Lee Jae Yong, embattled and once imprisoned leader of the Samsung Conglomerate has just had his prison sentence commuted and has been released. The release of Lee Jae Yong isn’t the only good news for Samsung, as the company has announced record profits and surpassed Intel to become the larges chipmaker in the world. As … Continue reading "Samsung…Massive Corruption…Underpants Gnomes…Economic Miracle? (Update)"

In May of 1999 Pakistani soldiers marched into the Kargil region of Kashmir, and two nuclear armed nations were only inches away from declaring war. Relations  between India and Pakistan have always been confrontational, and the historical wounds between the two countries have been festering for a long time. From the late 1990s onwards, India … Continue reading "Can Free Trade Agreements Defuse Nuclear Bombs and Overcome Petty Bureaucrats?"

A wave of major protests have engulfed Iran since December of 2017. Protests have erupted in large and small cities, and have gathered crowds from all social classes resulting in the largest wave of unrest since 2009. Thousands of individuals have been arrested, and 23 protesters have died so far. While the immediate cause of … Continue reading "Big Charity vs. the Iranian 99%?"

Every year approximately 10 million rural Chinese, roughly the population of New York City, migrate to China’s cities. During the Lunar New Year roughly 200 million Chinese migrants cram the buses and trains to return to their home villages. The economy of the world increasingly revolves around building the cities that will house the rapidly … Continue reading "The Greatest Human Migration in the Recorded History of Mankind"

This an update on my previous podcast episode looking at ho Puerto Rico’s growth model was shaped by it’s complex status within the US tax system. On December 19th, the Senate passed the most comprehensive tax cut of the last thirty years. However, if you dig deep into bowels of this monstrosity, there are provisions … Continue reading "Will Republican Tax Cuts For Plutocrats Also Sink the Puerto Rican Economy?"

Puerto Rico’s Electricity grid stood no chance against Hurricane Maria. The island was lashed by winds of over 150 miles per hour, and places inundated with thirty inches of rain.  Almost 40% of the population still lacks access to electricity. While Maria was a natural disaster, the grid was in such a vulnerable state due … Continue reading "Puerto Rico: Electric Boogaloo?"

In February of 2017, major credit agencies declared Puerto Rico’s debt to be of junk status, that is to say they felt that it was all but inevitable that Puerto Rico would be forced to default on at least part of it’s debts. From the late 1990s onwards, Puerto Rico has been accumulating more and … Continue reading "Who set off Puerto Rico’s Debt Bomb?"

Today’s podcast episode explores the changing patterns of economic growth from the Great Depression onwards. Puerto Rico on the eve of the Great Depression was a deeply impoverished provider of sugar, coffee and other agricultural commodities. Reformers have worked to transform Puerto Rico’s economy ever since, but the task has proven to be immensely challenging. … Continue reading "How Puerto Rico’s Economy Was Destroyed by Obscure Provisions of the Tax Code"

On November 15th, 2017 longstanding Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe appears to have been removed from control of the country by the armed forces. I have added an introduction that briefly summarizes some of the key events that precipitated this scandal. I have chosen to repost this episode, because the history of Zimbabwe is immensely relevant … Continue reading "Robert Mugabe, Tragic Hero or Brutal Thug (Updated)"

What exactly is a Puerto Rico? It is neither state, nor independent nation nor colony. Like a Hippogriff or Chimera, Puerto Rico is an amalgam of many things. America acquired  Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War of 1898, almost by accident, with little thought of what it would mean to be a colonial power. The … Continue reading "Corrupt Sugar Barons, Arcane Shipping Laws, and Puerto Rico’s Complicated Relationship With the United States"