Economics for the Intelligent Amateur

US Markets

DJIA10733.67chart+47.69
NASDAQ2389.09chart+0.00
S&P 5001166.21chart+0.00
2010-03-17 16:02

Intl. Markets

FTSE5639.88chart-4.75
DAX6016.24chart-8.04
Nikkei10744.03chart-102.95
2010-03-18 04:36

Commodity Futures

Oil82.22chart-0.71
Gold1122.15chart+0.00
Copper2.95chart+0.03
2010-03-18 04:41

Treasury Yield

13 Weeks0.15chart-1.35
5 Year2.37chart-21.29
10 Year3.64chart-32.78
2010-03-17 14:59

Exchange Rates

JPY90.03chart+0.00
EUR0.73chart+0.00
GBP0.65chart+0.00
2010-03-18 04:51

Taxes

Notice to All Investors »

If you enjoy investing in the stock market every now and then, especially if you consider yourself none too bad at it, and definitely before you start telling your friends what to invest in and what not to, we would like to point out an article in Businessweek dealing with taxes.
Here they explain how to [...]

For the Tax Friendly Druggie… »

As a follow up to our article on drug decriminalization, we wanted to show this interesting tidbit. We hate to be proponents of higher taxes, but we realize an argument like this could help bring people around to other ideas. Now, whether $104 Billion could help bring California out of its funk depends [...]

Food is Sin »

A recent article in the Economist sheds light on the proposed taxes on Junk food. As free market enthusiasts, we have problems with sin taxes in general. On the other hand, we don’t believe junk food even falls under that status.
Sin taxes, or Pigouvian taxes, are taxes levied on certain goods and activities [...]

The Stiglitz Tax »

Joseph Stiglitz has recently declared that a Tobin tax is both “possible and necessary”, and that it should be levied on all international financial transactions. He adds: “The financial sector polluted the global economy with toxic assets and now they ought to clean out.”
We do not disagree with Nobel Laureates lightly, but here we [...]

The Very Non-Flat Tax »

Right after we discussed the Flat Tax and its benefits, it seems as though the United Kingdom has decided to take the opposite route and has instituted a very big tax hike across the board.
This seems like a very gutsy move: in a country that is loth to institute a flat tax, to [...]