ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES

The following quotation is attributed to Abraham Lincoln in the 1912 three-volume publication Industrial Development of Nations by George Boughton Curtiss. The story is also recounted in the book Free Trade, the Tariff and Reciprocity by Frank William Taussig. “I do not know much about the tariff, but I know this much, when we buy manufactured goods abroad, we get the goods and the foreigner gets the money. When we buy manufactured goods at home, we get both the goods and the money.” The quotation is a good example of a passage that sounds persuasive in a political speech, but has no merit when subjected to scrutiny and the application of basic economic principles. To see the fallacy of the protectionist sentiment, use the same logic on a personal level: When I buy food and clothes from stores, I get the food and clothes and the store owners get the money. When I grow my own food and make my own clothes, I get the food and clothes and get to keep my money. It is essentially an

In the November 12, 2010 TIME magazine article " Bernanke's Bum Rap: What's Wrong with a Little Inflation? ," Michael Grunwald provides a defense for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's monetary policy.

Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, came to Jacksonville University on November 5, 2010 to be a guest lecturer in the Money and Banking course. He spent most of the time answering questions from students. The 45-minute video of the class is available from C-SPAN.

According to a United Nations report, Norway has the highest quality of life in the world. Read more here. According to the 2010 Human Development Reports , the world rankings are: Human Development Index (HDI) - 2010 Rankings Very High Human Development Norway Australia New Zealand United States Ireland Liechtenstein Netherlands Canada Sweden Germany Japan Korea (Republic of) Switzerland France Israel Finland Iceland Belgium Denmark Spain Hong Kong, China (SAR) Greece Italy Luxembourg Austria United Kingdom Singapore Czech Republic Slovenia Andorra Slovakia United Arab Emirates Malta Estonia Cyprus Hungary Brunei Darussalam Qatar Bahrain Portugal Poland Barbados High Human Development Bahamas Lithuania Chile Argentina Kuwait Latvia Montenegro Romania Croatia Uruguay Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Panama Saudi Arabia Mexico Malaysia Bulgaria Trinidad and Tobago Serbia Belarus Costa Rica Peru Albania Russian Federation Kazakhstan Azerbaijan Bosnia and Herzegovina Ukraine Iran (Islamic Republic

In the November 2, 2010 online New York Times commentary, " How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms ," Timothy Egan explains that the partisan attacks on President Obama's handling of the U.S. economy are misguided and untrue. Egan writes: If I were one of the big corporate donors who bankrolled the Republican tide that carried into office more than 50 new Republicans in the House, I would be wary of what you just bought. For no matter your view of President Obama, he effectively saved capitalism. And for that, he paid a terrible political price. Suppose you had $100,000 to invest on the day Barack Obama was inaugurated. Why bet on a liberal Democrat? Here’s why: the presidency of George W. Bush produced the worst stock market decline of any president in history. The net worth of American households collapsed as Bush slipped away. And if you needed a loan to buy a house or stay in business, private sector borrowing was dead when he handed over power. As of elec