“Shave and a haircut, two bits.” Ah those were the days! We know that a quarter is also known as “two bits,” and that when a shave and a haircut was a quarter, it was back in the 1930’s and earlier. Actually, that shave and a haircut for two bits, was the common price for […]

For you out there who aren’t accountants, (neither am I), GAAP stands for “Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.” In other words, financial institutions want good figures before they loan. The stock market wants good figures too. It’s very easy to fudge on accounting, to make everything look like roses when the outfit is going down the […]

Hah! You thought that figure had something to do with economics, didn’t you? No sir, it is part of a nursery rhyme. Remember “Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie?” I have no idea of how that is possible, but I have an idea. Let’s guess how many feathers the blackbirds have. Or let’s […]

The time worn explanation by the Fed, Hizzoner Greenspan, and other employees of government and various universities, is that it is consumer spending which makes the wheels of the economy go ’round. It matters not whether the buyers of all this glop have a dime in the bank or not, nor where the stuff comes […]

A truism in any economic system, is that savings are the source of capital for development. In an ideal, honest situation, a bank can loan only what is has on deposit. If a person wanted to start a company to make widgets, and it would cost $100,000 to start the company, it is to be […]

A while back, I wrote in this column, that the ratios between gold and silver were an all-important factor to use in purchasing…with a few exceptions. This advice needs to be repeated. So I will. I thumbed through some back sheets of daily prices, which I keep in a huge stack. I found that on […]

There goes the buck? Will that flashy new currency and coinage called the euro, spell doomsday for the used to be almighty dollar? Hardly. Before we go into the euro, its history, and coverage, let’s state at the very beginning, that all the rumors and talk about the euro being backed 15% with gold, are […]

Since the judge ruled in favor of United Airlines, and against their employees, I must continue with the comments made two weeks ago. Pity the United retirees and retired. The brass at UA, has decided to try to keep the ship afloat, even though it is taking on water far faster than the bilge pumps […]

My wife and I took a seven hour course on the Constitution last weekend, given by Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian presidential candidate. Supremely intelligent man! Had he been allowed to debate either Bush or Carey, he would have wiped the floor with them. I voted for him, but eating and visiting with him, plus taking […]

This will contain several thoughts, none of which is long enough for a complete column, but all pertinent. NICKELS When one is at an advanced age, as I am, one can’t help but remembering one’s childhood, teens, and even early adulthood. I do not remember what made me think of it, but what a nickel […]