Yaicha » Economics

Housing Crisis Explained, Clearly and Simply

Ted Hopton — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:41:59 +0000

Like many people, I’ve been somewhat unclear exactly how we ended up with such a mess in the mortgage and housing market. I certainly grasped the broad outlines — people got greedy and made loans to people who never should have gotten them because those loaning the money knew they were going to sell those risky mortgages to others. But why did this happen now, and just how in the world did all the pieces fall in place to create this disaster?

Well, good old NPR has explained it all, clearly and simply. Take an hour to listen to this episode of This American Life and you’ll understand it, too: The Giant Pool of Money. It’s not only educational, it’s entertaining, too, as they have interviewed the people who actually made the loans and bundled the mortgages into securities. They’ve asked the questions we all want to ask, such as “What were you thinking?!”

Posted in Economics, Ethics, Human Interest Tagged: money, mortgage crisis, NPR, the giant pool of money, this american life

Rethinking the Country Life as Energy Costs Rise

Ted Hopton — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:02:09 +0000

I live in the country, in a cottage on a horse farm, and I love it. But I’m not surprised by the findings explained in this article:

Skyrocketing energy prices are inflating the costs of living on the distant edges of metropolitan areas.

One of the key changes that may also be accelerated is the shift to more telecommuting. That’s how I can manage my country lifestyle. If you remove your commute completely, or even several days per week, it has a tremendous impact on both time and costs. I’m surprised this angle was not mentioned in the article.
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Paul Krugman: Home Not-So-Sweet Home

Ted Hopton — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:25:10 +0000

As a long-time renter who has felt somehow inferior, I liked this column.

Why should ever-increasing homeownership be a policy goal? How many people should own homes, anyway?

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The Great Seduction

Ted Hopton — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:36:02 +0000

David Brooks makes sense, again, in this column.

The most rampant decadence today is financial decadence, the trampling of decent norms about how to use and harness money.

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Paul Krugman: Bits, Bands and Books

Ted Hopton — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:50:55 +0000

Paul Krugman’s column makes some points we have certainly heard before, but he also ties in a new perspective that is worth thinking about.

Everything that can be digitized will be digitized, making intellectual property easier to copy and harder to sell for more than a nominal price.

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The Worst Way of Farming

Ted Hopton — Sat, 31 May 2008 16:04:47 +0000

I got my first detailed, in-depth look at the problems of the industrial farming complex when I read Michael Pollan’s eye-opening book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (which I highly recommend). This NYT editorial cites two reports, one by the Pew Charitable Trust and one by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

As new reports make it clear, the efficiency of industrial animal production is an illusion, made possible by prisonlike confinement systems.

Not only is the efficiency an illusion, it’s actually a disaster all around.

In short, animal husbandry has been turned into animal abuse. Manure — traditionally a source of fertilizer — has been turned into toxic waste that fouls the air and adjacent water bodies. Crowding creates health problems, resulting in the chronic overuse of antibiotics. And, because the modest profits in confinement operations require the lowest possible labor costs, including automated feeding, watering and manure-handling systems, these operations have helped empty and impoverish rural America.

What is it going to take to change this heavily-entrenched, politically-supported and publicly-financed system?
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Change We Can Stomach

Ted Hopton — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:55:46 +0000

Farming has the potential to go through the greatest upheaval since the Green Revolution, bringing harvests that are more healthful, sustainable and flavorful.

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Expert Support For Gas Tax Holiday Appears Nonexistant

Ted Hopton — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:23:09 +0000

It’s pretty funny that this reporter for the Huffington Post tried contacting all kinds of different experts to find anyone who would say the gas holiday proposed by McCain and Clinton is a good idea. He got no takers!

Over the past several days, some of the nation’s leading economic and political pundits have weighed in critically on the proposal of both Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain to institute a gas tax holiday this summer.

Frankly, you only need to understand Economics 101′s fundamental concept, supply and demand, to understand why the gas holiday won’t do anything constructive. And you just have to do the math to figure out how little extra money you might possibly have in your pocket, anyway, to realize that the benefits promised to consumers are minimal.

But if you understand American Politicians 101 even a little, it’s easy to see why McCain and Clinton have proposed this plan. It’s politics as usual.
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My Forbidden Fruits (and Vegetables)

Ted Hopton — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:53:23 +0000

Ultimately, it is the consumer who will pay the greatest price if the federal government continues to prevent the local food movement from expanding.

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Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat

Ted Hopton — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:34:51 +0000

Young urbanites, learning that dirt can also be soil, are using their Carhartts as originally intended.

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