Politics

marijuana

7 Outcomes of Legalized Marijuana in Alaska (or not)

Marijuana in Alaska? As the ballot measure allowing citizens to vote on the legalization of recreational marijuana in the State of Alaska moves forward, I started to think about some possible changes we might see in our state if the measure passes. The following are the top 7 changes our state might see if recreational …

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healthcare

ACA Market Distortions May Not Allow Cancelled Policies To Be Reissued

It may not be possible for 5,000,000 people to get their insurance back. Over 5,000,000 people have lost their existing health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Even though they liked their health insurance, they were not able to keep it. These people then experienced significant sticker shock when they went to purchase health coverage …

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Fiscal Policy

Fiscal Policy Hasn’t Been In Vogue Since 1953

The Other Fiscal Cliff Resides In a Chart While running some queries on Google’s Ngram Viewer, a phrase-usage graphing tool searching over 5.2 million books in Google’s digital library, I came across a rather startling trend. When comparing the use of the terms “monetary policy” and “fiscal policy” I discovered that discussion of fiscal policy …

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Debt

Why The Fed’s Monetary Policy is Failing

“There are studies that indicate that economic growth slows when public and private debt exceeds 260% to 275% of GDP. The U.S. hit the 260% level in 2000.” A recent paper by Hoisington Investment Management Company (available here) does an excellent job describing why the Federal Reserve is, and will continue to be, unsuccessful in …

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Obamacare

From Reason.com – Obamacare’s Authoritarian Problem

Consumer choice trumps coercion every time. David Harsanvi at Reason.com argues why your judgement about which healthcare option is best for you is better than the collective judgement of 51.1% of the electorate. “Let me put it this way: There’s this Chinese restaurant near my house. It’s not the cleanest place, granted. And the folks …

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tax

Offshore Corporate Tax Havens Shift Burden to Individual Tax Payers

“…tax haven abusers force other Americans to shoulder their tax burden.” U.S. PIRG, an organization I don’t generally have much in common with, published an interesting and informative report on offshore corporate tax havens. While I don’t necessarily agree with the causes of the problem the author suggests, I agree with the effects. From U.S. …

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Obamacare

A Busload of Silicon Valley Programmers: The Senator John McCain Solution to Obamacare

Is the private sector the solution to a public sector problem? I haven’t been blogging much lately. This is primarily due to the overall heightened state of daily outrage I’ve been walking around in for about the last year and a half. A friend told me this morning that this is a privilege reserved for …

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Obamacare

What Might “Obamacare” and the Healthcare Industry Look Like in 2038?

“Regardless of government healthcare mandates or other regulatory policies, market forces are always at work…Obamacare is a bad idea that may only get worse.” By Holly A. Bell Regardless of government healthcare mandates or other regulatory policies, market forces are always at work and will mold the healthcare market to adjust to the new regulatory …

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unemployment

Configuration Unemployment: Measuring Structural Problems in a Contemporary Economy

“The fact that it has not disappeared from the planet, and could potentially return to countries like the U.S. under the right conditions,makes sector analysis as a measure of structural unemployment look more like the cyclical model” By Holly A. Bell In a recent article, Paul Krugman asked: “Is there any point to economic analysis?”. …

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market efficiency

High Frequency Trading: Do Regulators Need to Control this Tool of Informationally Efficient Markets?

From the Cato Institute: High Frequency Trading (HFT) is a form of algorithmic trading where firms use high-speed market data and analytics to look for short term supply and demand trading opportunities that often are the product of predictable behavioral or mechanical characteristics of financial markets. Some opponents have argued that these practices create risk …

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