Often times in American politics complicated fiscal issues will be boiled down to anecdotal evidence that serve as the most extreme vivid case example of the narrative a particular campaign is trying to push. Whatever policy position your opponent takes is sure to have at least one instance of waste, excess, abuse, or corruption just as whatever policy you support is sure to have some little guy desperately trying to make ends meet while the current system tries to keep them down. These isolated cases are used by ideologues to elicit a specific emotional reaction from voters in order to…
Category: It’s the Economy Stupid
Its the Economy Stupid-Corporate Inversion
Stop. Before you read any further I need you to ask yourself which you love more, Burger King or America. Because if your answer is America them by the end of this post you may not want to eat at Burger King ever again. So if you don’t want to be put into that kind of a Sophie’s Choice scenario your only option is to stop reading now. Okay, you’ve been warned. In this edition of Its the Economy Stupid we’re going to take a look at the most unpatriotic of all tax dodges: Corporate Inversion. What’s that you ask?…
It’s the Economy Stupid- Free Trade Agreements
The recent wave of economic nationalism to sweep across the world is a direct backlash against the forces of globalization that have been on the march since the fall of the soviet union. Nothing more epitomizes the globalization movement than negotiated Free Trade Agreements. From the Pan-Pacific Partnership to NAFTA, free trade agreements have been held up as the source of America’s economic woes by economic populists. With such a vehement contempt for these kinds of agreement saturating our national discourse I thought they warranted a closer look. First brass tacks, what exactly is a free trade agreement or FTA…
It’s The Economy Stupid- Quantitative Easing
Do you ever wish you could just create money out of thin air? Snap your fingers and buy that new car cash? Well, then you should be a central bank because thanks to a relatively new (this century) financial technique known as Quantitative Easing the can do just that. Money out of thin air you say? How does that work? Well, loyal reader, I’m going to tell you. But like any good writer, I’m going to build up your anticipation first by stalling with an exposition dump. You see the purpose of Quantitative Easing is to stimulate economic growth. And…
It’s the Economy Stupid- Glass-Steagall
If you’ve been paying attention to the presidential campaign trail at all (and I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t) then you’ve likely heard the phrase Glass-Steagall pop up on more than one occasion. In fact it was mentioned no less than a dozen times during the first democratic presidential debate. Those of you without a background in finance or possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of 1930’s congressional legislation you be asking what exactly it is that everyone is talking about and why the old guy with crazy hair so worked up over it. In modern politics Glass-Steagall is a…
It’s The Economy Stupid- The Unemployment Rate
One of the major indicators that people look to when evaluate an economies overall health is the unemployment rate. And common sense would tell us that those people have the right idea. After all whether or not people are working seems like a pretty good gauge of whether or not people have money. Unfortunately this is not always the case and Unemployment as an economic indicator has several flaws that need to be acknowledged in order for it to have any real usefulness as a tool in discussing the impact of economic policies. In this month’s It’s the Economy Stupid…
It’s The Economy Stupid- Raising the Minimum Wage
With announcements coming from Hilary Clinton and multiple Republicans this last week that they will be seeking their respective party’s nomination for the Presidency of the United States the election cycle has officially begun. One of the issues that will be (or at least should be) at the forefront of the campaign trail is the recent push to raise the minimum wage. Unfortunately for all of us this debate will be flooded with propaganda and misinformation from both sides. So here at The Eclectic Eccentric I thought it would be the perfect time to address it in my inaugural edition…