With all the debate about the tax cuts in progress and with very few people being able to comprehend what they really mean, the below article from Yahoo answers was more than insightful. Enjoy!

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for lunch and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
» Read more: The US Tax Breaks 101

India and China have refused to take part in reaching 50% of their level of greenhouse gas emission by 2050 which is a shame. India and China contribute about 25% of the global greenhouse gas emissions while the developed countries together are at 40%.

While the developed countries plan to reduce their current emissions by 50% by 2050, India and China are looking at a moderate target of reduction. Why is this? » Read more: Why India and China refuse to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions

We know about free trade and how it is the basic tenet of globalization. That being said, globalization is essentially about open borders to trade goods. The question that has popped up at various forums and is debated hotly is why cant the same open-border philosophy be applied to people.

Some argue that globalization is a necessity while open border migration is a danger. Others claim that both should go hand in hand. Here are some of my thoughts. » Read more: Free Trade & Open Border Migration

Economics Lesson 1 : Economic growth causes inflation i.e. increasing demand and lack of sufficient supply causes inflation.

Economics Lesson 2 : A slow-growth economy leads to a decline in inflation.

Milton Friedman : “Inflation is a monetary phenomenon – Control the growth of money supply and thus control inflation.” » Read more: The Lessons of Milton Friedman

A simple enough post. Here’s how Thomas Carlyle defined economics in 1849 : “Economics is dreary, desolate and indeed quite distressing, what we might call by way of eminence, the dismal science.”

Why then should we even be interested in it? Joan Robinson, another prominent economist in the 1930s and 1940s said that one has to learn economics in order to avoid being deceived by economists ($800bn bailout, TARP anyone?). Herbert Stein, another economist said ” Economists don’t know very much. Other people, including the politicians who make economic decisions, know even less about economics than the economists do. » Read more: Understanding Economics

The process of awareness begins somewhere. A comment in passing.  A line of protest in the news. Snippets of overheard conversation. A good friend of mine Chris brought this up in a conversation. He talked about the Federal Reserve and how it’s not accountable to anyone, not even the President of the United States. That got me thinking and I researched this.

My thinking was the Fed was a government organization. Not so. The Federal Reserve is a hybrid organization – a partnership between the Federal Government and large private banks. These banks have agreements in place to limit competition, preserve profits and protect their territories.

This sounded like a cartel or a monopoly. » Read more: How the Federal Reserve is scarier than Saw VI

According to Mr. Friedman, the Great Depression did not occur primarily as a result of the stock market crash of the 1930s but mainly because of the lack of intervention of the Federal Reserve. When the Bank of the United States in New York crashed on December 11, 1930, he says that the Federal Reserve should have intervened and flooded the country with liquidity and hastened to ensure that no more failures took place. Instead, they were silent observers of an imploding economy and persisted with a lackluster monetary policy. » Read more: What Milton Friedman would’ve thought of today’s recession