The Ideas Report For Serious Investors

Here is an interesting view of the finances of the U.S. government from 1789 to 1870. In the early years, the government was funded entirely by customs revenue, and debt levels were extremely low. All this changed with the onset of the Civil War of 1861-1865. Revenue exploded as the government started taxing citizens in earnest. At the same time, debt levels also exploded, as military spending went through the roof. As we know too well, internal revenue and deficit spending have not gone away.

(click to enlarge)

Click here for more charts from the U.S. Census of 1870.

Posted by manualofideas at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TheAtlantic.com has a worrisome article on the state of state in America's southern neighbor, Mexico. Writes Philip Cavuto by way of introduction:

In the almost three years since President Felipe Calderón launched a war on drug cartels, border towns in Mexico have turned into halls of mirrors where no one knows who is on which side or what chance remark could get you murdered. Some 14,000 people have been killed in that time—the worst carnage since the Mexican Revolution—and part of the country is effectively under martial law. Is this evidence of a creeping coup by the military? A war between drug cartels? Between the president and his opposition? Or just collateral damage from the (U.S.-supported) war on drugs? Nobody knows: Mexico is where facts, like people, simply disappear. The stakes for the U.S. are high, especially as the prospect of a failed state on our southern border begins to seem all too real.

Read the full article 'The Fall of Mexico'.

(Thanks to Adam Heinrich for the link.)

Posted by manualofideas at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)