Should the Treasury be able to seize private businesses? Non-financial busineses and financials alike? The government thinks so, as long as they deem the private business to be a “systemic risk.” One minute and seventeen seconds in, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner looks a tad disoriented at the thought of his actions needing to fit within a Constitution.

If you had purchased $1000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0…00 today. But if you had purchased $1000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you will have received $214.00.

Nationally, things were a little better as the average price hit a record $3.24 a gallon in May of last year. But then Christmas came early. Apparently the oil executives felt guilty about their record setting profits and felt like they should give some of it back to us less fortunate.

I’m usually not a big fan of these get relatively wealthy slow schemes, but I guess it’s at least worth listening to what they have to say.

War is horrible… but it’s good for the economy. I cannot, for the life of me, think of a more dangerous myth than that. This facade has become so prevalent in the national conscience that it’s simply taken for granted… Seriously though, why would anyone actually believe this without at least a little skepticism? Wars are enormously destructive and shift resources from human needs, to human destruction.

A novella about the imprint of expectations

Lastly, when you’re at the gym tell your spotter it’s great increasing your human capital with one another. To make it less awkward feel free to flex and tell them it was the endorphins talking.

Milton Friedman is interviewed by Phil Donahue about the “downfalls” of capitalism and free markets. Friedman didn’t see eye to eye.

It’s hard to have any sympathy for Tim Geithner. The man was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and director of the Policy Development and Review Department for the International Monetary Fund. Learn how to do your taxes and work TurboTax or better yet, you’re not 22 anymore with no assets or responsibility; get an accountant.

There really shouldn’t ever be a trade deficit of any major significance. This may seem strange, but it shouldn’t. Exports pay for imports, so they must eventually balance out.