Econ70
A large chunk of the credit for our improving economy belongs to multifamily construction. Since hitting a trough of 111,000 multifamily permits in October 2009, multifamily activity has quickly recovered. This past October there were 418,000 multifamily permits pulled, an…
Read MoreWhen the Dow Jones Industrial Average hits 16,220, it will hit a new inflation-adjusted all-time high. While the Dow is up 37% since its tech bubble high of 11,722.98 of 1/14/00, the CPI is up 38%. Of course, back in…
Read MoreWhile the cost of Thanksgiving dinner has increased by 12.81% since 2010, excluding the turkey the cost has risen by just 5.7% because the cost of the bird alone has risen by 23% and it represents almost half of the…
Read MoreIn a sign that household deleveraging may be over, outstanding household debt grew by $127 billion in Q3 and now stands at $11.28 trillion. While down 11% from the peak of $12.7 trillion set in 2008, after essentially 20 straight…
Read MoreSenate Democrats’ decision to remove the filibuster for executive-branch nominees works. They only stay as long as the administration does. But doing away with the filibuster for all judgeships (with the exception of Supreme Court nominees) was a mistake. Their…
Read MoreThe Friday File: In a moment of economic madness, the US government recently destroyed six tons of ivory, equivalent to the ivory from 2,000 elephants, and worth $16.3 million, or $8,200/elephant. With only 200,000 elephants left and a record 25,000…
Read MoreA problem with solar and wind energy is that it’s intermittent. Since renewables generally have grid priority over other sources, when renewables surge other sources must rapidly decline to compensate. But since nuclear and coal plants are designed to run…
Read MoreReading the just released minutes from the most recent Fed meeting, it sounds like when the Fed starts reducing its monthly purchases of $85 billion in treasuries and MBS, the Fed will concurrently announce that it will keep short term…
Read MoreIn Q3, investment in home improvements was $178 billion, while construction spending on new single family (SF) houses and townhouses was $172 billion, each about one percent of GDP. Similarly, in Q1 spending on home improvements was $161 billion, slightly…
Read MoreAfter losing 2.7 million jobs in the Great Recession, 68 million women are now working, 100,000 below the all-time high set in 4/08. By contrast, men lost 5.9 million jobs in the Recession, and currently 76.4 million men are employed,…
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