Category Archives: Economics

A SCOTUS decision I can fully agree with

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Tfoui

U.S. top court bars patents on human genes unless synthetic http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/13/us-usa-court-genes-idUSBRE95C0PW20130613 It has always stuck in my craw that the simple act of sequencing a gene could possibly be considered ‘novel, useful and non-obvious’, yet we have (had) thousands of … Continue reading →

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Employment says that unemployment is 24%

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Tfoui

Employment is still near a 30-year low http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/06/news/economy/employment-rate/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 Using the most generous measurement of employment in the article (for workers ages 25 to 54 — those who should be in the prime of their careers) there is an employment rate … Continue reading →

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Who watches the watchers?

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Tfoui

Why Didn’t the SEC Catch Madoff? It Might Have Been Policy Not To http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/why-didnt-the-sec-catch-madoff-it-might-have-been-policy-not-to-20130531 For those non-financial types amongst my reader(s) this article might be a bit hard to follow. The gist is the SEC is basically in place to … Continue reading →

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Potemkin Stimulus

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Tfoui

Potemkin Stimulus: One Way to Offset Austerity http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/potemkin-stimulus-one-way-to-offset-austerity/ How far away are we from doing this? I doubt it is very. At the moment we rush around and spend huge dollars replacing broken things (like bridges, cities; generally with borrowed … Continue reading →

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The fix is in…

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Tfoui

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever The Illuminati were amateurs. The second huge financial scandal of the year reveals the real international conspiracy: There’s no price the big banks can’t fix http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/everything-is-rigged-the-biggest-financial-scandal-yet-20130425 Somehow I missed this article and … Continue reading →

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Our robotic future…

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Tfoui

It’s Time to Talk about the Burgeoning Robot Middle Class How will a mass influx of robots affect human employment? http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514861/its-time-to-talk-about-the-burgeoning-robot-middle-class/ I am sure that this article is relevant, but not sure that it will have any impact. ‘Robots’ (really, … Continue reading →

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More on student loans

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Tfoui

Student Debt and the Crushing of the American Dream http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/student-debt-and-the-crushing-of-the-american-dream/ I have waxed on the subject of student loans a number of times (see here, here, here and here for just a few examples). When the student loan bubble collapses … Continue reading →

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On the cusp of greatness

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Tfoui

Printing Electronics Just Got Easier A new technique developed by researchers in China allows easier printing of electronic components onto paper. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130509-paper-printed-circuits-electronics-technology-science/ I think the next decade is going to be as eye popping as the last quarter century (in … Continue reading →

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Is the pendulum beginning to swing back?

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Tfoui

Too-Big-to-Fail Takes Another Body Blow http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/too-big-to-fail-takes-another-body-blow-20130501 I am reading a lot less news because I got booted out of my nice cushy half office and into a shared space with only a single access to the ‘net. Since I get … Continue reading →

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A little jab for the pirates

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Tfoui

Video game studio pirates its own game — with an ironic twist http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/29/technology/innovation/game-dev-tycoon-piracy/index.html?source=cnn_bin Kinda amusing though it seems clear the best value was in the free publicity than in any increase in revenue. More ironic tome that Pirate Bay took … Continue reading →

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