The recent AIG bonus debacle has angered many people, but usually for the wrong reasons. While the $165 million in bonuses handed out to its high level employees is nothing to support or be proud of, it is disheartening when Congress and President Obama spend this much time going after $165 million and discussing nothing [...]
Displaying the most recent of 151 posts written by
David Kretzmann
Today foreign policy has largely taken a backseat to the economy as the main issue being discussed locally and nationally. But foreign affairs have done anything but settle down over the past several months. During the Presidential debates between Senators’ Obama and McCain, the main debate on foreign policy was over how to best invade [...]
The Great Depression has become one of the most misunderstood events in U.S. history. Many people believe the free market to be culprit that caused the incredible economic downturn, that the government didn’t do enough to stop it, and that it was largely President Hoover’s fault for not intervening enough into the economy. Today, to [...]
Presidential executive orders have become much more commonplace in government today. Historically, presidents generally used these orders to manage and direct federal agencies through laws already passed and arranged by Congress, and clearly not to create, or vaguely interpret, laws for expanding executive control. Presidents since George Washington have used executive orders, or “directives”, although [...]
The issue of credit is so intertwined with our current economic system, it is critical that it be researched, discussed, and brought to the light of the public. What is credit? Webster defines it as the “reliance on the truth or reality of something”. Simple enough. The Federal Reserve controls the supply and creation of [...]
Since the Great Depression, the federal government has taken an increased stake in the farming industry. The Agricultural Adjustment Act, enacted in 1933, is considered to be the first modern farming bill. The Act provided subsidies to farmers who left some of their fields undeveloped in an effort to reduce the crop surplus and therefore [...]
The main arguments against capitalism, that I’ve heard, include that it’s an unfair system primarily about greed and taking advantage of your fellow man. Arguments for government intervention and social planning can sound attractive. “Free” education, “free” health care; as the laundry list of “free” items stack up, it sometimes sounds too good to pass [...]
Today, for the first time since May 1, 1997, the Dow closed below 7,000, down 4.24% to 6763.29. It has been nearly twelve years since the market has seen these levels, and that was when the tech boom was going full throttle, well before the 2000 correction. Did we even have a complete correction in [...]
The Federal Reserve is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult entities to understand and grasp today. Legally we do not have the right to know what goes on behind the closed doors of the Fed. Yet, we place in them the overwhelming power, control, and ability of a monopoly over money and credit. [...]
Over the past couple weeks in my school we’ve had the nice opportunity to have a small class on personal accounting, budgets, banking, taxes, etc. Everyone made a rough budget estimate for necessities they would have to provide for themselves once they were out on their own in the real world. Basics like rent, food, [...]
