Econ70

The Friday File: The NBA introduced the 3-point shot in 1979/80. That year, 3-point shots were 3.1% of all shots. By 1990, it was 7.6%, it was 16.7% in 2000, and 22.2% in 2010. Then Stephen Curry changed everything. This…

Ignoring the 19% of Mexicans with no preference between the three presidential candidates facing off on 7/1/18, leftist populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) of MORENO, leads comfortably with 48% of the vote, Ricardo Anaya of PAN follows at 26%,…

Usually the gap between GDP and potential GDP (what GDP would be if all economic resources were fully utilized) is very small. However, during 09Q2, the gap hit $935 billion; 6.5% of GDP. That was the largest gap since 82Q4…

Non-inflation-adjusted farm income is projected to hit just $59.50 billion in 2018 due to lower crop and livestock prices. This will be its lowest level since 2006, when farm income was $57.44 billion, and is 7% lower than it was…

In 2017, the IRS audited 1 of every 160 individual tax returns, the lowest percentage since 2002, and the sixth straight year of declines. Overall audit probabilities peaked in 2010 at 1 in 90. For millionaires, the audit probabilities are…

The Friday File: There are 281,000 people employed in the production and distribution of movies and sound recordings in the USA. CA leads with 106,500. NY follows with 26,500, then TX with 16,500, and FL with 11,000. They are the…

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the recently passed deficit-financed tax cuts and spending increases will boost the national debt by $1.9 trillion through 2027. Thus, debt held by the public will rise from 78% today to 96.2% of…

As house prices relentlessly rise, the percentage of conventional loans this past winter going to borrowers with debt-to-income (DTI) ratios above 45% hit 20%, almost triple what the percentage was 12 months ago, but less than the housing boom peak…

Since 1970 there have been 12 midterm elections. The only time the party holding the White House gained seats was Clinton 1998 and Bush 2002. Each had an approval rating above 60% and they only gained 4 and 8 seats…

While March net job growth of just 103,000 was slightly disappointing, payback for last month’s great weather was inevitable. Importantly, monthly average job growth YTD is 202,000, very strong this late in the business cycle. The unemployment rate was unchanged,…