Discussion of Global Finance
How to explain in 1 page why someone who buys an investment property can make a 20x return on equity in 30 years, and the average home owner loses money over the same period. Mortgage interest First 2 Years Next 28 Years Average 50% Variable 1.49% Estimates only 50% Fixed 1.89% 4.25% 4.09% 80% Variable […]
Buying my home is a complete financial folly, and against all my financial principles. I can only justify it because I can afford this folly, thanks to the high yields I have on investment properties overseas, and because I have no mortgage. But I watch so many of my younger friends diving into home […]
Economists have rightly forewarned of the dangers of setting a minimum wage in the US. With the minimum wage in Mexico at 53 cents an hour, and China at US$1.30 per hour, moving the current pay up from US$11.30 to US$15 per hour in the US will ensure that corporations will move every conceivable job […]
Two bakers in 1900 each bake 1000 loaves and, on selling them, place the proceeds in the stock market. In 1900 a loaf of bread sold for 10c so they each had US$100 to invest. The elder brother went straight to the stock market and bought directly into the share index. The younger brother had […]
There are positive rationales for bringing the private sector into care and education. Subsidy allocation and efficient use of resources can not be accurately aligned in a public system. Market signals of what the service user wishes are only distantly correlated to the allocation of funding to and within a public hospital, school, or home. […]
The ‘bright spot’ in the global economy for the second half of 2013 is the perceived stronger than expected recovery in the US economy. As with the rating agency scandal, reality often bears no resemblance to the information proffered. The key indicators for a recovery in the USA are, lower unemployment, and GDP growth in […]
-A foreign investor’s perspective on Iceland- Three letters to the Prime Minister Letter One Credit is due not just literally Outsiders are often blind to the complexity of a nation’s problems, but sometimes, a fresh set of eyes, however myopic, can see the wood from the trees. As an Englishman living in the third […]
Comparing asset distribution, wages, and working hours over the past thousand years Medieval wealth distribution In medieval England the crown, the church, and the leading 200 noblemen owned 75% of the land. Land was the chief asset in a time when the biggest city, London, had 35,000 inhabitants. The crown and church were the two […]
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