Month: March 2014
In the six New England states and Pennsylvania, the percentage of persons of Irish heritage is greater than 16% and in Boston it is 24.1%. By contrast in Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Utah and California the percentage is less than…
Read MoreIn an incontrovertible sign of economic improvement, road congestion is rising. Nationwide, traffic was up 6% in 2013 and traffic jams increased in 61 of the nation’s 100 largest cities compared to just six cities in 2012. The bulk of…
Read MoreOn 9/18/14 Scots will vote on whether to leave the United Kingdom. Much has been made of the possibility that England won’t permit Scotland to use the pound sterling if they vote to secede. So what! Scotland can always peg…
Read MoreWhile household wealth hit a new high of $80.7 trillion in Q4 2013, up $9.8 trillion from 12 months earlier and up from $68.8 trillion before the Great Recession, on an inflation adjusted per-capita basis wealth is still about $500…
Read MoreBy the end of this quarter, Fannie and Freddie will have paid the government $203 billion, slightly more than the $187.5 billion they received from the Government in their 2008 bailout. But 2008 was six years ago. Had the government…
Read MoreThe Friday file: Setting our clocks ahead by one hour this Sunday morning is a lousy idea. Not only does it increase traffic fatalities by about 6% and raise your chances of suffering a heart attack by 10%, it fails…
Read MoreWith the Russian stock market skidding 11% and the Ruble falling 1.3%, Russia’s central bank was forced to boost interest rates by 1.5% to stem the Ruble slide. But higher rates will reduce an already slowing Russian economy and a…
Read MoreAfter years of drought, the US cattle herd is the smallest it’s been in decades. To that add an unexpected drop in feed prices resulting in farmers holding on to females to breed animals and rebuild herds, and you have…
Read MoreOne reason existing home sales are so anemic is because few homeowners can afford to sell. There are 75 million owner-occupied households; 10 million are underwater and 10 million have insufficient equity in their homes to afford a down payment…
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