Hello. I’m Burnham Banks and I studied economics in the late 80s and early 90s. I’m still studying economics today and am still no wiser. This blog is a journal, a record of my thoughts and experiences. If we are destined to repeat our mistakes, we should at least repeat them faithfully. If not, then perhaps the past is a mischievous guide and we should try something new.
Ten Seconds Never Felt So Long. 2025 Trade War.
Wednesday, 09 April 2025 | 10:12 am
The US economy a year ago was experiencing strong growth from the momentum of a fiscal impulse as well as expectations of rate cuts, of which we got 3 beginning in July. Did the US economy need rate cuts? Probably not on the strength of coincident data at the time. But from the perspective of
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Tariff Wars. The Best Response to Tariffs is to Cut One’s Own.
Thursday, 03 April 2025 | 12:43 pm
It is now time for the world to generally cut tariffs in response to America raising tariffs. Tariffs are analogous to punishing one’s kids for preferring the neighbour’s cooking. The tariff nation’s population pays. Tariffs are the cost of accessing the US consumer. The world has been too reliant on the US consumer. Time to
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2025 Geo Macro Scenario A
Tuesday, 25 February 2025 | 8:08 am
America seeks a new world order based on areas of influence. It has no time, interest or resources to deal with the Asian and European timezones. It seeks a pragmatic solution to the political and economic problems in those timezones. America’s area of influence is geographically defined and is latitudinally expansionist. The Asian timezone will
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Fiction. Foundation CG. 2025 02
Saturday, 15 February 2025 | 3:23 pm
I have a dream… We achieve breakthroughs in material science that lets us manipulate molecules to obtain all kinds of new properties from old materials, like plant fibre. I dream that though material science and nanotechnology we invent carbonium, a class of cellulose which is basically wood, treated and reconstituted so that its structure gives
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Thoughts from the Bar Stool. 2025 02
Wednesday, 05 February 2025 | 8:48 am
People show off on social media. On average, one is likely to encounter more people who have a better life than they do. Social media makes people feel less well off than average. We were told that capitalism and free markets gave us a fair chance of improving our lives. It makes sense to measure
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