Oil near all-time high over $77
However, to make meaningful comparisons across time you must use real dollars, not nominal dollars.
So, while oil is high; it is no where near an all-time high.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
All Time High for Oil?
According to the media,
Oil near all-time high over $77
However, to make meaningful comparisons across time you must use real dollars, not nominal dollars.
So, while oil is high; it is no where near an all-time high.
Oil near all-time high over $77
However, to make meaningful comparisons across time you must use real dollars, not nominal dollars.
So, while oil is high; it is no where near an all-time high.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Dow has Worst Week in Over 4 Years
After breaking 14,000, the Dow experienced 3 of its worst days this year in the same week.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Minimum Wage Too High in Northern Ireland?
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is considering plans which could see the minimum wage reduced in Northern Ireland...
read the story
Could the minimum wage actually cause an increase in unemployment?
read the story
Could the minimum wage actually cause an increase in unemployment?
How Many Earn Minimum Wage?
another great chart from the Skeptical Optimist
People tend to forget minimum wage jobs are a starting point, not a career goal.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dead Farmers Got Subsidies
The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.
source: Seattle Times
Raise your hand if you are surprised.
source: Seattle Times
Raise your hand if you are surprised.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Markets in Everything: Snow Skiing in Dubai
It is summer, it is over 100 degrees outside. Let's go snow skiing.
New Minimum Wage: $5.85
So will unemployment among the low to no skill jobs increase or decrease?
But at the same time, employers who pay many of these low-wage workers say increasing the minimum wage only means they have to raise the prices of the products, cut back on employees’ hours or let some workers go.
But at the same time, employers who pay many of these low-wage workers say increasing the minimum wage only means they have to raise the prices of the products, cut back on employees’ hours or let some workers go.
“When you go into the grocery story now, you may be checking your own groceries, you may be bagging your own groceries,” said Jill Jenkins, chief economist for the Employment Policies Institute. “All of these things are because of mandated wage hikes. When you have to pay more, employers begin to find other options to keep costs down.”
According to the National Restaurant Association, the last minimum wage increase cost the restaurant industry more than 146,000 jobs and restaurant owners put off plans to hire an additional 106,000 employees.
At $7.25 an hour, the most likely response from restaurants will be “increases in menu prices, elimination of some positions and reduction of staff hours to try and offset some of the increased labor costs,” said Brendan Flanagan, the association’s vice president of federal relations.
read the entire articleThe Problem of Forecasting
"the causes of the change from a ten-year surplus of $5.6 trillion to a ten-year deficit of $2.9 trillion--a swing of $8.5 trillion. The biggest factor was increased spending, of which increased defense spending was the largest piece. The second biggest factor was changed economic and technical assumptions (that is, the forecasters were wrong)." Greg MankiwOooops. Only off by $8,500,000,000,000.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Recommended Reading: Walter Williams' column
the latest column from Walter Williams
Economists on the Loose
"Free markets are simply millions upon millions of individual decision-makers, engaged in peaceable, voluntary exchange pursuing what they see in their best interests. People who denounce the free market and voluntary exchange, and are for control and coercion, believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom to the masses. What's more, they believe they've been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider good reasons for doing so, but every tyrant that has ever existed has had what he believed were good reasons for restricting the liberty of others."
read the entire column
Economists on the Loose
"Free markets are simply millions upon millions of individual decision-makers, engaged in peaceable, voluntary exchange pursuing what they see in their best interests. People who denounce the free market and voluntary exchange, and are for control and coercion, believe they have more intelligence and superior wisdom to the masses. What's more, they believe they've been ordained to forcibly impose that wisdom on the rest of us. Of course, they have what they consider good reasons for doing so, but every tyrant that has ever existed has had what he believed were good reasons for restricting the liberty of others."
read the entire column
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