Dodd-Frank Financial Overhaul: Ignoring the Giant Elephant in the Room

The Dodd-Frank Act (DFA) financial reform bill was signed earlier this month and stretches over 2300 pages long, but no where does it spend a sentence to regulate two of the major players in the financial meltdown- government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both are exempted. The bill means very little if a primary cause of the 2008 crisis was ignored.

Don't Fix My Wage, Bro! The Unintended Consequences of a Wage-Price Floor

Freeman here.

From the 2008 election, perhaps you remember Andrew Meyer, a University of Florida journalism student that went on an unintelligible rant at a John Kerry event, had his mic cut off, got arrested, and famously pleaded "Don't tase me, bro!" as the police proceeded to tase him and drag him out of the event. Poor guy. He just wanted to ask a question...

Tasers can be harmful for young adults, but even more harmful are price floors.

No Double Dipping or "What's Past is Prologue"

Freeman here. Ben Bernanke, please read this post.

I am sick and tired of reading about sports, so I thought I would take a second to speculate on the near future of the stock market. I mean, seriously, I leave for one month, and the entire editorial board becomes a bunch of meat-heads. So be it, sports are popular, and my articles are not. But that is not going to stop me from publishing.

Shakespeare taught us in The Tempest, that "past is prologue"- or in layman's terms- "history repeats itself." If this is the case, the market will be bearish (bad) in the foreseeable future.

LeBron economic effect is a myth?

One follow up thought to The Decision and what it means for the cities Cleveland and Miami.  We discussed the media and the basketball impact last time and now for the rudimentary economics.

Much was said about how LeBron would rejuvenate a city if he came or how the Cleveland economy would collapse after he left (more so than it already has...just kidding Cleveland...relax).  Well the reality is that Lebron has little impact over the economy aside from lining the pocket's of the owner.  Maybe that's why Dan Gilbert got a little upset.  While the linked article below provides more insight, I suppose we'll have to see if Miami undergoes a rapid economic expansion next year.  Maybe with the pulling power of all three (James, Wade, and Bosh) it will happen, but I doubt it.  I have the feeling the only people who will get pulled into the Miami economy will be Sly Stallone, Will Smith, and any other celebrity who thinks it is now cool to take a private jet into South Beach to watch a Heat game.

Why LeBron Won't Bring the Benjamins $$$$$

LeBronathon comes to an end: James to take supporting role on USA Network's hit show: Burn Notice

The Decision.  An hour long TV special devoted to LeBron telling everybody what he had planned on doing since the 2008 Olympics.   Admittedly, The Logic of Choice is a bit late on getting to this news but we never claim to be breaking stories.  

Lebron James will join his b-ball frat brothers in the heat of South Beach this fall.  Is anyone surprised?  Well, anyone except the cursed region that is Northwest Ohio?  I don't think so.  Our news cycle is soo fast now that we knew with a strong confidence that Lebron was ditching his snow boots for a gold chain, open shirt, and chest hair? (Oh, wait he already has all that?  Maybe he should get some flippy floopies.)  

I want to briefly discuss the social media and news cycle impact on this story and a bit about the basketball.  There are plenty of places to read more about the basketball issues.  I'll link a few at the bottom.