A common motif on the American left is that Social Security is not an investment, it is insurance, as are pensions offered by the state to their employees. It sounds good, but it shows a deep misunderstanding of what insurance is. This mindset and lack of what insurance actually is probably also contributes to our …
Category Archives: economics
US GDP overview, Q2 2022
Well this is a weird recession, and a very mild one at that, but yes, definitely a recession at this point. When economists like myself look at recession data we generally look at the whole picture. We want to know not just “is the economy in a recession” but “why is the economy in recession”. …
A more realistic Catan
I’ve been a board game geek since I learned to read and write as a child. I enjoy a large variety of games, personal favorites include Twilight Struggle, Pandemic, Chess, Go, but one of the games which I always come back to is Settlers of Catan. Catan is one of my favorite games for many …
How to ramp up vaccine production
The world is right now in the middle of a global epidemic, and we are in a race against time. COVID-19 is mutating, with new strains appearing around the world, and billions of people around the world are waiting for a vaccine. Over 2 million people have died around the world, and the global economy …
No bailouts for Wall Street
Here’s the thing, I have been teaching myself how to trade for the last few years. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose. Through this process I learn how to make more responsible and better trades. The government should not bail out irresponsible hedge funds. Brokers should not be allowed to protect irresponsible investors. It is …
Consequences of Corporate Consolidation
In 2018 Wendover Productions made a video on YouTube where he discussed the issue facing airlines where they are not being able to get enough pilots, so they are cancelling routes. There are a few reasons for this. The cost of training is absurdly high, the starting wages are very low, and the good routes …
The Future of Social Security
If you don’t know how OASI works, please read my first article in this series, How Social Security Works. It should be common knowledge by now that Social Security has a massive surplus. This money is borrowed by the government as one of the largest parts of our government debt, accounting for over $2 trillion …
The Mercantilist Consensus
I watched Joe Biden’s speech to his nomination to be the Democratic Candidate when it was done, and the first thing I thought was how similar he was to Trump and Sanders in one aspect, which is his views on foreign trade. He made a brief comment on how he would work to save American …
How Social Security Works
Social Security Old Age and Survivors Insurance is a program which every American who makes wages pays into every year of their life. Social Security takes 12.4% out of every paycheck in the country, for the pinky promise that you will receive some benefits when you retire. There are a lot of myths on how …
Is the United States a failed state?
The United States is obviously in turmoil today. We have protests around the country, federal troops attacking American citizens on the street who were protesting indiscriminately, thugs who are coming into Black Lives Matter protests because they see an opportunity to cause mayhem, and more. This is all you can see on the news today. …