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 B.C., “History repeats itself.”  Between 1600 and 1700, Holland, and especially Amsterdam, was one of the richest nations and […]

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 coins.  But there are two sides to the deal, which some investors are calling highway […]

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 federal government spends about $5,000 per citizen.  The federal government of 150 years ago was tiny, and […]

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.  This was the second largest gift to the University.  The largest was a gift of $300 million by […]

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, they have a sale.  When an economy grows, seemingly almost suddenly, there has to be a reason.  Ronnie […]

‘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 understand, suppose a worker makes $20,000 a year, and spends $25,000.  The worker has a $5,000 deficit and the government has a $50 billion deficit.  […]

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 gold.  Fungible things are created by capital and labor investment, and as the old saying goes, everything to eat […]

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 column, is that Trump is a President without a party.  RINOS (Republicans in name only) all promised to back Trump, and far too […]

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 foundations are supposed to do and operate.  A foundation usually has a tax exempt number, which will allow the contributors […]

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 6,000 pipe organs, built 1689 public libraries, Carnegie Hall in New York, and founded many institutions.  […]