Posted by Doug Wolkon on September 29, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Dear Michigan Economics Society (MES),
Thank you for the opportunity to teach economics at the University of Michigan. The questions were insightful and thoughtful. We sincerely welcome you to further our discussion on this blog.
Attached is the Pluranomics Film that we presented to you at the close of the lecture. Thanks again.
What causes the prices to go up and real value to go down? To understand what causes inflation, visualize using only one economic variable - LAND; because ALL material things we buy or use originate from the land.
The land may change form, but the wooden floor you stand on (trees), the fork you hold (metals), the road you drive on (asphalt, derived from oil), the T-shirt you wear (cotton plant), the boat you sail (fiberglass, from sand or silica), and the food you eat are all originally derived from the land.
So often I am asked if I think home prices are going up or down. I remember in 2004 sitting around a big conference table with my private equity partners answering this same question (we financed large condo projects and bought raw land parcels to resell to home builders). And even with the 30%+ drop in housing prices in America from their peak in 2006, my then most unpopular answer has not changed, its still “down”. Continued »
Posted by Genna Wolkon on April 22, 2009 at 2:10 pm
A falling knife cuts scrambling hands,
Crushing greed in its path, it makes it’s demands.
A powerful force exposes weak links,
Revealing the financial elitists’ calculating winks.
We believed the full story, the old American Dream,
Now fumble for truth beneath the whole scheme.
What if we woke up to our foolish ways?
Seeking a simpler life for tomorrow’s days.
Stop saving money for a wishful life ahead,
We’ll live for today and retire when dead. Continued »
Posted by Genna Wolkon on March 1, 2009 at 12:20 am
Huh? Can someone please explain to me what all this gibberish means?
How does this explain where my food and energy comes from?
Economics today is based on a language very foreign to the average person’s dialect, myself included. The top Economists in the U.S. aren’t even speaking English. They are so smart that they have discovered an intellectual logarithmic formula to ascertain how you and I will live in this monopoly game we call life, and yet none of us understand what the heck it all means. Continued »
Posted by Doug Wolkon on January 7, 2009 at 8:51 am
So what is an Economic Detox? Raw green vegetables consumed through a straw is the food equivalent. Think diarrhea. I know what you are thinking, “yuk”. But as Wall Street has learned the hard way, we have no choice in the matter. Our economy is detoxing whether we like it or not; dropping our excess weight in order to regain our balance; flushing our obese corporate and government costs down the toilet in support of the long-term prosperity of the quicker, lighter, faster and more profitable Mom and Pop entrepreneurs. Continued »