Econ70

While bad gift giving, defined as spending more on the gift than the recipient values it, is wealth destroying and argues for giving cash, gifts also create value. We all have gifts we can’t part with because of sentimental value.…

At present, 5.6% of the nation’s electricity comes from wind, up from 4.7% in 2015 and 2.3% in 2010. In 2015, Iowa had the largest wind generation share at 31.3%, followed by South Dakota at 25.6%. Texas and New Mexico…

Given the high level of political unpredictability of the incoming Trump administration and the massive amount of backlogged legislation that may be moved, lobbying expenditures in 2017 may well set records. Lobbying expenditures peaked at $3.5 billion in 2009 and…

While housing starts fell 18.7% in November, it was due almost entirely to multifamily. Multifamily starts declined an eye-watering 45.1% after jumping 76% in October as developers probably rushed to lock in financing before the election and buyers signed purchase…

Pricey Presents The Friday File: This Chrismahanukwanzakah let me suggest several wonderful last minute gifts for the special someone on your list who has everything. A $149,000 Swedish Hastens Vividus bed; must be some bed! Or, how about a week…

Net income at all 6,021 credit unions in 2015 was $8.7 billion, up 0.3% from 2014 when there were 6,273 credit unions. For credit unions with assets greater than $500 million, return on assets (ROA) averaged 86 basis points or…

Despite correctly anticipating a quarter-point rise in the Fed Funds rate today, the stock market fell 0.8%, the dollar soared by almost 1% and the 10-yr treasury skyrocketed a tenth-of-a-point to 2.57%, its highest yield since 9/22/14. Why the big…

As the Fed begins to raise interest rates, it affects all nations but especially emerging markets. Rising rates, and thus improved US returns, vacuum up money from developing nations, causing their currencies to decline. This forces those nations to consider…

The Friday File: The highest mountain in the US is Denali at 20,320 feet. The next 22 tallest US mountains are also in Alaska. Outside Alaska, the tallest mountain is Mount Whitney in California at 14,494 feet. Of the 96…