I finished my taxes, barely on time. The last minute rush to get them in is a feature of life in the USofA; even if you got yours done early, you hear a lot of carping from the many procrastinators around you.
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Category Archives: Money
Economics and commerce, all built from scratch.
Work
A century ago, work was hard and physical. People mostly worked in either factories or fields and produced something tangible at the end of the day or season. Work was all about manipulating the real world and making things.
Not at Any Price
There are many reasons why banking should be boring. The most important reasons can be complicated, such as the simple fact that fancy new financial instruments actually increase instability in the entire system, or very simple, such as the need for a certain level of democracy and thus understanding in basic financial systems. But there’s one more reason that banks need to stick with the boring process of borrowing or accepting deposits at one rate and loaning at another, making money on the “spread” between them: they don’t know how to do anything else.
Yes, Not Again
Imagine that a new technology comes along that spawns a whole new industry. Not only is this industry a revolution in how people lead their lives, it’s immensely popular and generates a big pile of cash. The field starts out wide-open with many small entrepreneurs, but gradually they become rich as they are bought out by a few big players. Soon, the industry has consolidated and re-investment slows dramatically. Those who made big money start to put it into real estate, specifically in Midtown Manhattan, Florida, and Los Angeles.
Ordem e Progresso
The economy is on the minds of many Americans right now, which is the polite way of saying that things are pretty lousy. We’ve never seen a Fed cut the prime rate as much as 1.25 in eight days before, so we all have to wonder what the policy makers know that we don’t.
Things aren’t bad everywhere, however. We have only to look to our South to see a land of great opportunity developing. Way South, in fact, to the diverse and vibrant land known collectively as Latin America.
