finance
Money talks; reviewing the global economy, government spending, taxes, and economic policy that affect our social and political future.
What Really Causes Inflation Made Easy to Understand. Top Story - August 2022.
I will keep this short and simple because otherwise, you will not be here for long. Although we should not simplify complex social sciences like economics, to understand what inflation is, what causes it and why we are experiencing it, we must make these concepts more accessible to everyone.
By Anton Black3 years ago in The Swamp
Accounting Rules Stifle Innovation
The system today "According to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, require that most research and development costs be expensed in the current period." For as long as their have been accounting rules the idea that R&D activities must be entered on the costs side of the ledger has held sway. To my knowledge none or only a very few have ever dared question the wisdom of this approach. After all, it seems obvious, R&D (in its most basic form) costs money, it does not make money, not directly at least. If it does make money it is only indirectly through the products and services that eventually come to market as a result of the money spent on R&D. Much like a building or other capital expense, R&D is viewed as a tool that can be used to make money, but not as a money making enterprise in an of itself. A building, however, is built, and maybe modified some over time, but it does not really do anything. Not anything active at least. It just exists, and is used by a business which occupies it to conduct business, to facilitate the doing of business. In the end it just sits there and does nothing but "exist as a building" On the other hand, R&D, some activities of which can be capitalized like a building (see linked article above for the gory details) is a very active thing (hence the reason we call it an activity or a process). It does much more than just "exist as R&D" waiting for some business to occupy it and use it to make money. Their are alternative R&D models of course that do exist, some of which set up R&D as a profit making enterprise with its own P&L, but these are few and far between and are typically highly risk averse, short term project focused, and significantly limited in scope. Nothing wrong with that model and it can be useful, but it is far from the norm and if all R&D were set up in this manner it is hard to see how real "move the needle" type innovation could actually happen.
By Everyday Junglist3 years ago in The Swamp
A Look At The Coming Recession And Surviving The Rough Patch
The realities about our economy may have people worrying, having sleepless nights, and generally stressed. As gas and energy prices remain out of control and prices of food and other consumer items skyrocket, the economic news is constantly grim.
By Jason Ray Morton 4 years ago in The Swamp
Economic collapse is upon us. Top Story - May 2022.
I remember being a kid when my parents had to go through a financial crisis. It was back in 2008 and it was caused by the American housing bubble. Back then I only felt it partly because my parents made sure that I and my sister were well-taken care of.
By Drake Flyer4 years ago in The Swamp
Billionaire Trader Ken Griffin Navigates A Flock Of Black Swans
Ken Griffin is staring pensively out a wall of windows on the tenth floor of a Midtown Manhattan office building, one of three locations in New York City occupied by his $47 billion Chicago-based hedge fund, Citadel. It’s early March. Vladimir Putin’s mechanized assault on Ukraine has stalled; he’s now making veiled threats about nuclear strikes. From Griffin’s vantage point there’s no mushroom cloud on the horizon, but the prospect is deeply worrying to the financier.
By irinelvocal24 years ago in The Swamp
Working as a Financial Adviser
I was so to speak in the belly of the beast. A place where the neo-liberal constitution was on full display every single day; an investment firm. There, during my training and short tenure as a financial adviser I was exposed to a culture of individualism, a reverence of property rights, a mindset of profit maximization, and a tendency to cut costs. To summarize my entire life was to be oriented around a market logic.
By Arjuna Fournier4 years ago in The Swamp
A Possible Reversal from Edge of Recession
Do you believe that the economy is in such overblown form that a bubble is going to burst? Investors estimate that the economy will enter a recession with a 50% likelihood based on the economy’s previous exponential expansion and contraction tendencies. It appears to have taken a long time to complete, but has recently been accelerated by high inflation and extremely high rising oil prices as a result of the Russian War, both of which have sped up the process.
By Estalontech4 years ago in The Swamp
The Housing Crisis Today
When the Fed raised interest rates, they apparently forgot that every time they have done so in the past inflation only increased. So, this time they really added salt to our already critically wounded economy. The dire conditions millions face remain unabated whenever the Fed acts. We have to remember that the Great Depression made millionaires in a time of the greatest financial and economic calamity of the 20th century. Today, the justification for interest rate hikes is basically the same. The profiteering of many individuals and corporations have unleashed a cataclysm of financial hardships that has expanded to almost 4/5 of the US population. Essentially what is happening is nothing more than price gouging. Yet state and federal governments have proved ineffective to address what is already becoming one of the worst housing crises since the Great Depression.
By Dr. Williams4 years ago in The Swamp
