Here is a little bit of political and economic satire in the form of Jon Stewart.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The Potential Economic Effect of An NYC Hurricane on the U.S. Economy
What would happen if a class 5 hurricane hit New York city? According to Mr.Silver's calculations $16 Trillion worth of damage, that is $1.34 trillion dollars more than the U.S. GDP. Such an event could, especially in this economy, devastate the global economy. To be fair this possibility is a near impossibility, some say that a class 4 hitting the north-east is impossible. A more interesting case is that of Hurricane New England which made landfall in Long Island and passed within 40mi of Manhattan. That cost $45 Billion, if it had directly hit the city could according to the model cost $239 Billion. Such an event could easily push back into a deep recession.
What should also give pause is that several climate change models predict increased magnitude and frequency of extreme weather.
What should also give pause is that several climate change models predict increased magnitude and frequency of extreme weather.
U.S. tax debate approaches battle over billionaires
As the country's getting more and more riled over over the current state of the economy AND with the presidential election looming ever so close, the blame game, the "solutions," the circus, or whatever you'd like to describe the state of U.S. politics is in full gear.
One huge source of debate is the Taxes... Both sides of the political spectrum surprisingly agree on one thing, this huge deficit has got to go. Even that was hard to come to terms since cutting the deficit would mean Democrats' large spending measures would have to be cut. With the recent crisis with the debt ceiling, however, it seems that the Democrats have finally conceded that they can't just keep borrowing and spending. Now that the Democrats have conceded, the table's been turned to the Republicans. Republicans are faced with the reality of having to promote cutting benefits from everyday people with cuts in student loans, medical benefits, and even benefits for veterans, or raise taxes on the rich.
In my opinion, although I know Republicans are basically talking heads for the rich anyways most of the time, they have to concede on raising taxes or face the consequences of alienating the rest of the public. As the article shows, there is really no legitimate excuse for not raising taxes. Yes, tax cuts to the firms lead to higher investment, which leads to higher productivity of the country. However, it's a hard argument to tell the public that Paul Allen getting to keep his yacht will somehow help the American economy in the long run.
Republicans are at a very good position. Obviously, Obama has failed to deliver in most of his promises, and the economy has not gotten any better. The economy has to recover sometime soon and if the Republicans can take control, they'll reap the benefits of a surging economy. I think the Republicans have to concede on this issue of taxation because really, it's the sensible thing to do. (Something they have increasingly alienated themselves from) It's not like Republicans have to concede the ideology that tax breaks lead to increased productivity. Cut spending (needless spending), and increase tax revenue and deficit goes down. Easy. Simple. But probably not gonna happen.
One huge source of debate is the Taxes... Both sides of the political spectrum surprisingly agree on one thing, this huge deficit has got to go. Even that was hard to come to terms since cutting the deficit would mean Democrats' large spending measures would have to be cut. With the recent crisis with the debt ceiling, however, it seems that the Democrats have finally conceded that they can't just keep borrowing and spending. Now that the Democrats have conceded, the table's been turned to the Republicans. Republicans are faced with the reality of having to promote cutting benefits from everyday people with cuts in student loans, medical benefits, and even benefits for veterans, or raise taxes on the rich.
In my opinion, although I know Republicans are basically talking heads for the rich anyways most of the time, they have to concede on raising taxes or face the consequences of alienating the rest of the public. As the article shows, there is really no legitimate excuse for not raising taxes. Yes, tax cuts to the firms lead to higher investment, which leads to higher productivity of the country. However, it's a hard argument to tell the public that Paul Allen getting to keep his yacht will somehow help the American economy in the long run.
Republicans are at a very good position. Obviously, Obama has failed to deliver in most of his promises, and the economy has not gotten any better. The economy has to recover sometime soon and if the Republicans can take control, they'll reap the benefits of a surging economy. I think the Republicans have to concede on this issue of taxation because really, it's the sensible thing to do. (Something they have increasingly alienated themselves from) It's not like Republicans have to concede the ideology that tax breaks lead to increased productivity. Cut spending (needless spending), and increase tax revenue and deficit goes down. Easy. Simple. But probably not gonna happen.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Gender Gap
CNN uses various statistics in conjunction with the World Economic Forum to determine which countries have the most equallity between men and women and compare them to each other. The United States ranked 19th out of 134, but is said to have room for improvement.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
big mac index
This is the economist's famous Big Mac Index.
It makes exchange rate differences more understandable to the normal citizen.
It also makes for an interesting glance as it may indicate if the currency is being pegged to another currency.
You can also derive a number of things from this like how long you have to work to earn a big mac and so on.
Undervalued currencies are also somewhat the from the countries that export a lot. As such that can also be derived.
Although the dollar may be the fiat currency you can compare two different currencies by converting them to dollars.
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