No surprise, most students cannot accurately estimate what they will owe on students loans at graduation. I suspect this is how schools have managed to raise tuition without much resistance, one one is writing a check to no one connects money wtih the event. And so we have no inelasticity of demand. Take a look…

I mentioned that Prof Tom Sowell was one of my favorite columnists and thinkers. Another great thinker on the opposite coast at George Mason University, is Walter Williams. In this linked column Dr. Williams takes aim at Education Light, the fact that the more expensive the university the lighter the graduation requirements.   UT Austin…

New students will discover that one of my favorite Professors and writers is Tom Sowell. He holds the Milton Friedman chair at Stanford and has authored over 40 books. Learn more about this great thinker at http://www.tsowell.com. Any of his books would be a good choice for a book review in one of my classes.…

I am using McGraw HIll books in all three classes, there are several reasons for that. ONe reason is that the free textbook site offers lots of assistance.  Below is a partial screen shot of this site, but all MH sites feature the same layout mhhe.com/garrison13e Note all MH sites begin with mhhe.com then a…

That is the dollar amount of bonds to be sold this WEEK by the Treasury.  I can remember when Lyndon Johnson's entire annual budget was $100 B and that made headlines.  This overhang has made it very difficult for Treasury prices to rally.  Yeah no kidding…

The stimulus program was such as success for the car makers dealers have left the program as they have not been paid by the govt and are out lots of bucks the program ends today that another facet of the stimulus allows for cash for appliances.  Whether that will rob future sales to the present…

Alert student Adam Dupnik made this post over the weekend. I have moved it front and center as a good example of what is going on.  As I write at 6:22 AM there is an interesting discussion on CNBC. Most Community Banks are in good shape as they know their customers. The interviewer asked, so…

Our last post made the point that the Fed govt would become more and more militant in collecting income taxes. Ditto for local property taxes. Those empty car dealerships will take a big chunk of both property tax and sales tax revenue on reduced car sales. Hmm, less tax on non existent inventory come to…

George Will describes legislation that would return govt ownership to the private sector. Guess what, the first bill failed, will the second also?   We are moving to state control of more and more enterprises, banks, autos, health insurance. If the govt does a better job of running health insurance, is there anything they should not…

Professor Elam writes a weekly column for the Andrews County News, an oil based economy in West Texas. It is re printed here.  Follow the Boomers   Boomers are children born of the returning WW II veterans.  A demographic bump occurred, from the drought of baby creation caused by WW II.   The parents and the…