The Macro View

In Episode 48, Host Andrew Smith discusses the perversion of the Taking Clause, why the takings clause should be removed from the Constitution via a constitutional amendment, the Kelo case, and now Pleasant Ridge vs the City of Charlestown, Indiana. 

He sets the record straight regarding the "fair market value" myth, and discusses why it is economically fallacious.

Now most people agree that the Kelo decision was egregious. Most people would be appalled by the situation in Charlestown, but at the same time, most people thing that the use of eminent domain is the only way to cheaply and efficiently execute upon the construction of so-called public infrastructure projects. 

Andrew also discusses why eminent domain actually costs alot MORE than voluntary transactions would costs for public infrastructure costs, and why it is logically fallacious to claim that any other way of constructing roads and other so-called public infrastructure could not otherwise occur.

Bureaucracies Operate Under a Different Incentive than Private Enterprise... 

In private enterprise companies and even not-for-profits (with more than one donor) operate under the profit and loss motive - prices send signals to entrpreneurs, telling them what society most urgently demands be produced with the means of produciton....

Bureaucracies on the other hand, operate under the Budget Increase Motive - the sole goal is to spend their entire budget to insure they get a larger appropriation from congress the next year. Further, it prevents them from ever solving the problems... We discuss why...

Left-Wing Economist and Politicians use the fallacious claim that "low skill workers have no bargaining power" to justify the minimum wage, while simultaneously stripping bargaining power from them through overtime pay laws. They base their fallacious claim on another fallacy - the low skill labor buyers monopoly.

In Episode 46 of TheMacroView Host Andrew Smith debunks both myths and explains where "bargaining power" comes from in the labor market.

Getting back to the basics of economics - Andrew teaches listeners why low skilled workers have a tougher time earning raises, and what they can potentially do about it in a free market setting.

Enjoy!

Bill Gates is Quickly Becoming a Common Theme on TheMacroView thanks to his continuous nonsense spewing in public interviews - and the use of his wealth by other outlets as examples of how so-called income inequality is worse than ever before...

This time, once again, it is thanks to his own economic ignorance... 

Either Bill Gates has intellectually regressed and adopted the fight of the Luddites - or he recently joined an Amish sect.

Despite the evidence that technological advancement does not cause unemployment that he clearly witnessed from his own life's work, Bill is now claiming the robots will take the jobs of so many that the government should tax the productivity of robots in order to retrain people who lose their jobs.

Oh the Irony... Bill why don't you just stick to technology and leave economic analysis to the pros...

In Modern Mainstream Economics, academics and the well-read politician may refer to a concept which they call friction or frictional costs. In doing so what they are referring to is the cost of living for the unemployed that is seeking a job.

Examples they may cite as frictional costs include the cost of traveling around the city or town in an effort to find employment, moving from one city to another for better opportunities and/or a lower cost of living, and general living expenses incurred on a daily basis.

What they often fail to realize, however, is that much of these so-called frictional costs are caused by government hampering the market with rules and regulations, with wage laws and distortive capital guarantees.

In the unhampered market economy unemployment is voluntary – always – for the generally decent person without a long rap sheet of physical violence or property crimes.

As Mises put it in his renowned treatise Human Action:

A job seeker who does not want to wait will always get a job in the unhampered market economy in which there is always unused capacity of natural resources and very often also unused capacity of produced factors of production. It is only necessary for him either to reduce the amount of pay he is asking for or to alter his occupation or his place of work.

In the unhampered market there is always employment to be found.

A recent article from HumanProgress.org highlighted the incredible increase in labor productivity and standard of living using the lightbulb.

In tonight's episode we discuss the myriad of 19th, 20th and 21st century innovations that we often take for granted!

The fact is that we have an incredible and unprecedented prosperity, the highest standard of living in human history...

America has been the land of innovation for greater than 150 years! There are causes for concern though... We discuss what those causes are and why bold action is needed!

Tonight on TheMacroView Special Guest and Libertarian Leadership Coach Michael Pickens joins us to discuss the Future of the Libertarian Party...

Everything from Michael's Success, How to create more successful campaigns, Candidates running or planning to run for office, Marijuana Legalization, Strategies to build coalitions, and Michael's end goal!

Don't miss this special episode, with our very special guest! Michael is the former Vice-Chair of the California Libertarian Party, Chair of the Libertarian Party of Washington, and former Campaign Manager for Larry Sharpe Libertarian Candidate for the Vice Presidential nomination in 2016.

The hyperbole surrounding the climate science debate is one of the most frustrating parts of society today...

Let's set the facts straight.

 

Assuming it is not a hoax, what do the models actually say?

Tonight we go through the models and discuss, from a realistic standpoint, what the implications of climate change are likely to be...

From hotter temperatures and melting permafrosts to rising sea levels and ocean acidification, we talk real numbers and bring everyone back to earth! 

Don't miss out on this episode! You're sure to be entertained, educated and love it!

In the final part of this 4 part series we discuss equity risk measures, asset risk and portfolio level risk. Risk measures, as with all financial analysis are tools, not predictors. They can help the investor to assess and judge risk levels as compared to expected (judged) potential reward. They are not hard and fast rules, they are not perfect, they are not end all be all omniscient god-beings. 

Investing involves risk, understanding how to minimize or mitigate risk, and specifically, how to assess what the risk of a particular investment may be - how to roughly measure such - and therefore how to make better informed judgements.

Tonight we discuss Debt Risk Concepts such as the Recovery Rate, Probability of Default, Loss Given Default, and Where to Find Certain Items on a Company Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Cash Flow Statement.

For anyone thinking of investing in corporate bonds these concepts are vital to the valuation. 

You must be able to assess risk of default and the loss given default in order to determine what the value of the bond is, and make sure that you're not overpaying for the risk you are assuming.