Economy
November 27, 2019
The “Good Family” Blessing It has become common practice to refer to our Thanksgiving holiday as “Turkey Day.” For some people, that name is truly accurate. Not only is it mildly amusing, but if you don’t believe there’s any power beyond yourself that you ought to be thanking, it’s also more honest. If you’re a skeptic, being honest about it is good. When it comes to Thanksgiving, I’m not among the skeptics. So, I’d like to share with you a daily meal blessing that’s been used by four generations of a family I know named Good. You might want to […]
November 21, 2019
One of our favorite economic parables is the Fish Story, from Paul Zane Pilzer’s 1990 book, “Unlimited Wealth.” It is an excellent tool for thinking about wealth creation, inequality and redistribution. Imagine 10 people live on an island. Each day they wake up, catch two fish, eat them, and go back to bed. Its subsistence living at the most basic level. There are no savings – no stored or saved wealth. If someone gets sick and can’t fish, there’s no way to help them. No one has any extra. Now imagine two of these people dream up a boat and […]
October 17, 2019
Let’s say the USA could convince each billionaire in the world to give every penny of their wealth to the US Treasury. How long do you think we could run the US Government based on the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget? I had to do the math. According to Forbes’ 33rd Annual World’s Billionaires Issue, there are 2,153 billionaires in the world. In total, they have a combined worth of $8.7 trillion dollars(1). The US Federal Budget for 2020 is $4.74 trillion. (2) $8.7 trillion divided by $4.74 trillion translates that we could only run the United States for 22 months! […]
September 2, 2019
Ah, Labor Day! Born in the United States out of the Industrial Revolution. The unofficial end of summer and beginning of fall. Three days to spend with friends and family, typically enjoying some good old-fashioned BBQ. But what are we recognizing? For many, the significance of Labor Day has been lost in time. At the end of the 1800s, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to barely make ends meet. Children, as young as 5 or 6, worked in mills, factories, and mines, to help their families survive, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’. […]
April 14, 2018
If you just listen to all the hype about China. You’d be convinced they are going to take over the world. There’s so much talk today about their incredible growth rate and the power of their economy; we may forget just how good we are doing in the US. Yes, it is amazing how quickly the Chinese government has forced their growth pattern. They’ve literally flooded millions of people from their hometowns with the Three Gorges project and forced them to move to the city. They are relocating 250 million people, according to a NY Times report, from the countryside to the city, […]
April 11, 2018
Every Monday, we receive an email from Brian Wesbury and his Economics team at First Trust. This week’s was especially interesting and I thought you would enjoy reading this as you start your New Year. Here’s to a prosperous 2017 for you and your family! Watch the Spending Brian S. Wesbury, Chief Economist Robert Stein, Deputy Chief Economist Date: 1/3/2017 President-elect Trump wants a Race Horse Economy, not a continuation of the Plow Horse we’ve had for the past several years. Out of all of his proposals, the one that should help the economy the most is corporate tax reform, […]