Month: February 2025

The Friday File: During the 1983/84 hockey season, fighting peaked at 1.17 fights/game. From 1983/84 through 2009/10, fighting declined to 0.6 fights/game. Since then, fighting has halved again and since 2017/18 has averaged about 0.2 fights/game. It’s due to a…

Despite nominal GDP growth of $4.9 trillion since 2022, there has been minimal growth in government revenues. Had the government simply allowed the revenue base to rise with nominal GDP, the deficit would be $860 billion or 37% lower than…

In January, the US government employed 2.4 million civilians excluding the post office. In addition to 200,000 probationary employees, 75,000 who took the deferred resignation, President Trump also ordered a hiring freeze. The government needs 200,000 hires/year to keep up…

Following the devastating California wildfires, to speed rebuilding, Governor Newsom signed an executive order suspending environmental reviews, told state agencies to identify rules that might impede construction, and instructed bureaucrats to rush necessary permits through. Why did it take the…

While lower-income Americans struggle, the economy continues to perform well. Why? The top 10% of earners, households making above $250,000/year, are doing remarkably well. They now account for 49.7% of all spending, up from 36% in 1995, and nearly 33%…

The Friday File: In 2024 it cost 3.7 cents to make a penny; 2006 was when it last cost less than a penny to make one. In 2024 the mint produced 3.2 billion pennies and lost $85.3 million in the…

If additional 25% tariffs are imposed on Canada/Mexico, along with the recently imposed 10% tariff on China, that likely leads to a 0.75 percentage point increase in inflation. If 60% tariffs are imposed on China and full reciprocal tariffs are…

How much fraud is there in the federal government? A GAO report dated 4/24, pre-Trump, suggests somewhere between $233 billion and $521 billion in direct annual financial losses from fraud, based on a review of FY18-FY22 data. The report finds…

Seventy-three thousand homes were pulled from sale in December, representing almost 1 in 10 homes on the market, a 64% Y-o-Y surge, and the biggest December jump since 2015. There is clearly significantly more desire to sell than buy. This…

January retail sales were down a substantial 0.9%, the biggest monthly decline in almost two years and well worse than the expected 0.2% decline. Car sales fell, as did sales at most stores. There have been occasional blooper months since…