Free Republic

Iron Laws of Economics Reside There.. When people talk about economics, they generally refer to macroeconomics. Macroeconomics is a squishy science. Over the last several decades, economists have tried to bring rigor to it, but the variables are so random with such a significant variance that there is a lot of room to argue. That’s how Janet Yellen can whisper in Biden’s ear that there is no recession based on how she sees it. It’s also how Alan Blinder can write editorials in the Wall Street Journal claiming that more central planning and government bureaucracy always gets it right so...

In American novels, well into the 1950's, one finds protagonists using the future stream of dividends emanating from their share holdings to send their kids to college or as collateral.  Yet, dividends seemed to have gone the way of the hoolah hoop. Few companies distribute erratic and ever-declining dividends. The vast majority don't bother. The unfavorable tax treatment of distributed profits may have been the cause.The dwindling of dividends has implications which are nothing short of revolutionary. Most of the financial theories we use to determine the value of shares were developed in the 1950's and 1960's, when dividends were...