Month: June 2012
The Friday File: While stress is a critical variable in determining life span, and people in leadership positions are often subject to profound stress, they have much lower mortality rates than persons at the bottom of the hierarchy. Turns out,…
Read MoreIt’s official, white non-Hispanic births are less than 50% of all births. Of the 4 million babies born during the year ending 7/11, 50.4% were to minorities, up from 48.6% a year earlier. Among adults over 50, African-Americans are the…
Read MoreElinor Ostrom, the only female economist to win the Nobel Prize, died earlier this week. Her area of focus was on how best to share common resources, like fisheries, water, air, forests, and grazing lands. Her conclusion; communities with common…
Read MoreYield’s on Spanish sovereign debt are skyrocketing, despite the latest $125 billion bailout. If Spanish banks fail, the cash-strapped government must bail them out. Unfortunately, failing banks have been the biggest buyers of Spanish debt. Given collapsing bond prices, an…
Read MoreWith a weakening world economy and a strengthening US dollar, commodity prices are falling and that’s good news. In particular, the price of West Texas Intermediate crude has fallen from a 52 week high of $110.85 to $81.50, a drop…
Read MoreThe Friday File: Digital piracy hurts artists and record companies, but consumers? By constructing indexes of music quality based on critics’ opinions, radio play, and sales volume, there’s no evidence of a decline. The indexes all show music quality rising…
Read MoreGiven weak job numbers, a slowing world economy, and escalating financial stresses from Europe, the Fed will probably act. Since it can’t buy more long-term Treasuries (it nearly owns them all) or increase the size of its balance sheet (Republicans…
Read MoreWhile Chris Bosh is the 3rd best player on the Miami Heat, without him they can’t win a championship. When he plays, the Boston Celtics can’t double-team Dwayne Wade freeing him to be aggressive. With Bosh out Wade is vastly…
Read MoreThe core euro problem is the dramatic differences in economic performance of the 17 member countries. Germany’s a star, the PIIGS aren’t. By sharing the euro devaluation is not possible. Moreover, the Germans won’t tolerate inflation, and labor mobility is…
Read MoreWhile capping the size of sugary beverages sold at NYC theaters, restaurants and sports facilities is noble, it’s so easily bypassed, “I’ll have three 16-oz sodas and three straws” it’s worthless. Since peaking in ’98, consumption of carbonated sugary drinks…
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