 13 available...
While I respect a person’s right to keep their sexual preference private, it is an interesting ethical dilemma when we have a situation where someone is a politician or a member of the clergy, and they speak publicly against such a lifestyle, yet engage in this lyfestyle in their personal life. One step removed from that dilemma is if they choose to be a member of an organization or support a party platform that is against the lifestyle they practice. Still one step further removed is if the people that elected them would not have cast their favorable vote had they known about this lifestyle.To make a similar comparison to homosexuality in terms of privacy, there was a time when a candidate admitting to smoking...
Marketing agencies and actuaries have become amazingly good at slicing and dicing the American people into groups where they can predict their behavior. They know how to persuade a man to buy antiperspirant, or show a child which toy they should tell their parents to buy for them. They can convince you which drugs would be good for your health, or which car you would look best driving. Could we apply this to politics in a positive way?In the House of Representatives each represents about 650,000 people. What if we were to create a statistical sample of about 1000 people from their district for each representative. It would represent race, gender, religion, origin, economic status, etc. This representative would then be required to spend 30...
For those of you that have never invested, and mostly never bothered because you thought you needed a lot of money or were concerned about trading fees, you might be interested in looking into ETFs (or Exchange Traded Funds). Basically, they are like mutual funds but often there is no minimum purchase, and they can be traded as little or often as you like. You generally need to purchase at least one share which generally runs between $25-50 per share. Each “share” is like a mutual fund in that it is generally comprised of hundred or more securities. For example, you often hear people tell you that you should buy a mutual fund that follows the S&P 500. Well, you can do the same thing...
The latest plan to help rescue Greece is not looking so good. It seems the plan has the following prescriptions: - Raise income tax- Raise consumption tax- Decrease government spending- Lower wages for goverment employees- Lower benefits for government employees- Sell assets like airports or parks to raise money It seems there is every indication that Greece is merely extending the inevitable which is defaulting on the loans they owe. Worse still, with a growth rate of -6% last year, and about the same so far this year, there is very little hope that the situation can be changed anytime in the next few years. Greece will not be able to pay it's debt.One story that does not make the news on a regular basis...
Here is an interesting study that demonstrated the negative impact of the influence of others. In the study people were asked to guess the answers to questions. Some of the respondents were given monetary reward for accurate answers. Also some of the respondents were told what others had answered before they gave their answer.The results showed that people became “dumber” when they were told the answers that others had given. While it doesn’t surprise me, I think it is important we recognize this possibility in our politics, as well as in our susceptibility to being influenced. Another interesting aspect was that not only was there a decrease in accuracy, but there was also a smaller range of answers. It’s much easier for people, once provided...