The trade balance between any two single countries is essentially meaningless. Don’t let presidential candidates tell you otherwise. For example, Hillary Clinton and other Democratic presidential candidates have criticized a pending trade pact between the United States and Korea for…
Farm subsidy database is only part of the story
The question of who gains from a particular subsidy is not as simple as one might think. The database of federal farm payments provided this week by the Environmental Working Group provides useful insights into who gets farm-program money. But…
Be judicious in applying housing data
Houses are not canned tuna. Remember that when reading about housing prices. Many are nervous about the housing sector right now. Every number announced is analyzed to death. Read such analyses with a grain of salt, particularly when they reach…
Bush has missed lessons of history
Karl Marx noted that “history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” The Bush administration’s war-funding practices are a variation of this, blending elements of both tragedy and farce. But they certainly exemplify history repeating itself.…