Economy
Business & Economics
Housing Unaffordability Is A Policy Choice Not A Technology Problem
Trying to deflect the blame for the growing problem of housing affordability, politicians across the country are channeling their inner Captain Louis Renault and “rounding up the usual suspects”. In this case, the usual suspects are property landlords using algorithmic software to better understand the local market dynamics. Read the ...
Business & Economics
President Trump’s Tariffs Will Harm Your Pocketbook
President Trump fired the first shot of a trade war by imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and 10% tariffs on China, which will take effect on February 4 as of this writing. It also announced 25% tariffs on Mexico, but implementation has been delayed a month while the Administration negotiates ...
Blog
Book Review: The Age of Debt Bubbles edited by Max Rangely
Today, the U.S.’s debt-to-GDP ratio (the ratio between a country’s government debt and its gross domestic product) stands at 121 percent according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. However, we’re not the only country at risk. Italy is at 139 percent, Greece at 153 percent, Singapore at 176 ...
Business & Economics
Learn more about LNG exports
The High Costs Of Obstructing LNG Exports
Thanks to plentiful natural gas, consumers have access to affordable and reliable electricity, an often preferred heating/cooking fuel, and an energy source that has helped reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Greater use of natural gas is also consistent with the strong preference of “American voters across demographics and partisanship” for “an ‘all of ...
Blog
Rise Of The Machines
Some years ago, in 2018, when the minimum wage in California was $11 an hour for companies with 26 or more employees, a Pasadena burger joint hired a machine named Flippy to turn patties on the grill. “The world’s first autonomous kitchen assistant,” an “upgrade on a human line cook,” ...
Commentary
Learn why price controls won't reduce inflation
Kamala Harris is wrong. American economic history is replete with failed price control policies
Yet in one of her first policy proposals as the Democratic Party’s White House candidate, Kamala Harris insisted that the country needs “the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries.” She would set “clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit ...
Agriculture
Read the latest on the Harris grocery price gouging plan
Kamala Harris is wrong. The ‘California Way,’ not corporate greed, hikes grocery prices
Harris is right: we’re paying more at the grocery store these days. According to the Federal Reserve, food prices are up about 20 percent compared to when Harris became vice president. But when looking for a culprit for rising food prices, economists suggest Harris should look in the mirror – ...
Blog
Read why latest employer is leaving California
Chevron’s Departure Highlights California’s Risky Economic Future
Companies have been decamping from California for greener pastures so frequently that, in some ways, Chevron’s announcement is barely newsworthy. The particulars of Chevron’s decision are important, however, because they exemplify the large economic risks California’s policymakers are taking. Judged by their actions, California’s political leaders, including Governor Newsom, have ...
Business & Economics
Instead Of The CHIPS Act Congress Should Address Patent Troll Abuse
President Biden and Democratic Party leaders are trying to take credit for seeding the next generation of innovations in the information technology sector. Crowing about their latest industrial policy, the CHIPS and Science Act, Senator Schumer stated that “the federal government [is] taking back the reins, putting money where its mouth is ...
Blog
Latest wild idea - a $50 minimum wage
Why Don’t Businesses Just Print Money?
Maybe it’s time to start thinking about requiring newly elected lawmakers to take an economics 101 class before they start their first session. It seems that maybe outside of our woke and crumbling public education system, there’s no other institution where economic illiteracy is more prevalent than in government. Example ...
Housing Unaffordability Is A Policy Choice Not A Technology Problem
Trying to deflect the blame for the growing problem of housing affordability, politicians across the country are channeling their inner Captain Louis Renault and “rounding up the usual suspects”. In this case, the usual suspects are property landlords using algorithmic software to better understand the local market dynamics. Read the ...
President Trump’s Tariffs Will Harm Your Pocketbook
President Trump fired the first shot of a trade war by imposing 25% tariffs on Canada and 10% tariffs on China, which will take effect on February 4 as of this writing. It also announced 25% tariffs on Mexico, but implementation has been delayed a month while the Administration negotiates ...
Book Review: The Age of Debt Bubbles edited by Max Rangely
Today, the U.S.’s debt-to-GDP ratio (the ratio between a country’s government debt and its gross domestic product) stands at 121 percent according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. However, we’re not the only country at risk. Italy is at 139 percent, Greece at 153 percent, Singapore at 176 ...
Learn more about LNG exports
The High Costs Of Obstructing LNG Exports
Thanks to plentiful natural gas, consumers have access to affordable and reliable electricity, an often preferred heating/cooking fuel, and an energy source that has helped reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Greater use of natural gas is also consistent with the strong preference of “American voters across demographics and partisanship” for “an ‘all of ...
Rise Of The Machines
Some years ago, in 2018, when the minimum wage in California was $11 an hour for companies with 26 or more employees, a Pasadena burger joint hired a machine named Flippy to turn patties on the grill. “The world’s first autonomous kitchen assistant,” an “upgrade on a human line cook,” ...
Learn why price controls won't reduce inflation
Kamala Harris is wrong. American economic history is replete with failed price control policies
Yet in one of her first policy proposals as the Democratic Party’s White House candidate, Kamala Harris insisted that the country needs “the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries.” She would set “clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit ...
Read the latest on the Harris grocery price gouging plan
Kamala Harris is wrong. The ‘California Way,’ not corporate greed, hikes grocery prices
Harris is right: we’re paying more at the grocery store these days. According to the Federal Reserve, food prices are up about 20 percent compared to when Harris became vice president. But when looking for a culprit for rising food prices, economists suggest Harris should look in the mirror – ...
Read why latest employer is leaving California
Chevron’s Departure Highlights California’s Risky Economic Future
Companies have been decamping from California for greener pastures so frequently that, in some ways, Chevron’s announcement is barely newsworthy. The particulars of Chevron’s decision are important, however, because they exemplify the large economic risks California’s policymakers are taking. Judged by their actions, California’s political leaders, including Governor Newsom, have ...
Instead Of The CHIPS Act Congress Should Address Patent Troll Abuse
President Biden and Democratic Party leaders are trying to take credit for seeding the next generation of innovations in the information technology sector. Crowing about their latest industrial policy, the CHIPS and Science Act, Senator Schumer stated that “the federal government [is] taking back the reins, putting money where its mouth is ...
Latest wild idea - a $50 minimum wage
Why Don’t Businesses Just Print Money?
Maybe it’s time to start thinking about requiring newly elected lawmakers to take an economics 101 class before they start their first session. It seems that maybe outside of our woke and crumbling public education system, there’s no other institution where economic illiteracy is more prevalent than in government. Example ...
