Times are rough in a number of European countries.  Much like in 2008 here in the US, credit markets are tightening across the pond.  But, whereas things froze overnight here, there things are just tight; like your pants usually are in January.  And like the US the banks are  cutting back on lending and only [...]

Less than 100 years ago, an American woman might not have had the right to vote depending on where she lived. Various states had granted some rights but it wasn’t consistent by a long shot. The 19th Amendment fixed that, but the right to vote was really just one milestone towards equality. The journey continued, [...]

What does it look like when you can no longer sell a product based on any actual qualities? This is what happens when a company stops innovating. The Nissan Frontier was once a really cool truck. I remember during the Bush presidency everyone had the 4-door Nissan truck. They were awesome, even I wanted one. [...]

If your humble blogger had the time, he would create a database the documents all the outrageous calls people make. Pundits predicting stock market results, economists calling for some kind of statistic, or any idiot that the traditional media calls up can actually shape opinion. But that doesn’t mean they are qualified, or accurate. I’d [...]

Germany builds 2 times as many cars as the United States does every year.  Considering the relative size and populations of these countries that’s pretty impressive.  But what makes it even more so is that the average German autoworker makes twice as much as the US worker.  So that’s 2 times as many cars, and [...]

Back in the 1970s some finance professors proposed an idea that has since shaped the very landscape of business. Basically, if the owner of a company also manages the company, they have all the motivation they need to maximize profits. But when a shareholder (principal) hires a manager (agent), that manager may have other things [...]

A peaceful resolution to the Euro crisis: As of right now this is the biggest issue facing the developed world.  As scary as this crisis might be, we’ve come a long way since WWII. Enough turnover in Congress to make them more able to enable legislation: At this point I don’t really care which party [...]

People who complain about 1st world problems without (once in a while) acknowledging that we are lucky to have 1st world problems: Look, you aren’t going to see me in Africa helping starving children and I’m not going to be the first person on the scene after a tsunami wipes out thousands that lived in [...]