Month: December 2012
By 12/31/13 the Greek economy will be 30% smaller than it was in 2008! And, it may not be done shrinking. Thus, the most recent Greek bailout is simply the latest “fix” with more to come! Worse, this tragedy becomes…
Read MoreThe US trade deficit widened by $2 billion from September to October and now stands at $42.2 billion. While Sandy is partly to blame for some of the 3.2% decline in exports, so is a slowing global economy. This means…
Read MoreAfter failing to monitor trillions (with a T) in wire transfers over a period of years, from very unsavory characters and regimes, HSBC agreed to a $1.92 billion settlement. HSBC encouraged vast illegal transactions because there’s so much money to…
Read MoreLast Friday’s mediocre employment report gives the Fed (meeting this week) ample reason to continue buying Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities at the rate of about $80 billion/month for the foreseeable future. As for the employment report, average hourly earnings rose…
Read MoreLotto Luck Lotteries are designed to raise government revenue and bigger jackpots lead to more sales. To that end, 42 states now cross-sell both Powerball and Mega Millions and while prices for each were doubled to $2 on 1/1/12, sales…
Read MoreIf all 1040-Schedule A deductions, including the mortgage interest deduction are capped at about $35,000, then homeowners with houses priced north of $500,000 would be the ones primarily affected, and their homes would fall in value. Interestingly, they might respond…
Read MoreHigher taxes on the rich will reduce their incentives to work, save and invest, clipping maybe 0.5% off of GDP. But that’s not the end of the story. The relevant question is: will the benefit to society of redistributing some…
Read MoreWith personal income growth flat, savings rates up and real disposable income down 0.2% in October, it’s not surprising personal consumption grew just 1.4%! The weak pace of income growth will limit Q4 GDP growth to less than 1.5% and…
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