When it comes to the necessities for the basic quality of life, I don't take issue with access. What's the overall benefit to restricting access? As I mentioned in a previous post ( Gentrification ), everyone likes to live in nice neighbourhoods i.e. people want to achieve a basic standard of living and it might even allow for societal harmony if that happens. However, we all need to remind ourselves that with access comes individual responsibility and accountability. For exa

I wouldn't classify this topic as particularly economics-y, but it could be. Interactions and dynamics between people affect transitory or steady state equilibrium outcomes in various ways. I suppose the topics about relationships are going to be popular as the calendar year approaches Valentines Day. It used to be a day testing popularity in school - however as one grows older, it is just another day, and an excuse for consumer spending. For those that enjoy the celebrations

As the population of towns and cities expand, people need to find new areas to move into and gentrification is inevitable. Gentrification is beneficial because it means revitalisation of areas which were seen as problematic and facing economic decline, with little scope to attract investment. Neighbourhoods thrive when there is demand, and the type of thriving which occurs depends on the socio-economic make up of said area. What I mean to say is, areas could still be consider

As much as I try to keep discussions in terms of economic outcomes than politics, it is obviously clearly not possible in numerous situations. The current topic is one of those situations. The understanding of what constitutes as conservatism seems to have changed, due to the heavy presence of populism and the fact that being Democrat is synonymous with urbanites that have attended universities considered elite, who have climbed the ladder and are completely ignorant to what

As per usual from a change in the party which controls the government, the United States has been setting out it's foreign policy objectives. The new target is Venezuela, however the discussions over Greenland have been happening since the beginning of 2025. Despite the amazement people have over both issues given their slightly empire-esque vibe, the reactions over the prospect of American FDI going to Greenland and Venezuela oppose one another. Greenland is a semi-autonomou

It should be understood by now, the sorts of topics about the economy which is frequently discussed, franchement, everywhere. I already talked about fiscal policies in a previous post ( Fiscal policies ). Getting the balance correct for a sustainable budget is exactly the problem to solve. There is no easy fix, there is no one size fits all and even in the same economy, requirements change over time as environments change. Therefore it shouldn't be a surprise when France is b

With all of the bombing and fighting that's happening around the world, particularly between people of contradicting cultural and religious practices, it is sad that I feel the need to comment on the issue. It is very evident, and now widely known which populations, cultures and religions are fighting global progress and modernity, particularly when it comes to women. Men desperately wanting to control women, especially those which they desire over others, is, to put it simpl

There was a recent discussion about whether walking is a good form of exercise. It is certainly a type of physical activity, but it isn't a panacea. Running and walking are those types of activities which do not require any additional equipment, but it does require a location where carrying out those activities can be done without unforseen risk. I have always enjoyed a good walk. I used to be considered rather slow as a kid, probably because being the youngest, I needed to k

I wrote a previous post about discount and budget products. Everyone across the socio-economic spectrum likes value for money. It is just what constitutes value for money, which is different for different people. It should be straight forward that the concept of value, is inherently subjective. In economics it is also called utility. Non-economics disciplines take issue with the concept of utility, and things being utilitarian. Another less confusing way to think about it is,

That is what politics is at the end of the day: giving speeches which are supposed to move people in a certain way. There were a lot of those during the 2025 presidential election, governor and mayoral races. There are going to be more speeches for every election which is scheduled to be held through the year and governmental cycle, and just the future in general. I guess it is the job of leadership or any politician to give a captivating speech. Who would want to sit through

As I explained in my About page, I have lived in various developing nations. They were primarily during the years prior to what is called high school in the United States. It should be obvious by now that there was a fair amount of brainwashing happening, by having a parent that was working in the development sector. On top of the cultural expectation of women to be the people in society to care about everyone else's problems except our own, this do-gooder attitude is furthe

I have been guilty of making such comparisons myself. What is a person to do? When my lifepath reminds me of the disparities that exist practically everywhere. The comparison to Scandinavia, at least is a compromise for those at the top, indicating that the point is to increase quality of life for everyone involved, not just re-distribution for the sake of it. Ultimately, we need to consider all groups within a society, when making decisions for society at large, which is why

As of recent, the low birth rate issue is being highlighted more and more, and the pro-natalists are being covered by various media outlets increasingly. The thing is, the pro-natalists in the United States - or even the United Kingdom - aren't really fooling anyone that knows better, in terms of what they're really about. For whatever reason, I thought I would have the conventional life of starting a family in my late 20s etc. Not sure why I had that expectation for my life

The Warner Bros, Netflix and Paramount merger is still being hashed out - makes sense given the stakes and the size of the firms in question. I am sure the Department of Justice have their work cut out for them. However, the merger has ignited a bigger-picture type debate about the movie industry overall, specifically the role of cinemas/ movie theatres and creatives. It should be unsurprising that the availability of affordable tech for consumers, has reduced the demand for

This isn't a new complaint by America to Europe, especially considering European taste would be considered "woke", or "liberal". It clearly depends on industry/ profession. For example, American economics academia has considerably more stringent requirements, so tomayto-tomahto. The tit-for-tat bickering is quite unbecoming, but we're all past that in this day and age. The US is again, asking Europe to lower their food safety standards. This is particularly interesting, consi

To add to the discussion about how AI is being used for businesses, I have had to go through a few durable goods websites to adjust to my current situation. A lot of the images were labelled "AI generated", so at least they were honest upfront. My immediate reaction was to be annoyed, and maybe it is perhaps because I don't play a lot of video games or watch a lot of CGI generated media. Then I thought, which worker has AI replaced when the firm decided to use AI generated im

It took a lot of internal debating about whether to comment on this, but I decided to anyway. Apparently, the amount of annual income needed for a couple and two kids to live a comfortable enough life in America was estimated to be around $140k, and economists had a problem with it. Instead, they put on their older generation hat on, and made the comparison that families are richer today compared to the 1960s. Erm, what? First off, we know that just the sticker price/ magnitu

I am not surprised at the current GOP's divisive rhetoric, because it's just the flavour of every conservative/ right wing party. I have been exposed to such types of speeches before, and it is becoming hackneyed, especially since the 2008 financial crisis. I will give it to any conservative right wing party that they are very loud and proud of their perspective, especially when it comes to people considered foreign. It is one thing expecting or strongly encouraging assimilat

The Trump administration recently touted their efforts on reducing drug prices for Americans, especially Americans on Medicaid. What an achievement. Although let's face it, drug companies are villainised for basically maintaining a successful business by filling a gap in the market, or addressing needs. Obviously, if those problems did not exist, then drug companies wouldn't exist either, to provide solutions to said problems. Disease can be categorised into preventable and n

A capitalist society depends on consumerism i.e. a population with changing tastes, which prefers to buy vast quantities of goods and services. Whether it is good or bad is obviously the question. Let the me focus on one part of consumerism, specifically, on clothing. If you were to assess sartorial patterns throughout history, you would notice that the haves possess more changes of clothing than the have nots. Even then, repeat outfits were normal and expected. Mechanisati