The announcement this week that the governments of the world are to spend $13 billion building the ITER experimental nuclear fusion power plant in France seems at first glance cause for mild celebration, even though fusion power is expected to be commercially available only in 2045. On closer inspection however it’s an opportunity missed, an […]

It’s an interesting term – risk management. It sounds so organized and reassuring. A risk that is managed is tamed, brought within well understood parameters and reduced to a level that shareholders can tolerate. Investment bankers and their tame economists constantly tell us that the derivatives market has reduced risk in the financial system and […]

The Hong Kong based financial commentator Mark Faber, as reported by the Economist, believes that high commodity prices cause wars; by funding unattractive rent-seeking governments and starving more productive economies of resources. Since it’s clear that low interest rates have in the present cycle been a major cause of high commodity prices, it’s worth adding […]

Neither party has been exactly forthcoming about its potential economic policy after Tuesday’s Congressional elections. However, since the Democrats seem likely to control at least the House of Representatives, I thought it worthwhile to look at where their policies might differ from those in place. A “Back to the Economy” seminar October 30 hosted by […]