Great article on how American has single handedly caused the spike of world oil prices and indirectly Yankees line the pockets of Middle East dictators, and how Wars DO NOT stimulate the economy.

You mean to tell me a billion dollars a day is better spent in IRAQ then in America on consumption or job creation or, etc.?


My favorite quote:

Moreover, money spent on the Iraq war does not stimulate the economy today as much as money spent at home on roads, hospitals, or schools, and it doesn’t contribute as much to long-term growth. Economists talk about “bang for the buck” – how much economic stimulus is provided by each dollar of spending. It’s hard to imagine less bang than from bucks spent on a Nepalese contractor working in Iraq.

Technorati Tags: war, economy, stimulate

In mental accounting there are three main components to this theory. The three of them are as follows and may affect the individuals preferences as follows:

Value Function

This is a function that represents gains and looses with respect to some reference point. In rational behavior theory, it would predict that an individual gains some sort of utility in a gain situation and inversely a same amount of disutility for the same size loss. In mental accounting however, this does not hold true in that individuals typically show contrasting behavior. Value function states that in gains individuals typically view their gains in a concave function to which it displays diminishing marginal returns and in losses it is convex showing increasing marginal returns.


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DiscussEconomics Blog Accessible From Handheld Devices

DiscussEconomics is pleased to offer an easy solution for all finance and econ junkies looking to get their article fix on the road. Now you can read use wherever you go by access www.discusseconomics.com/ on your handheld devices.

Although you could visit use before, now our cell phone blog is mobile friendly! Most all mobile standards are supported, even posts and comments can be submitted by phone. No unique subdomain is required, just visit www.discusseconomics.com/ in your mobile browsers. It's that easy! Post your comments and read the latest news and articles, just another reason to become a part of the Econ community!

That's what one user suggests. Do you think copyrights and patents are inhibitors to society and production? Have your say in the economics forum.

Technorati Tags: patents, copyright, patent

The House Committee on financial services had this to say about the US housing market situation.

Problems that began in the U.S. mortgage markets have led to the most serious international economic crisis since the late 1990s. Huge losses and concern about credit quality have spread far beyond the housing sector. America faces the prospect of a sharp recession, made all the likelier by the probable default of several million additional mortgages in the coming year and the resulting displacement of millions of families.


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The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key lending rate by three-quarters of a point, which isn't as deep as some analysts had been expecting.

The federal funds rate, which is what banks charge each other for overnight loans, had been three per cent. Tuesday's cut reduces that to 2.25 per cent. The Bank of Canada's equivalent is 3.75 per cent.

The U.S. rate is now at its lowest point since 2004. The Fed has been employing some measures that haven't been used since the 1930s to try to calm the markets.

Will Prices Collapse

A couple of topics are being discussed over in the Oil & Energy forum. The first is why hasn't the high oil prices curtailed consumer demand for oil in relatively poor nations like China and India. The other question is do you think the world oil price (market) will collapse? Discuss your thoughts in the forum.

Check out what we posted in October 2006. Nothing has changed other than lower interest rates in the US and more houses up for sale so grab them while you can. Only caveat? You need a job to pay the mortgage, and you need a mortgage

Hey Canada, looking to buy AND afford a nice house? well get out of Alberta and head down south of the border--well not quite. New home prices fell last month in the US by the largest amount in 35 years. The Commerce Department reported that the median price for a new home sold in September was $217,100, a decline of 9.7 percent from September 2005.

That was the lowest median home price in two years and the sharpest year-over-year decline since December 1970, providing dramatic evidence of the slowdown in the once-booming housing market.

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