Good old Yankee ingenuity

In 2008, representatives from the U.S. Government Accountability Office took a trip to the Cayman Islands – not to lie on the beach at our expense, but to visit a five-story ... Read More

Finance

How gross is your domestic product?

By Alan Silverman

What do Monaco, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg have in common? I am sure that you can hardly wait for the answer, but we need to discuss a few fundamentals of economics first. Barel... Read More

Finance

It’s not cricket

By Alan Silverman

The game of cricket has been played in England since at least the 16th century. It is played with a bat and ball, and a match can last as long as five days. As the British spread t... Read More

Finance

The best politicians money can buy

By Alan Silverman

Will Rogers once said, “Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.” I am sure Meg Whitman would agree. Her unsuccessful run for go... Read More

Finance

An economic safari

By Alan Silverman

I have spent a lot of time in Africa watching lions hunt. The hard work is done by the lionesses, but the male eats first – sound familiar, ladies? When the lions have had th... Read More

Finance

The usual suspects

The economic crisis rogue’s gallery

By Alan Silverman

In the classic 1942 film Casablanca, when French police captain Louis Renault hears that German Major Strasser has been shot, he utters the famous words: “Round up the usual ... Read More

Finance

Deficits do matter

By Alan Silverman

In late 2002, Vice President Cheney was holding a meeting with then Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill to discuss another round of tax cuts. O’Neill was concerned that the... Read More

Finance

Bridge financing in an economically turbulent era

What we learned — and didn’t learn

By Alan Silverman

As we celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge, let us not forget the tenacity of those who raised the money against all odds during the Great Depression. Our story starts on January 13,... Read More

Finance

A financial tour of two ancient civilizations

By Alan Silverman

Rome and Greece dominated Europe and much of the known Western world for hundreds of years, and it is interesting to see how they have progressed in the 2,000 years since then. Our... Read More

Business, Finance

Who broke the piggy bank?

By Alan Silverman

During the recent Republican primaries, I was watching two talking heads arguing about which candidate was best equipped to lead our economy out of the troubles allegedly created b... Read More

Finance