Keith Farrell The downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 has raised tensions that seemed to be cooling between Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the West. Western leaders have threatened to levy additional sanctions against the Russian economy as finger pointing over the incident continues. The West has joined together to decide just how to punish Russia,…
If there is one thing government is good at it’s spending money. Next time vital services are cut during a shutdown, or government threatens to cut veteran benefits, we thought you could think back on some of these government expenses. When a politician tells you there is nowhere else to cut you will know they’re…
By Keith Farrell 1. Black Market Crime Who wants to keep marijuana illegal more so than almost anyone else? Drug dealers and drug cartels. In fact just legalizing marijuana in two states is having a major financial effect on Mexican cartels. In case you aren’t aware, these cartels are some of the most ruthless, vicious…
The US government has a habit of making poor economic policy decisions and then kicking the proverbial can down the road when it comes to paying for or dealing with the consequences of those policies. Here are four crises waiting to wreak havoc on the US economy if something isn’t done to advert them soon….
We all know how popular competitive sports are. But competition enhances our lives in so many other ways. Here are some ways which humanity’s competitive spirit has enriched your life: 1. Innovation Competition drives innovation, meaning in order to stay ahead of the competition companies need to constantly push the envelope in terms of service…
Since 1986, the cost of tuition at American colleges and universities has risen 498.41% — more than four times faster than the rate of inflation during that period (115.06%). The costs of obtaining a degree are escalating out of control and leaving many graduates with student loans which they are unable to repay. Much of…
The simplistic view of government regulation envisions idealistic regulators forcing regulation onto unwilling business. The reality though is that businesses often seek government regulation in order to gain unfair competitive advantages in the marketplace. Established Companies Established firms in an industry often seek regulation in order to discourage new competitors from entering the market. This…
The national debt of the United States is barreling out of control and American politicians appear completely unwilling to anger prospective voters by honestly saying “The American taxpayers cannot afford to give you everything you want.” The US national debt is currently 16.8 trillion dollars. That number is too large for most of us to…
Stock market transactions suffer from two “information asymmetry” issues. The first is that professional traders know more about almost everything related to stock trading than retail investors. This is not due mainly to academic degrees in finance; mostly it is because these guys live, eat, breathe, and sleep trading. The burn-out of full-time professional traders…
Brick and mortar retailers have long complained that state and local sales taxes put them at a disadvantage against Internet-based retailers. When a resident of La Mirada California buys from a local store, they pay a 10% sales tax on their purchase. This includes sales taxes from the city of La Mirada, the county of…
We tease the current “Millennial” generation of 18-31 year olds because so many of them are still living at home with their parents, whereas at the same ages we were either living in apartments or buying our first homes. On the other hand, they are saving a considerable amount of money that we effectively wasted…
The failure of Detroit shows what happens when a government increases taxes and regulation beyond the point where individuals feel that they are worth putting up with. As residents abandoned Detroit for parts of the country with less onerous government, the population fell from 1,849,568 to just 713,777. Those who left were the taxpaying residents,…