There is no question that Monsanto has a controversial reputation. It is the country’s leading producer of genetically modified seeds, and consequently the largest target for anti-GMO activists. Now, critics are balking at Monsanto for entirely unrelated reasons: the Missouri-based firm recently announced its plan to buyout a Swiss chemical manufacturer and make the joint … Continue reading
The Michigan state government recently stumbled across a startling statistic. Over the past decade its revenue streams were $8-10 million below what it expected. The cause? Residents of nearby states have been smuggling millions of bottles and cans into Michigan, taking advantage of its nation-leading 10-cent bottle refund. Michigan is one of 10 states nationwide … Continue reading
As of this past week, our federal government has managed to clear the hurdle of fully funding the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, this is only one of the many vitally important budget issues on the horizon, including Medicare payments to doctors, funding for the Highway Trust Fund and our crumbling infrastructure, and the prospect … Continue reading
To all the people who believe that a constitutional requirement forcing Congress to pass a balanced budget every year will make the federal debt (and yes, there is a difference between a debt and a deficit: deficit being how much money we have to borrow per year, debt being how much money we have borrowed … Continue reading
Why we should Still Worry about the Deficit On October 15, the Department of The Treasury released the final budget results from Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. The results showed an overall deficit of $483 billion, $197 billion less than in 2013 ($680 billion), which amounts to a reduction of the deficit as a percentage of GDP … Continue reading
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Treasury issued a Notice (Notice 2014-52) last Monday that would further their efforts to prevent U.S. companies from using an increasingly prevalent tactic known as inversion to lower their tax bill. Conventionally, an inversion is a negotiation in which a U.S. multinational company restructures with a foreign … Continue reading
Hillary Clinton is not the only feature of Washington that is “dead broke”: the Highway Trust Fund is set to run out of money by late August, and members of Congress are scrambling to find ways to raise revenue. One solution, proposed by Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), is to raise the … Continue reading
One fundamental principle of financial markets is the relationship between risk and return. This tenet is reflected in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the workhorse of security pricing, where the return required by investors is measured by adding the risk free rate (such as a treasury bond) to a market risk premium, adjusted for … Continue reading
Social Security is both the largest program in the federal budget and one of the most fiscally unsustainable. The program has already begun paying out more in benefits than it is taking in through payroll taxes. By 2033, the Social Security Trust Fund will be drained and the benefits paid out will decline by 25 … Continue reading
The graying of America is not a new fear for economists and politicians. Before even the earliest Baby Boomers began retiring, economists were making predictions about the hardships America would undoubtedly face as it aged. Many say those problems have already begun, while others argue they have been over exaggerated and prematurely predicted. The American … Continue reading
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