Archive for May 2018

While gun purchase waiting periods appear to have no impact on school shootings, as they are planned over a relatively long time, there are other benefits. Waiting periods appear to meaningfully reduce suicides as they are impulsive. Moreover, there’s no evidence that if unable to buy a firearm an alternative method of suicide is attempted.…

While there are many reasons healthcare is so costly, a doctor shortage may be one of them! In Netherlands, 14.6 of every 100,000 persons become a doctor. In Britain, the ratio is 12.8, in Germany it’s 11.3, and in France it’s 9. Here it’s 7.5! And, the percentage of Americans going to college is generally…

With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 132% (third highest in the developed world), a dismal economy, weak banks, a non-functioning euro-skeptic government that wants to vastly increase the deficit, now add the possibility of Quitaly, Italy quitting the euro! The Italian bond market nosedived as investors ran away, the euro fell, and global equities collapsed. Worse,…

The Friday File: 63 years ago Patricia O’Grady moved into a Greenwich Village apartment; the rent was $16/month. And she never moved out. By the time she passed on this past March, her rent had zoomed to $28.43/month, ruled by rent control. At her insistence, her unit was never upgraded and had no heat or…

Last week the Supreme Court legalized sports betting. Based on other nations with mature betting markets, this is a $100 billion/year (maybe a $150 billion/year) industry now that no one will be forced into black market offshore wagering and bookies. This should generate a meaningful rise in state tax revenues. On the downside, expect massive…

Last year, 3.85 million babies were born, the lowest level since 1987! Moreover, the fertility rate for women age 15 to 44 was 60.2 births/1,000 women, the lowest since this rate was first recorded over a century ago. Only women aged 40 to 44 saw a rise in fertility in 2017; to 11.6 births/1,000 women,…

Higher oil prices used to severely depress GDP. That’s no longer so. Household energy spending/GDP has been generally declining for decades and is now near its lowest percentage ever. Thus, the recent price rise will probably knock just a quarter-point off GDP. Moreover, because we’re now the world’s #2 oil producer, higher prices meaningfully boost…

In 1992, college graduates were 26% of the labor force, those with some college or a technical degree comprised 25%, high school dropouts were 13%, and high school graduates were a whopping 36%. Today, college graduates are 41% and rising, and are the only group that has significantly grown! Those with some college are up…

The Friday File: The least visited country in the world last year was the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, which greeted 2,000 visitors. It was followed by the South Pacific nation of Kiribati, hosting 5,000 visitors. The third least visited state was Niue, also an Island nation in the Pacific, that welcomed 8,000. Fourth least…

US rail traffic is outstanding! Railroads originated 1,099,000 intermodal (shipping) containers in April, up 6.8% Y-o-Y and the 15th straight Y-o-Y intermodal increase. Moreover, weekly April volume was the third highest ever, and for the seventh straight month intermodal volume was the highest ever for that month! As for rail carloads (think commodities that are…