Thursday, February 7, 2013

It's official - money makes you happier


Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it.
David Lee Roth

From smh.com.au

Original source

We all know that money doesn't buy happiness, don't we?

For years, many economists agreed, arguing that economic growth doesn't generate more well-being for ordinary folk, a conclusion which came to be known as Richard Easterlin's paradox, after the academic who first described it in the 1970s.

Yet it turns out that once again the economics establishment got it spectacularly wrong. Economic growth – and the higher gross domestic product (GDP) per person and improved wages that usually accompany it – does actually improve happiness and well-being, according to several recent papers by top economists, drawing on far more data than their predecessors ever had access to and using novel statistical techniques.

The truth, it turns out, is that the aspiring classes were right all along. The richer we are, the happier we are. It's (almost) that simple, and the evidence is now overwhelming.

One especially brilliant piece of research – by Daniel Sacks, Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, all US academics – demonstrates that happiness improves as incomes rise.

The paper shows that richer citizens report higher well-being than their poorer compatriots, at any given point as well as over time; that people in richer countries are happier than those in poorer countries; and that GDP growth boosts well-being.

These results are devastating to the anti-growth crowd, including many environmentalists, and to those who say that it is pointless, too stressful and unsustainable for countries to focus on boosting their GDP.

France and German square off over strong euro

From Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ How worried should eurozone policymakers be about the rise in the value of the euro? Is the region set to lose out in a new currency war involving the euro, the dollar, the pound, the yen and the Swiss franc?

Successful Investing Update with Rick Rule

From visionvictory

Is the Universe a Computer Simulation?

Does is run Linux Slackware? If it, did it would explain many odd things.

Australian Unemployment Rate Steady at 5.4%

THE jobless rate has held steady, justifying the central bank's decision this week to leave interest rates unchanged.

The unemployment rate was at 5.4 per cent in January, defying economists' forecasts of a rise to 5.5 per cent in the month.

Some 10,400 people joined the workforce in January, more than double the number economists were expecting, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Thursday.

The increase was the result of a 20,200 jump in part-time workers joining the workforce, which was partly offset by a 9,800 drop in full-time employees.

Despite a steady national rate, unemployment jumped to 6.1 per cent in Victoria from 5.6 per cent in December.

It also rose to 6.1 per cent from 5.8 per cent in South Australia and to 7.8 per cent from 7.4 per cent in Tasmania.

The rate was unchanged at 5.1 per cent in the nation's most populous state, NSW.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/national/jobless-rate-unchanged-at-54-per-cent/story-e6frfku9-1226572577339#ixzz2KBBe02gO

Australian Earnings Don't Justify Rally

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- MacQuarie Private Wealth Division Director Martin Lakos discusses Australian earnings. He speaks with Zeb Eckert on Bloomberg Television's "First Up."

Alex Jones - The Purge Has Begun

From TheAlexJonesChannel

Published on Feb 6, 2013
Alex runs down the police state's continued expansion evidenced in more unconstitutional checkpoints being set up by the Florida Highway Patrol and the revelation that drones can and will target American citizens.

Peter Shiff - Dow at 14,000? Not a Big Deal

Silver Rounds go Ballistic

Amazing Silver "rounds" from Northwest Territorial Mint. Werwolves are nervous. Link to website

"A free economy being necessary to the security of a free state,
the right of the people to keep and bear bullion shall not be infringed."

1oz .45 ACP rounds
Silver vs Real .45 ACP

25oz 20mm rounds

Solar cells get Silver lining

From ABC Science

Original source

Light-trapping, silver nano-antennas could dramatically improve the performance of solar panels by catching more light, according to a new study.

A team of physicists, including Professor Constantin Simovski from Finland's Aalto University, has developed theoretical designs that could increase photovoltaic cell efficiency in a commercially viable way.

It proposes incorporating chessboard-patterned arrays of tiny silver nano-antennas into solar panels.

This would trap more incoming light, allowing it to be preferentially re-radiated through the photovoltaic slab, improving efficiency.

Bart Chilton - RBS to Pay Big in Libor Rate-Rigging


Bill Gross: 'Cult of Equities' Still Dying, Despite 14K


US Silver Eagle Sales Soars

From Silver Doctors

After selling an all-time monthly record of 7.498 million Silver Eagles in January, the US Mint has picked up right where it left off in February once it began reporting sales figures again, announcing nearly 3/4 of a million silver eagles were sold Monday.

The Mint has now sold a whopping 8,173,500 silver eagles during a mere 17 business days in operation during 2013, nearly 25% of the entire annual sales for 2012 of 33 million!

Read more

Gaza Style

From Mahmoud Medo