Econ70
By 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…
The 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…
With 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…
After 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…
One 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…
While many praise Representative Camp (R-MI) for proposing a pro-growth yet DOA overhaul of the nation’s tax system, the fact that he is termed out as Chairman of the tax writing Ways and Means (W&M) Committee in 1/15 and that…
Since the start of the Great Recession of 2008 and the Fed’s decision to inject trillions of dollars into the banking system, there has been constant talk of the US dollar losing its position as the world’s reserve currency, the…
The Friday File: Academy Awards boost ticket sales two ways; the “nomination effect” and the “winner effect”. While Ocsar winners sell more tickets than movies that are only nominated, most of the difference occurs before the awards ceremonies. Thus ticket…
In 2011, monthly payroll growth averaged 174,000 in 2012 it averaged 186,000 and 194,000 last year. This year I expect employment to be at least as strong as in 2013. Moreover, I’m only mildly concerned about weakness in emerging markets…
To understand why income and wealth are becoming increasingly unequal in America, look no further than Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp for $19 billion! That’s 40% more than the value of the median firm in the S%P 500. If shared equally…