Watching that 9% drop in the Chinese stock market and the turbulent day here in the US makes me wonder what we’re all in for.
Foreign investment in the Chinese stock market is extremely limited and its capital exposure relative to the world’s resources is still pretty minor. So why all the fuss?
It’s the little engine [...]
The battle today between the courts and the Treasury Department is not so much about the color of money, but the shape of it. As anyone who has ever had a friend or family member who was blind or near to it knows, the greenback is a problem. Ones are the same as tens, or [...]
The Democrats will be coming into power in Congress in the next few weeks, and they’ll be gaining new force in legislation; among their new powers will be sway over trade law. While the President and his associates can negotiate trade bills and treaties, it’s the role of Congress to give the OK. With the [...]
The Kyoto agreement; a way to allow market forces help us clean up the environment by buying and selling credits to cover a country’s ability to pollute. There’s a certain genius in the concept; it creates revenue centers for things that were previously part of the tragedy of the commons, but there are also pitfalls. [...]
Every year the Nobel people award a peace prize; this year the award went to one Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank. Now, there are a number of things that have been said about this year’s winner: that he’s a worthy man, that he’s helped millions, that he has made the world a better [...]
Property Tax
I live in Massachusetts (or, if you prefer, Taxachusetts), and we’re in the midst of a gubernatorial campaign. One of the big issues is, to no one’s surprise, is taxes. The two major party candidates differ not in the fact that they want to cut taxes, but which one(s) and how much.
Both of the [...]
Companies today cross borders in search of a competitive edge, whether it be cheap labor, tax breaks, or acquisition of a valuable but troubled competitor. The pursuit of profit is for all intents and purposes both universal and amoral. The invisible hand of the marketplace has no qualms about hitting a “national champion” of a [...]
So, among the legislation that our Congresspeople will not be getting done this season is approving changes to US law that would allow the trade of nuclear reactors and fuel. The press is covering how senators and representatives and Republicans and Democrats are pointing fingers at each other about why it’s been left undone. The [...]
The New York Times reports that an unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year.
White House officials are expected to announce that the tax receipts will be about $250 billion above last year’s levels and that the deficit will be about $100 billion [...]
The World Bank says China has overtaken Britain to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. Based on gross domestic product converted into US dollars at current exchange rates it actually overtook the UK some time ago, but now it has done so on a calculation which smoothes out exchange rate fluctuations using a three-year average.The top [...]
