Old Bad Remedies Are Still Bad Ones

We are faced with difficulty at the moment in our economic and financial affairs.  Many refer to it as a crisis.  I suppose that is in the eyes of the beholder.  But a faltering economy is a fact whatever its degree.   Some are  proposing certain remedies that they vervantly hawk as new and different to fix [...]

Gold or Money Which to Trust

From the most ancient of times governments have dealt with the issue of having a medium of exchange–money.  From earliest Babylonian times  to the long ago Chinese empires to the Romans and the Hanseatic League, kings, emperors and rulers of one stripe or another have tried to manipulate the currency in use to their advantage.  [...]

Cheapseat opinions on economic proposals

One great thing about the ole US of A is that we all get to have opinions and so far we are able to express them.  Sure hope that proposal by the Dems to regulate the internet for “hateful language” doesn’t get anywhere.  That was the latest proposition put out last summer by some of their [...]

Expressions to Heed

Burning the candle at both ends means one is overextending one’s self or being overwhelmed from two directions at once.   We seem to have that problem now with our economy.  On the one end we are facing the problem of credit.  We have as individuals and as a Nation relied on it too much for [...]

AIG–Regulate what?

The events of the last 24 hours regarding AIG remind me of an old saying from Churchill.   I am paraphrasing but it is something like this–there is nothing like the sound of an angry bullet whizzing by your head to focus the mind.   Well, we sure have had the angry bullet whiz by.  The Feds [...]

Money, Markets and Politics

With all the ado the last couple of days about Lehaman, Merril Lynch and reports on AIG it would do us all well to review a few of the basics of our economic system and the real world implications of any bankruptcy of these companies.   Of course the politicians will put their own spin on events to promote [...]

Adages for Politicians to heed

Some of the old bromides have real use even in our sophisticated world.   After all they became popular and endured over the ages because there was some deep seated truth to the comment, otherwise they would have wilted on the vine of time.  Let’s look at a few of those sayings that have endured and [...]

Give me a dollar’s worth

The US dollar is not backed by gold any longer since FDR outlawed that in the early ’30’s.  All those old gold backed notes had to be turned in for the new ones.   William Jennings Bryan would have finally been so pleased.  You recall his famous speech about not punishing the American public on this [...]

Value and Meaning of the Dollar

If you believe this nation does not have its roots in religious beliefs then you should think again.   Our modern mania with “diversity” and political correctness has turned into revisionist history; that mania would have you believe that there is no religious  foundation to our American mores and culture and that all religion or mention of [...]