And The Most Capitalistic Country on Earth IS…. (not America)

April 6, 2011

The Economist had a nice chart out today with the poll results for countries most in favor of capitalism.  It would have been interesting to contrast these results from the same poll 20 years ago, but alas, the data is from 2010 only.  Take a look, digest, and then my thoughts below. Germany – It […]

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Job Hunt Taken to Absurd Levels – Plastic Surgery?

April 4, 2011

There’s a disturbing report out this week (CNN) linking a resurgence in plastic surgery not to an increase in wealth and consumer confidence, but from job hunters and employees seeking youthful looks.  People are figuring they’ll either be more likely to land that job if they look younger or they’ll be less likely to be […]

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Smokers and Obese to Pay More for Healthcare – Fair? Sound Off

April 3, 2011

Last week, a controversial proposal was put forth by the governor of Arizona looking to recoup some of their Medicare program costs.  In essence, smokers and the obese will pay a $50 annual fee; diabetics that don’t improve their health could face a similar penalty.  For some reason, this only appears to affect childless people […]

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POLL: Do You Actually Own Gold or Silver? Why or Why Not?

March 30, 2011

It’s tough to turn on the radio or late-night television these days without being bombarded by advertisements for gold and silver.  The commercials usually have the same common themes: The end of the world is near The US dollar has lost buying power against other major currencies Gold and Silver have outperformed equities during the […]

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Life Settlement Investment – Scam or Legit?

March 28, 2011

Life Settlement Investment – Scam or Legit? A friend of mine sent me an interesting “investment opportunity” today which entailed what seemed to be some sort of sales pitch, wining and dining with an investment advisor who has access to life settlement products.  What was purported in the PDF invite letter immediately raised a red […]

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Housing Values in Real Terms Haven’t Risen a Dime in 100 Years

March 24, 2011

There was a cool chart that caught my eye from visualeconomics.com where they adjusted home values for inflation back to 1890. Ignoring the log-scale nominal trajectory, note in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars (REAL dollars), housing is flat – for over a century.  There were some good buying and selling signals along the way, but each […]

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