Nov 162010
 
Well-Being Survey

The American Human Development Project, a nonpartisan initiative, completed their The Measure of America report.  It measures three categories:  health, education, and income.  Some of the findings are as follows: U.S. life expectancy is 78.6 years, the same life expectancy for Chile.  Chile spends 10% of what the U.S. spends on health care. The 11 […Full Article]

Nov 122010
 
Inaccurate Beliefs About Current Federal Reserve Policies

Greg Ip in The Washington Post in November 2012 reported on misconceptions about current Federal Reserve Policies. The Federal Reserve will create high inflation by creating the new Quantitative Easing policy and printing $600 billion. The “money can lead to inflation only if banks lend it and consumers and businesses spend it.”  Currently, banks have […Full Article]

Nov 072010
 
Ease of Doing Business in the U.S. vs. Other Countries

The Doing Business report, a project of The World Bank Group, annually publishes findings on the business climate of individual countries, business regulation and enforcement, and the impact on small to medium-size companies (ease of doing business). The U.S. overall ranked 5th out of 183 countries, the same rank as 2010.  (The lower the number, […Full Article]

Oct 232010
 
49 Million People in the United States Went Hungry in 2008

Marisol Bello in USAToday in November 2009 reported the following: 49 million Americans went hungry or had insufficient food at some point in 2008. The above number is the highest reported since the government started tracking the statistic in 1995. In the same year, “16.7 million children did not eat regularly at some point”. “Vicki […Full Article]

Oct 222010
 
Food Deserts:  Areas Without Access to Proper Foods

According to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, food “deserts are areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet.” The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
Impact of Political Party and Stock Market Performance

Click on the chart below to see an enlarged, clearer chart. To read the entire article, click on Bulls, Bears, Donkeys and Elephants. Bryan Keller in Seeking Alpha in June 2008 wrote the following: “Additionally, though the analysis done in this paper may have come to the conclusion that historically incoming Democratic Presidents have been […Full Article]

Oct 082010
 
Previous Economic Collapses

L. William Seidman, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC), mentioned in September of 1996 that “the banking problems of the 80s and 90s came primarily, but not exclusively, from unsound real estate lending.” He added, “the critical catalyst causing the institutional disruption around the world can […Full Article]