Free Economies and Free Trade
Tariffs have become a popular subject of discussion since President Trump was elected in November 2024, and some of that discussion is somewhat absurd. We think it is helpful to look past the headlines to some concepts we first introduced in 1992 with an article titled “How We Benefit from Free Trade.”[1] People benefit from a free economy with a large free-trade zone. A free economy is a volunteer economy in which the consumer is king, and no person (or company) can make you buy his or her product. The consumer drives free economies to benefit the consumer, and the [...]
Letter to My Daughters: On Investment Risk
Most conversations about investing start with the question, “How much risk can you handle?” which I think is a very good question. But few people take the time to define the term “risk,” and so they wind up making assumptions that may or may not be true. There are all kinds of risks in life, and there are different risks associated with investing money, but I’m going to focus on just three of them: The chances of losing my money, How much and how often the price of a security goes up and down, The probability of losing purchasing power [...]