A MARKET FOR HUMAN ORGANS?

Thousands of people die each year due to a shortage of kidneys available for transplant. Should people be paid to donate one of their organs, as a financial incentive to help alleviate this shortage?

Check out a debate of economists from the Wall Street Journal here

Read what more economists are saying about this issue here, here, or from the Marginal Revolution here for more.

Stock Tips from Jim Cramer and "Mad Money"

College Price Sticker Shock!

Why have college costs increased every year at more than double the rate of inflation? Read here. Ouch! It looks like it is State U. for my kids.

Here's a Fed Economist on the Middle Class

Great article by The Minneapolis Federal Reserve here on why to view common media claims of a middle class falling behind with skepticism. Fed Economist Terry J. Fitzgerald writes:

Americans have experienced steady, gradual improvement in their standard of living since nearly the founding of the country...Gross domestic product per person, one of the mostly widely cited proxies for standard of living, has nearly doubled since 1975. Other measures of national economic performance, such as personal income, compensation of employees and the amount of goods and services consumed, have also risen substantially.

4$BUCKS, EXCUSE ME, STARBUCKS AT THE COLLEGE LIBRARY? CHECKOUT YOUR LATTE FACTOR HERE!

Students at 30 colleges can buy a starbucks at the library. (Read Here).

If you cut out the Venti Latte, save five dollars a day, you'll be a millionaire in 41 years. And you could be a millionaire in 34 years if you save $10 a day! (Assuming a 10% return, not 54% in 4 months like Chipolte stock, not at $127 a share. Check out your latte factor here

Richest Americans of All-Time...

... Adjusted for inflation, of course. Harvard dropout Gates' $50 billion in current dollars comes in at #13. Check out the entire list here.

iSHOULD OF WAITED: iPHONE PRICE CUT $200 SHORTLY AFTER RELEASE!

Sir, I know you are excited, but if you have waited one month you would of saved $200! Apple CEO Steve Jobs overpriced the iPhone, and now people who bought iPhones are not happy and Jobs is apologizing. Read here about Apple's misguided pricing strategy, why people who bought iPhone's are mad (rightfully so), and how competition in technology will continue to give consumers great value. And the lesson consumers learned do immediately buy an overhyped product when it is released, as the price may be cut soon.

MINNEAPOLIS MILLIONAIRE GENE SIT GIVES BACK TO HELP MN TROOPS

Read here about Minneapolis investor Gene Sit's remarkable life story and his efforts to support Minnesota soldiers who have served in combat since 9/11. Sit founded the Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund, which has paid out more than $3 million to more than 4,500 soldiers or the families of soldiers killed in action. A great example of the good side of capitalism, a successful entrepreneur giving his time and wealth to a noble cause.

ECONOMICS 101: HOW TO RUIN AN ECONOMY

Don't mess with the laws of economics. Print way too much money, set limits on prices and wages, and read here what this is doing to the country of Zimbabwe. Great, that gallon of milk is on sale for $200 dollars!. Hyperinflation. Check out the article from the New York Times here.

CAN MONEY BUY HAPPINESS?

Here is an interesting Article by the Freakonomics authors on a worldwide study about incomes and reported happiness. Do ever higher incomes in wealthy countries lead to greater happiness? See what the Freakonomics guys have to say.

SOME TV IS WORTH WATCHING

The following are some classic videos from the late Noble Prize winning Economist Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economist of all time. His economic ideas have lifted tens of millions of people around the world out of dire poverty. Check out some of these videos:

• Here is a CNBC (my favorite channel) tribute to Milton Friedman when he passed away in 2006 at age 94.

• Watch this video clip and you will be amazed at how much actually goes into making a single pencil. "Thousands of people around the world cooperate to make a single pencil," and it is all the magic of markets and the price system.
  

• Here is a cartoon Milton Friedman would have surely enjoyed.
  

The Innovators at Apple

A great article on why Apple is such an innovative and successful company.

Below, find the chart of Apple's stock price (Ticker Symbol: AAPL) over the last 5 years. If someone invested $10,000 dollars in Apple 5 years ago, today that investment would be worth $150,000! An increase of 1500%.

This is an exapmle of how teens may have an advantage investing. Teens know what is cool and popular, and likely the amazing popularity of the ipod before old people on wall street who determing stock prices, and now the iphone. When a company has great products much better than their competitors, the likely are making huge profits, which usually results in a much higher stock price.

While I wish I would have bought some Apple, I did pick up some stock of another great company: Chipolte (Symbol: CMG). Great Product. Better that Pancheros, Salsaritas, Qdoba (now I know some students love Qdoba) but Chipolte has much better same store sales (another measure of a successful company). Check out Chipolte's stock price here.

Cutest Twins I Know!

Note picture of Carly, age 3, reading the Economist magazine. It's never too early to learn Econ!

MARKET MELTDOWN

Mad Money's Cramer and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke obviously disagree on the viability of a Federal Funds rate cut (or a bailout of those bought too much house that they could not afford) I also now can understand why my wife gets so annoyed when I watch Mad Money every day

Education Pays

Enough Said.