The Replacement of the Ordinary Business Cycle by Irregular and Preventable Shocks

October 25, 2020October 26, 2020 ~ Cade ~ Leave a comment

Kitchin cycle. Juglar cycle. Kondratiev wave. Boom-bust. A whole bunch of malarkey. I don’t think recessions are nowadays really the result of ‘cycles,’ which is a term that sort of implies they are part of some natural order of things, like moon phases or the seasons. I think recessions are like ice ages. They are … Continue reading The Replacement of the Ordinary Business Cycle by Irregular and Preventable Shocks

The Consequences of Extreme Inequality

October 17, 2020October 26, 2020 ~ Cade ~ Leave a comment

In 1912, Italian statistician Corrado Gini introduced a concept (which came to take his name) called the Gini Coefficient. The coefficient, which is a measure of statistical dispersion, is used primarily to measure the level of economic inequality, such as income, wealth, and consumption inequality. This coefficient is calculated by subtracting from cumulative income in … Continue reading The Consequences of Extreme Inequality

Putting The National Debt Into Perspective

September 16, 2020October 26, 2020 ~ Cade ~ Leave a comment

I recently thought of a new way to measure the burden of the national debt, though I'm sure I'm not the first. When we measure the national debt, we typically take either gross federal debt, or federal debt held by the public as a share of gross domestic product. When we do that, we come … Continue reading Putting The National Debt Into Perspective

Investigating Social Security Privatization

September 14, 2020October 26, 2020 ~ Cade ~ Leave a comment

Introduced as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Social Security redefined the role of the government in American life in an almost revolutionary way, similar to the widespread adoption of public education. Despite it's out-sized impact, Old Age and Survivors Insurance (what most people refer to when they speak of Social Security) continues to be … Continue reading Investigating Social Security Privatization

Capital Accumulation and Rates of Return

September 10, 2020November 29, 2020 ~ Cade ~ 3 Comments

I was thinking about the stock market and how decade after decade it's able to deliver high rates of return and ended up formulating a primitive hypothesis based on the data I gathered. Corporate stock capitalization is cumulative sum of net stock flow, so stock market growth should be determined by the source of net … Continue reading Capital Accumulation and Rates of Return

We Can’t Quite Call Sluggish Growth Endemic

August 23, 2020October 26, 2020 ~ Cade ~ Leave a comment

The pace of economic progress in America has been just shy of miserable over these past few years. Sure, the stock market is booming, unemployment (until COVID) had reached a half-century low, and most Americans were satisfied with the state of the economy and their personal financial and material well being. None of this is … Continue reading We Can’t Quite Call Sluggish Growth Endemic

Fractional Reserve Banking 101

June 9, 2020October 26, 2020 ~ Cade ~ Leave a comment

Many people are accustomed to the idea that banks magically print money and cause inflation. People wonder, "Hey, why can't I do that?" Well, the answer is you can't because nobody can, not even commercial banks. In a fractional reserve banking system like the one we have, commercial banks can only lend an amount equal … Continue reading Fractional Reserve Banking 101