On August 26, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation increased the number of banks it considers in danger of failure from 90 to 117 and responded indirectly to concerns about its ability to insure money on deposit at retail banking institutions. The FDIC is considering increasing the fee it charges retail banks to insure their deposits [...]

When the economy is in a slump, for the vast majority of the population, discretionary income is often cut, leaving people to spend for necessities rather than luxuries. Save an elite few, art is generally considered a luxury or perhaps an investment rather than a daily need. But for those who make their living [...]

On August 25, the U.S and Australian regulators agreed to allow brokers and exchanges to do business in each county while being regulated only by the their home country. This could start as early as January. For the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this is seen as a step towards its goal of [...]

“Eat your vegetables,” my mother told me when I was growing up in America in the 1950s. “Children are starving in Europe.”
My mother’s postwar economic geography sounds comically antiquated today; she could never have foreseen a world in which the euro is stronger than the U.S. dollar. But in another sense she was half a [...]

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act came into force in 2002 and introduced major changes to the regulation of financial practice and corporate governance following scandals like the collapse of Enron. It is mandatory and all organizations – large and small – must comply. It has raised the bar for public companies, and failure to comply can result [...]

Energy concerns top many American’s list of what worries them most. With gas prices at over $4 per gallon in many places, food prices soaring and the debate regarding food-based biofuels raging, it may seem difficult to see a way past the energy conundrum we find ourselves in. The answer to increasing America’s independence from [...]

I don’t count myself as a visionary, but there is a specter looming over mankind’s collective head, and I’m not sure if I can see how we can avoid it.
In my opinion, creating good artificial intelligence is just a matter of time. Already researchers have created a robot that uses a rat’s brain, and the [...]

Many companies have used tax shelters known as Lease In Lease Out (LILO) and Sale In Lease Out (SILO) to claim deductions. A string of recent court decisions are being seen as a major victory for the Internal Revenue Service in its fight to outlaw the use of such tax shelter. The IRS designated LILOs [...]

Death, taxes and government ownership of roads: all inevitabilities, right? Well, not according to Dr. Walter Block, professor of economics at Loyola University in New Orleans and senior fellow at the free-market Mises Institute. Dr. Block, whose most famous work, Defending the Undefendable, not only made a case for drug legalization but also argued that [...]

One of the surest signs that we’re in a recession is the abundance of “We’re Hiring” signs at low-end service-sector places of employment. You’ve probably seen them around your town: fast food restaurants, video stores, retailers looking for new managers, etc.
How can this be? In a recession, shouldn’t businesses be laying people off?
On first glance, [...]