11/11/11 11:11:11
Today has been called a one-derful day. At eleven seconds past 11:11 am, on this, the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year, we have an unusual date and time: 11/11/11 11:11:11 This is not going to happen again for a while. And 1000 900 years ago, in the year 1111, we...
Is Occupy Wall Street: Just Noise?
According to a Global Investment Strategy Special Report, the Occupy Wall Street movement symbolizes the fact that political extremism is rapidly becoming mainstream. But is it really extremism? Consider the following, from BCA: The Occupy Wall Street movement is rooted in the secular decline of the American middle class. Judging from the GINI coefficient, the...
Demand Question for Charlie Rose/GOP Candidates
If I could get one question posed to the candidates at the next debate (Tuesday night), which is to focus solely on the economy, it would be this: “We repeatedly hear about taxes, regulations, and uncertainty standing in the way of job creation. However, the National Federation of Independent Business (“The Voice of Small Business”)...
Holders of Sovereign Debt
Here’s a great chart just released by the International Monetary Fund. Note that almost half — 47 percent – of the US$14.7 trillion U.S. federal government debt is held by the Federal Reserve and the government itself, such as the Social Security trust fund. Add to that the 22 percent foreign official holdings (mainly central...
Weekend Smorgasbord from Invictus
Herewith a potpourri of unrelated items I’ve found on my never-ending voyage through the internet. Grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. Seen This Movie Before First up, an excerpt from a speech given by Teddy Roosevelt in December 1906. I was taken by the opening line and the third paragraph. Indeed,...
Attention Americans: You Won’t All Be Rich Tomorrow
(Source: Census.gov)> If we were all to become suddenly rich tomorrow, the government’s revenue problems are solved at the current tax rates, so no worries in that case. But I place long odds on that, so let’s move on to what’s actually happening. It’s as if the entire country has turned into Lake Wobegon, as...
First Look: Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010
The Census Bureau released its annual report on Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage: 2010 (full PDF) this morning. Barry has posted the slide presentation that staff went through during the conference call over in the Think Tank (please have a look). The (very ugly) bullet points from the release can be found here, and the...
Obama Jobs Speech Wordle
We’ll see what ultimately happens, but he clearly used the appropriate language given the stated purpose of the speech. > Click through for larger graphic.
Going Grassroots on Saving Statistical Abstract
I posted here about the government’s plan to discontinue the 133-year-old Statistical Abstract, an invaluable tool for individuals and businesses alike. Regardless one’s political or economic stripes — Dem or Repub, Keynes or Hayek — there’s consensus about the importance and value of the Statistical Abstract. So, I ask the TBP readership to let their...
WP: Special Report on “Breakaway Wealth”
There is a huge Washington Post special report on Breakaway Wealth in the US. More than most other industrialized nations, the US has seen the top 0.1% compensated in vastly disproportionate numbers versus the rest of the populace. There are at least several reasons to be concerned about this, beyond basic fairness: 1) Nations that...
The Heart of the Matter
Some of the factors that have landed us in the mess we’re in have been building for decades, and there’s ample evidence on which to draw to demonstrate that fact. In looking at a few of these issues, I’ll draw on some charts I’ve presented both here and elsewhere before. A couple are replicated from this outstanding study in...
The Meaning of the British Riots
Painting by Anthony Freda: www.AnthonyFreda.com Corruption At The Top Leads To Lawlessness By The People I’ve repeatedly noted that corruption and lawlessness by our “leaders” encourages lawlessness by everyone else. See this, for example. Peter Oborne – the Daily Telegraph’s chief political commentator – wrote yesterday: The criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from...
