Econ70

Marriage: Losing its Appeal?

02/22/2012

Marriage rates have been falling for decades, especially among the lower classes. It’s because lower class women tend to work but lower class men don’t. Thus, these women find no economic gain from marrying. As these trends work their way…

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Casino Economy

02/21/2012

Gamblers bet more in ’11 than in ’10, the first increase since ’07. Through the first 11 months of ’11 revenues were up 2.3% to $32.6 billion. NV saw a rise of 2.8% to $10.7 billion but, the #2 casino…

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Going to the Dogs

02/17/2012

The Friday File: The most costly dog in the world, a Tibetan Mastiff, was recently sold for $1.5 million. Usually that breed (the 7th most expensive) sells for between 2K and 7K. The 3rd most expensive breed, the Samoyed, can…

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Recessionary Austerity

02/16/2012

The deep recession in Greece and the milder one in Portugal don’t matter to the overall performance of the euro-zone, as they are less than 5% of the area. They are, proof that during a recession repeated government spending cuts…

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Honey, Where are the Kids?

02/15/2012

According to the Census Bureau, the number of people under 18 fell by 260,000 between 7/1/10 and 7/1/11. The last decline in the child population was in the 70s when the boomers were no longer teens but not yet adults.…

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Love is Priceless!

02/14/2012

Valentine’s Day spending this year is expected to reach an all-time high of $17.6 billion. Among the 140 million Americans planning to celebrate, average spending will be $126.03, up 8.5% over last year. The average male will spend $168.74 the…

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Moooove Over

02/13/2012

The combination of high agricultural land values, competition for land from corn, soybeans and other crops, severe drought, the high price of feed and surging exports have raised live cattle prices to a record $1.26 per pound. Yet, farmers continue…

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Love Someone

02/10/2012

The Friday File: Economists find that an underdog tennis player is more likely to win if the winner of that match must then play a top ranked opponent. The highly ranked next opponent causes both players to “save” themselves so…

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Costly Unemployment

02/09/2012

As Congress considers–and eventually extends–a temporary payroll tax cut and extended unemployment benefits past 2/12, it should note that if both lapse GDP in ’12 would be reduced by 1%, when GDP growth is only 2%. They might also note…

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The Unparticipation Rate

02/08/2012

The latest employment report was great, but a little perspective, please. The labor force participation rate is now 63.7% it lowest level since 5/83! (The all-time high was 67.3% in 3/00). Worse, since the recession ended in 6/09, rather than…

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