Recent Articles from Tucker Adams
The Economist: Down the rabbit hole
The shenanigans in D.C. over the last year or so have convinced me that we’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and joined Alice on the other side of the looking glass. So it seems like a good time to consider six impossible things before breakfast. Impossible Thing No. 1 – Redo the congressional districting. I’m […]
The Economist: Inflation revisited
I wrote briefly about inflation several months ago in my column on the end of quantitative easing. But now that the Federal Reserve is moving closer to reducing its purchases of government securities, let’s take a closer look at the inflation question. Remember that the Fed tries to accomplish two things: sustainable job growth and […]
The Economist: Ethics and economics
Economists normally don’t deal with issues of morality. We deal with facts and figures and measurable outcomes, leaving it to others to determine what’s right or wrong. But recent stories in the business press have me thinking about an ethical issue that has troubled me for a long time. First the recent stories: 1. The […]
The Economist: The end of quantitative easing
The topic on everyone’s mind these days seems to be, “What will happen when the Federal Reserve ends quantitative easing?” Most of the people I talk to have a vague idea that it will result in higher interest rates and higher inflation, but no clue as to why. It’s pretty simple, actually – just the […]
The Economist: Back to the pesky immigration issue
It’s been three years since I’ve written about the immigration issue and the need for reform. Although legislation is pending in Congress, we are no nearer a solution than we were back in 2010.
The answers to the issue are so simple!
The Economist: Austerians?
For decades the battle was between the Keynesians and the Monetarists, adherents of Milton Friedman’s system of thinking. Keynesians said economic problems must be dealt with using fiscal policy, the government’s ability to tax, spend and run deficits. Monetarists said if we kept the money supply...
The Economist: Economics and drugs
You know that I’m a big believer in the workings of the free market as long as there are lots of buyers and lots of sellers. At first glance one would think that means a free drug market. There certainly are plenty of buyers and sellers. But I remember something Kenneth Boulding, a famous economis...
The Economist: An economic lesson from Argentina
I’m just home from a month of travel in South America – Argentina, Uruguay (only briefly), Chile and Brazil. The trip was very interesting from a traveler’s point of view, but it was absolutely fascinating for an economist. Today, all four countries are listed as Upper Middle Income by the World Bank, although the differences […]
The Economist: Economic arguments about gun control
I’m leaving the country for a month, so it seems like a good time to write on what must be the most controversial subject in the country today – gun control. Economists are supposed to present objective data, not look for facts to support preconceived value judgments. I’ll do my best. I grew up in […]
The Economist: Fiscal cliff gives way to slippery slope
Well, there was no dramatic leap off the fiscal cliff on Jan. 1, just the start of a gentle slide down a long, slippery slope … which is likely to have us end up the same place. My husband is raging about his taxes going up $1,000 a year so the government can send barrels […]
The Economist: Much-needed advice for Congress
Dear members of Congress: Four years ago I wrote a very nice letter to our new president giving him some useful advice on things to do during his term in office. It was such things as lowering the speed limit to 55 and imposing a $5-a-gallon tax on gasoline in order to reduce our dependence […]
The Economist: Can the Fed do anything to save our economy?
It’s been almost two years since I’ve written about the Federal Reserve, quantitative easing and all of that fascinating stuff. (I know, I know, but remember that monetary theory was one of my fields of specialization in graduate school.) It is time to address that topic once more, now that the Fed has announced it […]