On the night of October 8, 1871, a seemingly innocuous fire began in a barn to the southwest of the central part of the city of Chicago, Illinois, known as the Near West Side. By the end of the next day, a major portion of the city including the downtown business district lay in ashes. […]
THE GREAT CHICAGO FIRE, OCTOBER, 1871 Read More »
In the year 400 BC, the city state of Athens levied taxes on grains and other products brought to them from other regions through the port of Piraeus. This constituted the first known usage of tariffs to raise revenues for a government. The Athenians went a step further and blocked all other entry points, requiring
THE MAIN FUNCTION OF TARIFFS Read More »
Saudi Arabia is often looked at as a vast desert that contains a major religious center and a huge amount of oil. Formerly sold to industrialized countries in crude form, the country has gradually taken over the entire industry by replacing most workers with Saudi nationals. Nowadays the products sold are not only crude oil,
IS SAUDI ARABIA TURNING GREEN? Read More »
An economic boom usually occurs wherever oil is discovered. State and local governments in particular come out on top, and the growth in the area generates much in the way of income for local businessmen and real estate developers. But in the case of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in north Alaska, the impact to
THE OVERALL IMPACT OF THE TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE Read More »
During the time the U.S. grew economically after the Civil War ended, a class of ultra rich entrepreneurs rose to the top of many of America’s industries. Those that were the most successful had the backing of crafty financiers to provide large sums of capital when needed and to solve financial problems that blocked or
JOHN PIERPONT MORGAN—AMERICA’S GREATEST FINANCIER Read More »
In 1907, the U.S. banking system was brought to its knees by a bank panic—a condition where depositors lose confidence in their bank’s ability to pay back their money and thereby withdraw it. This situation occurred several times throughout U.S. history causing economic mayhem until the panic settled back down and liquidity returned to most
HOW THE FEDERAL RESERVE WAS FORMED AND HOW IT FUNCTIONS Read More »
On March 13, 2024, The House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress voted to outlaw the distribution of all “foreign-adversary-controlled applications.” Although the bill that passed the House could have far reaching implications for numerous applications, the debate was centered around one—TikTok. The impact would mean a change for 170 million American TikTok users that
SHOULD AMERICA OUTLAW TIKTOK? Read More »
Chinese emigration is on a long-term rising trend. Many Chinese of all stripes have mustered the courage to leave China for a better life in another country. However, thanks to the current regime, the shadow of the Chinese Communist Party follows all emigrants wherever they go. Just as the regime expects proper political behavior at
THE DIFFICULTIES FACING CHINESE EMIGRANTS Read More »
When the China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, an up-and-coming economy soon became an economic powerhouse with dynamic 6-10% plus growth in GDP year after year. The Chinese stock markets became the market of choice for many foreign investors to take their money for great, and sometimes outsized, returns. For sundry reasons this
IS NOW THE RIGHT TIME TO INVEST IN CHINA: PART III Read More »
On January 10, 1776, a 47-page pamphlet authored ‘by an Englishman’ was published in Philadelphia. In three months, the pamphlet sold 100,000 copies to the two million residents of the thirteen colonies in North America. During the duration of the American Revolution, the sales number grew to about 500,000 copies including those that were not
THE PAMPHLET THAT LED TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Read More »