Sewitch Etcetera Corporation

I threw a rock or two in recent weeks at so-called “professional forecasters” and other self-proclaimed experts who will be offering projections for the months and years to come. Their batting average is undeniably rotten, but I feel morally bound to do more than simply point out others’ failings. I will go out on a limb and do some predicting myself, else be branded one of those most pitiful creatures, someone who finds fault with others but never ventures onto the skinny limb personally. In other words, a critic. God forbid. Continue reading →

Most economic theorists who got their doctorate in the subject apply arcane, complex and (to the average citizen) incomprehensible formulae to the study of what is happening, and what will happen in any given economy. One could argue that their hard work, long study and brilliance have been wasted, else they would have predicted the Great Recession sufficiently far in advance to allow all of us to take preventive measures. There were no general alarm bells sounded by the minds charged with minding the proverbial, and literal, store. Continue reading →

“It all goes back to the dirt.” That’s one of my fundamental premises of economic theory, built from a nontraditional study of business and trade. Every commercial interaction can trace its existence to the ground, sooner or later. The raw material, or “rude produce” as Adam Smith used to call it, that originates in the earth is the source of all industries, including the service businesses that directly or indirectly depend upon those primary sources of value creation. Continue reading →