One of the issues with the financial crisis was a government that wasn’t sure what to do with failing companies. When a company failed they could either let it go into bankruptcy or bail it out. Some were allowed to fail, and that created a panic that the system would lock up. So most were [...]

Americans cut their own healthcare costs, and that’s a bad thing: “Patients cut back on prescription drugs and doctor visits last year, a sign that many Americans are still struggling to pay for health care…” – NY Times Stop right there. Is a reduction in prescriptions and doctor visits a bad thing? Healthcare spending is [...]

Maybe I’m getting dumber, or older. Maybe that’s the same thing. But many modern action films are quite difficult to keep up with. They have so much action and move so quickly it can be hard to keep track of the plot. Over the last few years I’ve struggled with Star Trek, Transformers, and the [...]

Canada just decided to kill their penny, which is more or less worth the same as our penny. The cost of producing them is just too high. They cost 60% more than they’re worth in Canada. Coins are a throwback to the days when the coin was literally worth its weight in the metal it [...]

Why I gave up my six-figure salary and quit Bay Street: Bay Street is in Toronto and is Canada’s version of Wall Street.  You can’t expect much a difference between the two countries, but this author provides a well written explanation of his time in finance and why he, and others, left. Remove the highways, [...]

The financial crisis left a sour taste in our mouths for bankers. The term “banksters” became popular again. Executives got a bad reputation again thanks to bailouts, bonuses, and boneheadedness. The public is even coming around to the idea that politicians played a part in causing the crisis, but of course we already hated them. [...]

That’s what the US Department of Treasury may be telling investors in the near future.  What that effectively means is that the rate the US pays to borrow money would be negative.  Investors would be paying the US for the privilege to lend to them?  How can this happen in a world where our debt [...]

Does this statement disturb you? In 1950, finance and insurance in the United States accounted for 2.8% of GDP, according to US Department of Commerce estimates. By 1960, that share had grown to 3.8% of GDP, and reached 6% of GDP in 1990. Today, it is 8.4% of GDP, and it is not shrinking. The [...]