Category: Politics & Economics

December 2020 According to the Urban Institute, the distribution of income and wealth in the United States has become distressingly imbalanced. Since 1963, the income of families in the top 10% has increased by roughly 90%; while the income of those in the middle has risen by only 20%. And the income of those in…

November 2020 If it weren’t for this awful virus, we would have spent this year celebrating the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims on Cape Cod. The 102 people who left the Mayflower included 50 men, 19 women and 33 young adults and children. Just 41 were Pilgrims, religious separatists seeking freedom from…

March 2020 HSBC bank announced recently that it will be laying off 35,000 employees – more than 10% of its worldwide staff. So I expected to read that the 150-year-old bank (with 235,000 employees in 64 countries) had lost money last year. Not so. In fact HSBC cleared $5.97 billion in profit in 2019. The…

November 2019 The two main economic theories that have been guiding most world economies for the past 150 years or so are capitalism and socialism. In a socialist society the government owns the means of production and decides what goods and services will be offered and how much will be charged. The Soviet Union and…