America's Myth of Social (Im)mobility

At the risk of being a jerk, this post is not for the graph-reading-challenged... (I'm too lazy to explain it)

Exhibit A - Belief of Social Mobility (America)

Exhibit B - Actual Social Mobility (America)

Price Control Part One - Commodities Market

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Govt-moves-to-limit-apf-4112081129.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=

Unsurprisingly, as the government has flooded the market with money, the prices of many commodities (which can't be printed, but must be grown/found) are surging... naturally this surge in prices has been blamed on a faceless culprit, conveniently referred to as "funds, traders, and investors"...

As financial history tells us, these are the same parties culpable for every economic unpleasantry since the dawn of markets, though the real culprits are often the ones who pronounce such accusations through giant microphones (read: politicians)...

And, if the history of every price control ever can teach us anything, its that it never works.  We (un)eagerly anticipate the opportunity to share Price Control Part Two (aka, consumer good price control)

Inflation - Who'll ever know?

A growing number of products, from orange juice to toilet paper, are shrinking in size yet being kept at the same price, according to the latest investigation by Consumer Reports.

Happily, Americans are unlikely to notice the hidden 8% inflation (equivalent to paying the same for 59oz vs 64oz OJ), as we will be all too pleased when Angry Bird v5.0 is released.  In even better news, this apparent theft will likely be excluded from the government's CPI inflation report... which will likely continue to show that, after excluding rocketing food prices, soaring fuel prices, and corporate theft of individuals (not to mention higher education and healthcare costs), prices paid by Americans likely remained, unsurprisingly, unchanged.  Hurray!!

P.S. In real good news, corporate profits are soaring... hahahaa