We Need Better Foreign Policy

We agree with Stephen Walt’s argument that newspapers need opinion writers who reflect a more realist approach to foreign policy. Unfortunately, newspaper face a tough slog finding writers who have worked over seas because they keep shuttering their foreign bureaus. The price we pay because newspaper owners need to maintain their 20% profit margins.

One Stop Financial Shopping

Many ideas in business appear quite possible, reasonable, and profitable. Where others failed before them, business leaders swear they possess the knowledge to use better the resources needed to implement successfully these ideas. These often tried but never successful ideas include

• doing more with less
• cutting our way to profitability
• buying market share
• selling checking accounts and IRAs

Add Citigroup to the heap one stop financial shops, which is includes Shearson Lehman FleetBoston, Morgan Stanley, and US Bank. The failure occurs because these companies lack a key component of information: consumer behavior and consumer needs.

Can I interest you in some nice fat financing or a debit card?

Hold that Tiger. Spend that Dollar

Clemson University football fans continue their tradition of spending where their feet are. With the team’s appearance in Atlanta for a bowl game, Clemson fans pay their bills with stamped $2 bills. The bills are marked with Tiger paw prints on them. This practice represents one of the best ways for merchants and banks to gauge the financial impact of an event such as a bowl game.

An Economic Tiger

A Good Step for Logic

Jonathan Weisman, writing in the Washington Post, correctly rips into Mike Huckabee for supporting a national sales tax. What you expect from a presidential candidate who maintains a strong anti-science stance?

Opposing science and tax policy since 1995

The better fix for the tax code may die from a thousand cuts as the Democrats destroy reform one of their best legislative pieces passed during the Great Society.

Inflation and Beauty

Inflation like beauty remains in the eye of the beholder and skin deep. The Labor Department reports core inflation, which excludes the cost of food and energy, rose .1% or .001 in May. The June 16, 2007, edition of the Wall Street Journal referred to this rate as “meager.” Although the Journal may see inflation through rose colored glasses or (more likely) beer goggles, an ugly step sister lurks underneath that .1% skin.

More Jingle Jangle in Your Pocket

Congress finally raised the minimum wage, and President George W. Bush said he would sign the bill. The minimum wage moves from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour. By raising the wage floor, hourly workers will see their wages rise. For example, a worker who earns $7 an hour now, or $2 above the minimum wage will see their wages increase to keep pace.