And now it will also sit inside Apple devices ... When will this madness end ?

It's not the first time I see physics researchers criticise others fields for not being as strict as theirs. They usually have a tendency to oversimplify the other fields without taking in consideration practical factors such as the impossibility to obtain large samples or repeat an experiment many times in the exact same conditions.

Yes, yes it is. And that's why Greece is f*'d. Entering into a currency union with a bunch of other nations that have very different economies and politics was a really stupid idea.

Also, government bonds are usually denominated in the country's currency. That means you can always run the printing presses to pay off your foreign debt (something people often forget when discussing US government debt).

That's the whole point. Devaluing the currency means everyone in the country takes a pay cut, at least with respect to imports. but internal prices don't change (at least not immediately). This has the effect of discouraging imports and encouraging exports. Taken to extremes it will mean hyperinflation and financial collapse but used judiciously it's a good economic tool.

Are you really having this argument ? It is obvious that we won't build a rail track on every road but at the same time denying that taxes will shitft some cargo towards trains and create new rail tracks does not make any sense !

Tax system with tax bands are always a headaches and encourage people to "optimise" their taxes.

And I think you are not talking about the same thing than I do ?

He is correct but I think most people understood ...

This is because you associate capitalism with evil: in many cases debt can be a useful tool. For a rich entrepreneur it can allow to diversify his exposure to a single business without realising the capital gain tax for example. For people with good ideas, it allow to allocate the capital to something with a higher return on investment. This is why finance is actually useful, it allows some allocation of money more efficiently than if you tried to do it with a single entity which becomes invariable corrupt. The post above my previous reply is totally oblivious to the fact that many of the recent changes in the last centuries are probably more due to modern economy and liberalism allowing the economy to flourish and scientific progress to be made.

This is a ridiculous statement, there are plenty of rich analysts in Private Equity ...

It is bad because it encourages saving and slow down your economy.

If it was only a matter of paying the right people why don't you just remortgage and pay them. There is still and element of selection and decision.

I take it you don't take your own advice, you would have noticed that without being invested in stocks for long periods of time you would lost much to inflation. A better solution is to use defensive stocks.

Know how and culture can be part of the goodwill of a brand