Nine Schools of Economic Thought

Mark Thornton writes:

Here is an interesting table comparing 9 schools of economic thought. You can certainly quibble with some of the content, but it makes for a good "cheat sheet" for a history of economic thought class or a lecture on schools of economics. Interestingly, the Austrian school is the "middle of the road" of the table. The "Developmentalist" school appears to be the post-WWII name for Mercantilism. This would also justify its placement before the Austrian school if the table is supposed to be read in historical time from left to right.

Click here to view the table.

(Table via Ha-Joon Chang)

Wenzel on John Meyer . . . 

 

The Kid Who Created the Flashlight APP Has Dropped Out of NYU and is Working to Raise $5 Million Seed Money for a Startup

The Fed money is flowing.

John Meyer is the founder of Fresco News, a startup that licenses photos from amateur photographers at the center of breaking news events. An early $5 million funding round is expected to kick off in the spring.

This will be his second venture. In June 2010 when, Apple for the first time included a camera flash on an iPhione, theiPhone 4, within hours, Meyer, then 16-years old, created an app that transformed the flash into a flashlight.

Although now a flashlight is a built-in iPhone feature, Meyer’s was the first of its kind.

And for the 2 million downloads it has generated, Meyer collected more than $100,000.

NyPo has the full story here.

Wenzel on police brutality.

U.S. SHALE INDUSTRY SAVED THE WORLD 

OPEC is a trade association, not a cartel. 

from ZeroHedge . . . .

Venezuela is broke, so is Nigeria.  They cannot stand this price for oil.  Who is saying everything about the price of oil?  Saudi Arabia.  They can only produce 10 million barrels a day.  They say they can produce 2 or 3 million more.  Pickens doesn't believe that.  The world needed the US oil production. The world peaked in 2005.  Where would the world be today had the U.S. not expanded its oil production through fracking?  The American shale industry saved the world from "Peak Oil."

Check out the rig count. American shale is currently the cheapest oil in the world.  Pickens points out that it is unbelievable how fast the United States can get in and get of an oil opportunity.

Wenzel points out that the oil rig count has declined significantly in the last year . . . .

As the Oil Rig Count Begins to Decline

Baker Hughes has issued the rotary rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of U.S. and Canadian drilling activity. Hughes initiated the monthly international rig count in 1975. The North American rig count is released weekly at noon central time on the last day of the work week. The international rig count is released on the fifth working day of each month.

Falling oil prices will put tremendous on this count. Texas oil billionaire Boone Pickens was on CNBC this morning stating that he believes the US oil rig count will drop by 500, in coming months.

Rig Count Overview & Summary Count

Area	Last Count	Count	Change from Prior Count	Date of Prior Count	Change from Last Year	Date of Last Year's Count
U.S.	19 December 2014	1875	-18	12 December 2014	+107	19 December 2013
Canada	19 December 2014	391	-40	12 December 2014	-7	19 December 2013
International	November 2014	1324	+16	October 2014	+13	November

UPDATE 12/27/2014
After effects from the drop in oil rigs: Layoffs.  Russia Today has the story.