Thanks to Adult Swim re-airing King of the Hill five nights a week I recently caught an old episode that has expanded my list of approved politicians to now feature two: Ron Paul and Hank Hill.  The episode is Flush with Power (or here) from season four. It makes sense that the only politician in American history whose integrity would...

My first article on the subject of college ended up being very long, so I chopped the last half off and made this part II article out of it. Here are the common reactions I received, and continue to receive, due to my decision to withdraw from college. 1)      “Most people go to college, so you should too.” Could it be that...

I mean no offense to people who go to college with the goal of becoming an academic.  If you desire to be an economist, for instance, you are where you need to be. But if you don’t know what to do, a very common and understandable circumstance, there is nothing wrong with refraining from impulsively choosing some random degree to...

The euro shot to a new high for the year, hitting $1.325 a few hours into U.S. trading. This euro strength could be catalyzed by reports from Greece that politicians have reached an agreement on harsh new austerity measures that are required for disbursement of the second bailout leaders agreed to in August. The terms of this aid could...

There’s a myth in the USA that just won’t go away. It’s this idea that a household balance sheet is somehow comparable to that of the federal government’s. Few myths are more destructive and lead to greater confusion and/or misguided government policy. In recent months this has become a particularly public subject as the debt...

Since 2005, European oil consumption has fallen by 1.5 million barrels a day. And, in the same period, US oil consumption has fallen by 2 million barrels a day. If oil was priced at $60 a barrel, rather than $100 a barrel, then a fair portion of that lost demand might return. Instead, since 2005, global crude oil production has been...

There has been a growing view of aspiring professional musicians on the internet that musicians should not have to work for free nor should they even be asked to work for free.  They believe they are for some reason entitled to getting paid well for their work regardless of whether or not there is even a significant demand for their...

If you save $1,000 today, what will it be worth 30 years from now? Luckily, you can skip the crystal ball and use a pretty simple formula to get an idea of what your future wealth will be. The concept is called “future value,” and it’s one of the most powerful concepts in finance. The future value formula comes in handy...

With its announcement this week that it will keep interest rates near zero until at least late 2014, the Federal Reserve has put another large crack into the foundations underlying the US dollar. In a misguided attempt to provide clarity and transparency, Ben Bernanke has instead laid out a simple road map for economists and investors...