The Flinchum File

Long-time readers will recall my negative-love of Google.  They were the first company I recognized whose business model was to monetize yo...

When I was doing graduate work at the University of Dallas in international trade, we had to also study cultural distinctions and how such ...

I believe Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich deserve a good portion of the blame for our poisonous political environment.  They accepted the ec...

Sara Grillo is one of my favorite financial writers.  In her most recent, she discusses how convenient it is for commission-paid salesmen o...

One important measure of how you are doing financially is the size of your pay check.  That’s no different than economists looking at chang...

Imagine my beloved Dallas Cowboys calling a press conference to declare themselves the winner of the next Super Bowl, just because their fo...

A financial planner works with people to sort through their individual financial problems and opportunities to create security in the long ...

Let's say I want to control my group or tribe or nation.  I could use charisma, or I could use force, or I could use religion.  I may n...

During long walks in First Landing State Park, I enjoy listening to the podcasts of Freakonomics  by Stephen Dubner.  He uses economic reas...

If you need another reason to be disappointed at our form of government, remember this: Back in the early 1990's, Congress was consid...

Initial Jobless Claims have not been this low since 1969.  There are actually  more job openings than job seekers.  The problem is obvious...

One of my long-time favorite market strategists is Dr. Jeremy Siegel from Wharton.  His latest commentary shows his belief that the stock m...

Wall Street Wags are fretting about the "flat yield curve" but fail to mention that such a yield curve has accurately predicted 1...

Many pundits are going crazy, trying to figure out the relationship between Trump and Putin.  One even remarked that their relationship is ...

Sugar man, won't you hurry 'Cos I'm tired of these scenes For a blue coin won't you bring back All those colors to my dr...

Let's assume you get a 100% VA mortgage for a new house.  Let's further assume that, ten years later, your mortgage is down to $80 ...

Since my father told me about his experience in World War II, seeing a freshly liberated Nazi concentration camp, I have been very interest...

In your lifetime, how many times have there been more job openings than people looking for jobs? Today, there are 6.6 million unfilled jo...

Few of us maintain our mental sharpness until the end.  Mental fuzziness should be a final luxury at the end of life, not open season to be...

Although I seldom do it anymore, I have been a scuba diver for most of my life.  In 1975, I had the opportunity to dive a cave off the Suwa...

Q.  Do I believe the Russians tried to influence our 2016 elections? A.  Yes Q.  Do I believe it was authorized by President Putin? A. ...

To read my latest column for Inside Business , go to: https://pilotonline.com/inside-business/news/columns/article_c50ae3fa-8127-11e8-89...

According to Goldman Sachs, the smartest people on Wall Street work at Goldman Sachs.  Indeed, their research department actually deserves ...

There are economic systems, and there are political systems. Examples of economic systems include capitalism and socialism. Examples of p...

I was talking with some fellow students of economics.  We started discussing the 0.2% drop in estimates of Q1 GDP growth, but that quickly ...