Econ70

While June housing starts were up 8.3% M-o-M, they were up only 2.1% Y-o-Y, and 6.0% YTD. More interestingly, YTD multifamily starts are flat, while single-family starts are up 10.75%, and they are more costly than multifamily. The 10.75% rise…

While the VIX, which measures stock market volatility (also known as the Wall Street “fear gauge”), is at quarter-century lows, so what. Corporate profits are solid, inflation is miniscule, alternative investments aren’t very compelling and it appears central banks will…

Rhode Island is the latest state to finally see total employment exceed its pre-recession level. That leaves just Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wyoming with employment levels in 6/17 below what they were in 2008 or…

The upcoming required legislative increase in the debt ceiling may be a nasty battle. Republicans will require Democratic support, which will be legislatively costly, all but guaranteeing a bill that won’t be “clean” or void of concessions. To that end,…

The Friday File: 43% of women say knowing a person’s credit score would have an impact on their willingness to date someone; only 32% of men said the same. By education, 47% of college graduates say knowing the FICO score…

Opioid addiction (OA), including addiction to prescription painkillers and illicit narcotics (heroin), has surged 500% since 2010, while medications use to treat OA grew by just 65%. OA is up partly because 21% of Americans filled at least one opioid…

For the first time, the US population under 10 is majority minority. Overall, 61.3% of the population is white, 17.8% are Hispanic, 12.4% are Black non-Hispanic, 5.7% are Asian, 2.1% are multiracial and 0.7% are Native American. In 2016, Nevada…

Of the 170 deductions/exemptions/credits/exclusions, the six largest in FY2018 are: exclusion of employer contributions for medical insurance/care at $236 billion, preferential treatment of pension contributions at $200 billion, exclusion of owner-occupied rental income at $112.7 billion, corporate income held abroad…

Last week, Nobel Peace laureate and strong democracy and freedom advocate, Liu Xiaobo died while in custody in a Beijing hospital, becoming the second Peace Prize winner out of 97 to die in custody. The first was Carl von Ossietzky,…

The Friday File: This morning was the last of eight straight mornings of the running of bulls through Pamplona. Each morning 10 bulls run about 930 yards ending in the Plaza de Toros. 2,000 humans inexplicably run with the bulls.…