Don's Column
Select from the list the article of your interest.
UNICEF and Afghanistan
This morning on NPR, a weepy UNICEF woman was bemoaning the fact that there are close to 50 million kids in the world, who are either starving, disease ridden, or abandoned. She itemized the nations in which these kids...
Big Deficit
Now that Republicans have gotten the tax reduction bill passed and signed, It’s interesting to note that Democratic critics are deeply worried that the national debt may be increased by a trillion dollars in the next ten...
Bitcoin Again...
The bubble escalates. As of Friday, December 15, 2017, a brass coin was selling for over $19,000. A coin which has no physical value, as do gold and silver coins. Why do gold and silver coins have value? ...
A Bit of History
The funny thing about history, is that, as was said in “A Handbook of English Proverbs,” in 1855, “He that would know what shall be, must consider what hath been.” Or maybe from Thucydides in 410...
Proofs
This is going be an easy one to compose, because all I have to do is quote from a Wall Street Journal column of 11/27/2017. It begins as follows: “The U.S. Mint makes a pretty penny selling gold and silver...
We Are Losing America
America as it was a 150 years ago, would be unrecognizable, if were someone resurrected today. America of 1867, as an example, had federal spending of about $45 per citizen per year, not derived from taxes. Today, the...
Charity or Government
An article in the Wall Street Journal a couple of weeks ago, told of a man named Kenneth Griffin who has donated $125 million to his favorite charity, in this case the University of Chicago’s economics department. ...
China's Sudden Growth
Whenever something happens quite suddenly, there is usually a reason. If a tire suddenly goes flat, there’s probably a nail in it. Clouds may mean rain or snow, and when a store wants to move slow merchandise,...
It Won't Work Forever
‘Something’s got to give,’ is an old expression. It’s really very simple: Let’s suppose a government takes in $100 billion, and spends $150 billion. Or to make it easier to...
Fungible
Something that is ‘fungible,’ is moveable, accessible, able to be held, physically stored and transferred to another place. Fungibles have physical value, such as a barrel of oil, a ton of wheat, or an ounce of...
Tax Reform
I’m certain you remember one of the President’s campaign promises, which was to lower corporate and individual taxes. Good Luck Mr. President! What seems to be happening, according to a current Journal...
Money Part IV
I know, I promised not to write any more political columns, but this is about economics…sort of anyway. I am writing about a foundation. A foundation which has been established to benefit charity, as all...
Money Part III
Let’s discuss what you can do with money you have as a surplus after providing for your retirement and old age. There are lots of possibilities, and I have already mentioned a few, such as Andrew Carnegie who donated...
Money Part II
The noun ‘money,’ is perhaps one of if not the most important words in the English lexicon. We need money to buy things, make payments on loans, rent, credit cards, and even fines if we are caught disobeying the...
Money
The dictionary definition of ‘money,’ has several definitions, but the first in my dictionary seems to describe it best: (a) “Standard pieces of gold, silver, copper, nickel, etc. stamped by government...
Chapter 17
The following is a total word for word quote of Chapter 17, from “I Hold These Truths,” which I began writing in 1986, when I got my first computer. It was crude, but I discovered that I could write, which I had...
Gun Safes
An ongoing question over the many years I have been doing this, often is, “Where do I store the stuff?” I tell then “store it where no one would think of looking.” Then they say that if they...
Gasoline vs. Diesel
An ongoing comparison, which has been going on for many decades, is ‘what is the best way to run a car? Diesel or Gas?’ Many say that since all highway tractor-trailers use diesel, diesel must be...
Bitcoin, etc.
A few years ago, some entrepreneur had a bright idea. He must have thought to himself, ‘Boy, silver and gold are far too expensive, and people want something cheap. I’ll make a coin that is a bit cheaper...
Ratios
There are all sorts of ‘ratios’ in life, and even in economics. The late Richard Russell, (1924-2015), founder of “The Dow Theory Letter,” wrote many times, that a good stock to buy is when its PE...
