Wealth & Poverty Review

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Stack of money coins with retro alarm clock
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The Good Old Days Were Really Expensive

We buy things with money but pay for them with our time. Money prices are expressed in dollars and cents, while time prices are expressed in hours and minutes. A time price is simply the money price divided by hourly income. Read More ›
Coca-Cola Cans
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Coca-Cola Abundance

Unskilled workers are getting 214.7 percent more than their 1959 counterparts. Read More ›
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Printing US dollar bills. Concept of United States economy, buying and selling banknotes in the worldwide. Global finance and business.
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Averting Insolvency Is a Key Battle America Must Win

With all the problems America is facing, the one that gets the least attention might be the most critical. The speed at which the United States will hit the wall of an insolvency crisis and collapse is approaching very fast. 

The U.S. is currently spending more than $2 billion a day to service its debt, and that interest we pay on servicing the national debt is the fastest growing part of the federal budget. It will likely exceed the entire defense budget within a year. The constructive law of compound interest has been turned upside-down and we are now on a downward spiral of escalating compound debt and interest payments, wherein the U.S. government is locked into borrowing ever more money to pay the interest on new and previous debt obligations. 

In the context of our history this has happened extremely fast. Just two decades ago, the U.S. national debt stood at about $4 trillion, which was at that time 36% of our GDP. Today, U.S. national debt is $34.2 trillion, which is about 126.5% of U.S. GDP—an increase of 755% in just twenty years. 

What is the significance of the debt-to-GDP ratio? After the dollar was taken off the gold standard—which is to say no longer backed by gold—in 1933, it became a “fiat” currency backed only by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and the economy of the country. GDP replaced gold as a measure of aggregate assets backing the currency. And the same is true for all countries as fiat currencies are now almost universal.

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A marina filled with luxurious yachts, with an azure sea backdrop, epitomizing the maritime lifestyle of the wealthy
A marina filled with luxurious yachts, with an azure sea backdrop, epitomizing the maritime lifestyle of the wealthy

Who Is Creating More Value For Society? Jeff Bezos or Bernie Sanders?

Michael R. Strain of the American Enterprise Institute has noted: Billionaire innovators create enormous value for society. In a 2004 paper, the Nobel laureate economist William D. Nordhaus found “that only a minuscule fraction” – about 2.2% – “of the social returns from technological advances” accrued to innovators themselves. The rest of the benefits (which is to say, almost all of them) went to consumers. If Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is worth $170 billion, then according to Nordhaus, he’s created over $7.7 trillion in value for society. Bezos has made each American around $23,000 richer. But Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders thinks an innovator’s 2.2 percent is too much. Sanders tweeted “Billionaires should not exist.” Continue reading on Substack.

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George Gilder Joins Bill and Cole Smead Live on A Book with Legs Podcast

From A Book with Legs Podcast: Live from the 2024 Smead Investor Oasis, venture capitalist George Gilder joins Bill and Cole Smead to discuss his latest work, “Life after Capitalism,” in which he redefines capitalism as a knowledge-based system. Gilder presents a vision of the future in which technological advances disrupt traditional capitalist structures, emphasizing innovation and knowledge over wealth accumulation. Listen here:

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woman hand hold supermarket shopping cart with abstract blur organic fresh fruits and vegetable on shelves in grocery store defocused bokeh light background
woman hand hold supermarket shopping cart with abstract blur organic fresh fruits and vegetable on shelves in grocery store defocused bokeh light background

Time Pricing Mark Perry’s Chart of the Century

Time prices are a better way to measure standards of living. Read More ›
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Man walking on campus or university
Man walking on campus or university

TVs Versus Degrees

Government heavily subsidizes demand and restricts supply in higher education. We should not be surprised when this translates into much higher prices. Read More ›