Month: April 2012
During the first year of the Great Recession (1/08 – 1/09), men lost almost 3.3 million jobs while women lost nearly 1.2 million. Since then, women have lost another 680K jobs and men just 60K. This is because many men…
Read MoreSo far, front runner Mitt Romney has spent $124 million in the primaries and has received 4.1 million votes, for a cost of $30/vote. Gingrich spent $39 million or almost $18/vote. Santorum was the most efficient spending just $27 million,…
Read MoreThe previously fast-growing US cell phone market is now fully saturated. Wireless carriers collectively lost 20,000 customers with long-term contracts (the most profitable segment) in Q1 ’12; the first decline ever. While this is partly due to holdouts that bought…
Read MoreDepending on how you count, Subway is far and away the largest chain in the US with about 23K stores. McDonalds is a distant second at about 14K, Starbucks is third with 11K, Burger King follows at about 7K then…
Read MoreThe Friday File: Believe it or not, the former Comptroller of Dixon, IL is accused of embezzling $30 million (annual budget just $9 million) since ’06 to finance a lavish (you think?) lifestyle. Making things worse, the City spent about…
Read MoreThis recovery is anemic because total (household and government) debt is high and falling! Consumer credit actually declined by 2.5% in ’11 and total debt fell from 203% of GDP to 202% in ‘11; about $160,000/working age person. At the…
Read MoreWith tax reform in the air here are three principles economists want reform based on. 1) Broaden the base and lower rates. Lower marginal rates distort behavior less. 2) Tax consumption not income. Taxing income discourages savings, investment and work.…
Read MoreTeen births fell another 9% to just 34 births per 1,000 girls in ’10, and are now at the lowest rate since data collection began in ’40. Since ’91 teen births have fallen by 44%. Absent that fall, there would…
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