At the heart of a value investor's analysis is the assumption of an expected stream of earnings to be derived from the net assets of a company.

FORBES: The P/E Problem

As a result, it is unlikely that the United States will have fourteen days of actionable warning of a crisis -- a key assumption in the study performed by the Institute for Defense Analysis for Under Secretary of Defense Paul Kaminski.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

But critics of economics, if they believe that any kind of social analysis is possible, had better say what other simplifying assumption they would rather use.

ECONOMIST: The benevolence of self-interest | The