Instapundit linked to my article on debt, and as a result I've had about double the number of readers today that I normally get. Hi, visitors. Nice to have you here!
A number of economy-related articles caught my eye over the past few days. Here's a quick roundup.
- Billll linked to the Chapwood Index, a locality-related measurement of inflation in the USA. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that real inflation - the kind you and I feel in our wallets every time we go shopping - is vastly higher than official statistics might suggest. Go read Billll's article, and click over to the Chapwood Index page to learn how they calculate their figures. It's eye-opening.
- In my article on debt I mentioned the possibility of government raiding private pension plans to prop up Social Security and stabilize national finances. Back in 2013, Matt Taibi wrote an article titled 'Looting the Pension Funds: All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers'. It's very illuminating, and shows that government grabs aren't the only ones we have to worry about. Recommended reading.
- What happens when you successfully save a boatload of water in California? You get hit with higher water rates, that's what!
- All the media attention being paid to the Koch brothers' funding of right-wing political candidates turns out to be a smokescreen, intended to disguise the far greater amounts being directed to left-wing and progressive candidates by other sources. Warren Meyer has the scoop.
- Finally, we learn that Wal-Mart is actually a progressive company that should be supported by the left wing of US politics. No, really. Read about it in brief here, and see the full report here (the second link is to an Adobe Acrobat document in .PDF format). Who said truth is stranger than fiction?
Peter
To put it quite frankly, all this scares the hell out of me! What is the answer??
ReplyDelete@Gail: I think it should scare any right-thinking person. Unfortunately, we aren't in control. Neither are those who think they're in control. We can only hang on for the ride, and hope it stops before we get thrown off.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly scary . . I think/feel the "ride is about to careen further out of everyone's control, even those who think they are in charge . . .
DeleteI would think it somewhat prudent to get your money out of stocks, and put it in things that hold value, like gold and silver.
ReplyDeleteOf course some of that should be diversified with ample quantities of lead and brass, but that's just me....
Pete, I would be very careful about Rolling Stone articles, especially from Matt Taibbi. They (and Taibbi in particular) have a terrible recent record of slanted coverage that ignores facts inconvenient to the story. And his articles are almost always some form of conspiracy theory. Take it with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteCooking the numbers to lie to the masses is one thing- but when they start to believe their own lies, all reference to reality disappears, and all decision making is corrupted. It gets to the point where the Brooklyn Bridge is such a damned good deal that, hey,we oughta keep it ourselves instead of selling it to the rubes.
ReplyDelete