Reactions to presidential budget proposals generally run along predictable party lines: the party occupying the White House lauds it as a sober and responsible reflection of the nation’s priorities, while the opposition party insists it will kill babies and bring about the general downfall of the nation. We might expect this political grandstanding to grow more intense in the Trump era, and so it has: the administration’s new 2019 budget proposal has been met with howls of disapproval from many corners. 

A star high school basketball player was incidentally mentioned in an FBI probe because he was allegedly paid $15, 000 for “committing” to play for the University of Arizona.  The student has recently committed to another university but may be ineligible to play college basketball next year. 

On Friday February 9, 2018, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 24,190.9 a decline of 1,958.49 points from the end of January 2018 or a decline of 7.5%. The S&P500 fell during this period from 2,823.81 to 2,619.55 – a decline of 7.2%.

Most commentators are trying to assure stock market participants that this correction is normal by drawing attention to the prolonged uptrend in the Dow and the S&P500. Thus, both the Dow and the S&P500 were in an uptrend since February 2009 when the Dow closed at 7,062.93 while the S&P500 closed at 735.09.

Modern economics in addition to sophisticated mathematics also employs probability distributions. What is probability? The probability of an event is the proportion of times the event happens out of a large number of trials.

For instance, the probability of obtaining heads when a coin is tossed is 0.5. This does not mean that when a coin is tossed 10 times, five heads are always obtained.

However, if the experiment is repeated a large number of times then it is likely that 50% will be obtained. The greater the number of throws, the nearer the approximation is likely to be.

Found in our archives by Barbara Pickard.

The following points of desocialization must necessarily be written or read sequentially, but they need not be carried out in that manner: all the following points could, and should, be instituted immediately and all at once.

Martin Van Buren es probablemente uno de los presidentes de Estados Unidos más difamados y paradójicamente uno de los más olvidados. Sin embargo, en su tiempo, fue una de las grandes fuerzas que ocuparon el Partido Demócrata. Aunque muchos historiadores tienden a rebajarlo a favor de presidentes más “activistas”, quiero adjudicarle su lugar correcto como una de las piezas centrales del movimiento jacksoniano de las décadas de 1830 y 1840.

Most of us both value and take for granted the ability to make decisions about our own lives. When busybodies put their noses and their mouths into our personal affairs, we often say or at least think, “Mind your own business.” Unfortunately, we live in a world in which too frequently government won’t leave us alone, and instead, very actively tries to mind our business for us.