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In principle, as a currency weakens, its exports become more competitive (a good thing), but the cost of imports rises and the worth of foreign earnings generated abroad in other currencies also diminishes when repatriated to the home country. In essence, what is needed is to hit the right balance.

Japan and Switzerland have been struggling with their mantles as save haven currencies. The value of their currencies has risen significantly as investors seek to find a safe harbour in turbulent times. Japan has made three largely unsuccessful forays into the forex markets where the central bank has sold Yen in an attempt to drive the currency down. The Swiss have intervened in the markets to tie the Franc to a minimum value of €1.20 to the Franc and so far, the move has been successful; currently the Swiss Franc is worth €1.2275 and has remained above the threshold since 6th September, despite a decline in the Euro value against other major currencies.

South Korea is the third largest economy in Asia behind China and Japan. It

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Why does Europe’s endless debt crisis matter for the U.S.? Here’s one reason.

In the ’90s, the economies of Europe and the U.S. were largely independent of one another. But in the past decade, as the graph below shows, they’ve risen and fallen together.

So if Europe’s debt crisis drags on, and the continent’s economy keeps getting worse, there’s a good chance the U.S. economy will go down, too.

The graph, from a Citigroup analyst report called “Bad News in a Highly Correlated World,” compares economic growth in the U.S. with economic growth in Germany, France and Italy, the three biggest economies in continental Europe.

Enlarge Steven C. Wieting, Shawn Snyder/Citigroup Global Markets

Steven C. Wieting, Shawn Snyder/Citigroup Global Markets

European optimism jumps across the pond, sending US stocks up strongly in afternoon trading. With their biggest gains in weeks, stocks jumped as European officials promise to do what they need to prevent a Eurozone crisis. In domestic news, new home sales were stagnant for August, as the real estate industry continues to show little signs of improvement. In corporate news, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) announces plan to buy back shares as cash hoard eclipses $40 billion. Apple (AAPL) plans to cut iPad supply orders by 25%, according to JP Morgan (JPM). Read full post…

Well, it’s starting to look like that’s what it will be getting.

A report released Thursday by the Pew Charitable Trusts outlined the energy usage by the Department of Defense and the Department’s revamped energy policy.

It revealed pretty raw details about the energy usage, naming the Department of Defense as the single largest consumer of fossil fuels in the United States, CNET said.

Just as an example, the DOD consumed 300,000 barrels of oil a day in 2009, and in 2010 the Department spent $15.2 billion on energy – $11 billion of which was on liquid petroleum, the article states.

Even more alarming is that 80% of supply convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan are for the transportation of fuels.

As CNN reports, in 2010 alone there have been 1,100 attacks on these convoys.  And between 2003 and 2007, 3,000 soldiers died from these attacks just in Iraq.

But luckily the Department of Defense is fed up with these numbers, and alongside this report comes the new energy policy.

By 2025, CNET says, the DOD is aiming to get 25% of its energy from renewable sources.

Steps toward this, outlined in the article, will include the plan by the U.S. Air Forc

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If you know a probate estate is insolvent (i.e. that the estate’s debts exceed its assets), you typically won’t (or at least shouldn’t) open the estate in the first place. You have no incentive for doing so, since you as beneficiary will receive nothing.

But sometimes you open a probate estate based on certain information (thinking the estate has sufficient assets to pay its debts), only to later learn that the estate is in fact insolvent. What do you do then?

If you are in independent administration (which is usually the case), you turn to Section 28-11 of the Illinois Probate Act and set about closing the estate. This is key — now that you know the situation, it’s a good idea to get out (and close things out) as quickly as possible. The seven steps needed to do that:

1. Compile a detailed list of assets: What are they, and what are they worth?

2. Do the same with debts: What are they, and what are they worth? (An aside: hopefully no debts whatsoever have been paid up to this point.)

3.

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If you are someone in debt now, then you are probably one of the countless people out there who are in such a situation. Therefore, there is no need to panic and run wild. Using some of the tips and techniques listed below, it is possible to reach a total debt management. In fact, people have been able to eliminate the debt completely by just being honest and stick to the plan. As long as you do everything you’re supposed to, you should have no problem in eliminating all debt.

One of the first steps of debt management would probably have to eliminate unnecessary expenses. The reason you are in debt today is probably due to the fact that you are not able to control what you end up spending your money. Read full post…

Great piece in today’s WSJ: A Short History of the Income Tax by John Steele Gordon.

Distilled into bullet points:

• After the Civil War, the government relied mostly on the tariff for revenues, which was basically a consumption tax that hit the poor much harder than the rich.

• An income tax on the “rich” was attempted in 1894. The income tax was to be 2% on incomes above $4,000 (less than 1% of the households at the time). It was challenged and eventually struck down 5-4 by the Supreme Court.

• President Taft “…proposed a constitutional ammendment to legalize a personal income tax, while meanwhile imposing a tax on corporate profilts.”

• The 16th Amendment was ratified in 1913 and the income tax was created.

• The new tax was 1% on income above $3,000 and reached 7% on incomes over $500,000.

• There were many deductions, which drastically reduced effect income tax rates.

The author closes out the piece with a couple of interesting points:

Unfortunately the corporate income tax, originally intended as only a stopgap measure, was left in place unchanged. As a result, for the la

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The most common mistake that most people with bad credits have is to invest in things that are bad investments. These investments will depreciate over time especially if these will have defects and malfunctions. Common people usually invest in these things mostly because they think these are status symbols and not because of the actual need. These things are bought for their price and not because of the function. Carefully read some of these things and analyze if it’s really worth buying. Here are the things that are not good items to invest in.

Gadgets – we love to collect the most expensive laptops, cell phones and other gadgets. What we fail to realize is that we are buying gadgets because of the price and not because of their functions. We buy laptops to make work easier and for its mobility but we end up buying expensive ones which we can’t really afford. We bu Read full post…