united states

Shadow Government Statistics - Is the government manipulating numbers to make the economy look better than it really is?

Posted 10 weeks 3 days ago by Xin Lu

About a year ago I wrote an article about the Consumer Price Index that made some friends say that I am a conspiracy theorist, but apparently I am not alone in believing that the government reports statistics that are far from reality. John Williams is an Oakland based economist who has been running the website Shadow Government Statistics for more than five years, and he reports an alternate set of statistics based on his research. He believes that the government has been painting a rosy picture of the economy for many years, and his set of numbers are quite alarming if you believe it.

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We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

Posted 15 weeks 3 days ago by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs

Today my friend sent me an article titled "We Have Met the Enemy" by Knight Kiplinger, the Editor in Chief of Kiplinger publications. It is a blunt article pointing out that America's current economic woes are caused by none other than the American people and its elected government.

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Book review: Reinventing Collapse

Posted 18 weeks 1 day ago by Philip Brewer

Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Career and Income

Do you think the United States is about to collapse? Dmitry Orlov does, but you don't have to agree with him to learn a lot from his new book, which is packed with useful tips on succeeding in a world where the economic future is unknown and governments can't be trusted. That is to say, the world we live in now. On top of that, it's really funny.

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The Questionable Aspects of The Housing Bailout Bill - H.R. 3221

Posted 19 weeks 12 hours ago by Xin Lu

Personal Finance, Consumer Affairs, Real Estate and Housing, Taxes

In my last article I wrote about the one aspect of the $300 billion dollar housing bailout that I thought made sense, but the full text of the bill known as H.R. 3221 is over 700 pages so it is too complex to discuss in any one blog post. Today I shall highlight some of the more questionable and dangerous aspects of the bill.

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