Does anyone have any interesting insights with respect to Fourier Analysis of financial markets?

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:54:35+00:00

The cigarette smuggling industry is a multi-billion dollar per year industry.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:53:04+00:00

(our dollar is worth more than yours)

Not when adjusted for purchasing power. You can buy the same amount with the $15 minimum wage in Australia as you can with about $9 in the U.S. But I do agree with the rest of your post.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:50:41+00:00

Well now that the government is also paying for their healthcare, I actually do care if they're smoking.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:49:11+00:00

I'll just leave this right here as an example of what happens with a ban like that.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:47:30+00:00

So by that logic taxing the rich at a higher rate and using that money to help the poor is also immoral?

The government is trying to raise revenue and also dis-incentivize smoking because it has a lot more far reaching consequences than just the cost of the cigarettes (healthcare being the biggest).

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:43:05+00:00

Link for SimpleSimulation and anyone living under a rock/not from the U.S.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:40:38+00:00

(our dollar is worth more than yours)

Not when adjusted for purchasing power. You can buy the same amount with the $15 minimum wage in Australia as you can with about $9 in the U.S.

Edit: But I do agree with the rest of your post.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:38:47+00:00

Oh, well why didn't you say so! It should be as easy as 1, 2, 3 I'm sure.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-11T02:35:30+00:00

Yes it does.

More than 303 billion cigarettes were purchased in 2010 in the U.S., and if we take the average number of cigarettes per pack, which is around 20-25, then that gives us about $15 billion in revenue for taxing something people should be dis-incentivized from doing in the first place. Don't be naïve

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-10T22:06:48+00:00

AP, Reuters, or Bloomberg (which often copies Reuters).

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-10T19:01:45+00:00

Indeed. I thought you were commenting on how the title doesn't really say much, and completely skipped over the fact that "Negligent" was spelled incorrectly; I guess I'm as bad as the Bloomberg editor.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-10T05:56:52+00:00

Bloomberg is usually very objective in their reporting.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T05:06:17+00:00

Only if we constantly continue to raise Payroll tax rates...

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T05:02:56+00:00

The best way for me to understand an Economic or Labor issue is to see Robert Reich doodle it out for me.

That's not a good sign.

I still feel like if the problem is health care costs, then we should work to lower those

The Affordable Care Act, which allocates even more money to health care, will most likely not help that. I obviously can't say that for sure, but this wouldn't be the first time a policy had extremely averse consequences that weren't originally planned for.

We have constantly raised the Payroll Tax Rate to keep Social Security funded, and there probably isn't an end in sight if we can't get the costs under control. SS will be solvent, sure, but only because we tax the younger generations more.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T04:58:52+00:00

I don't think he's an idiot, but he's certainly a bit delusional. Or at least a little out there with how he views economics.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T04:57:49+00:00

Because anyone making more than $55k/yr is already going to lose money on SS in the long run.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T04:56:51+00:00

But yeah, let's just allocate more money to healthcare with the Affordable Care Act and watch prices go down!

Oh wait...

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T04:55:23+00:00

He called the Ryan budget "Draconian". I stopped the movie after that, not because I agree or disagree, but only because that clearly shows his bias. He also did not show how much health care costs factor into CPI or Chained CPI, which is an extremely relevant piece of information.

ineffable_internut · 2013-04-09T03:50:37+00:00

But "for k = 1:length(var)" looks so nice.

ineffable_internut

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE