Visualize the following scene: A pilot is at the controls of her new jetliner. Digital displays show a wealth of information: altitude, course, air speed, latitude and longitude, engine rpms, exhaust gas temperature and other data. The pilot knows exactly…
Author: Ed Lotterman
Politicians have better things to do than mess with gas price concerns
Why do members of Congress and other government officials spend so much time on peripheral issues? I know that many American will not agree with me, but recent increases in gasoline prices do not constitute a national emergency. Moreover, there…
A trade deficit does not indicate a fiendish plot by another country
“We have plowed the sea!” With those bitter dying words, Simon Bolivar expressed his frustrated conclusion that his life’s work had come to naught. El Libertador helped much of South America achieve independence from Spain. But instead of enjoying liberty,…
More to Social Security than retirement
Social Security was long termed the third rail of politics: touch it and you are dead. No more. Everyone from presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore to Minnesota Senator Rod Grams has a plan to revamp the 60-year-old…
Los Alamos disaster illustrates concept of ‘moral hazard’
If there is anything that economists agree on, it is that incentives matter. In other words, people’s decisions are affected by the rewards or penalties attached to each alternative they consider. Furthermore, incentives are important whether they are monetary or…
The New Internet Economy: How Big?
(Included as a special report on e-business included in several newspapers.) The adjectives and dollar figures being used to describe the potential of business-to-business Internet commerce have been nothing short of hyperbolic. Expect “trillions of dollars wroth of transactions” in…
So euro is weak – who cares? U.S. farmers, plenty of others
Americans still do not understand the effects of exchange rate fluctuations on their economy. At least that is the lesson one might take from examining how recent strengthening of the U.S. dollar is reported in the media. This is another…
Should Federal Reserve try slow escalation or knockout punch?
Is it better to slowly ratchet up the pressure or to hit hard all at once? This tactical question is one that central bankers share with generals—even though their objectives are quite different. Recent U.S. military history favors the hit-‘em-hard…
Bankruptcy laws must balance creditors, debits and society
Changes in U.S. bankruptcy law are wending their way through Congress in what has been an off-again, on-again process for the last three years. The Republican majorities in Congress generally favor the bill, which will make bankruptcy somewhat more onerous…
Have fun, scare people with charts
The sky is falling, the sky is falling! Get out of the market now! Sell all your stocks and get into money market funds. Better yet, buy Krugerands and bury them under the compost pile. You say you don’t believe…